LBCC invited Joandrea Reynolds and her production company JTainment to LAC to perform their show “Stages of Understanding Volume Two: A Journey Through Black History” on April 22.
The play showcased representations of Jim Crow laws, racism in the south, and the fight for equal rights that led Black people to where they are today.
“All of these pieces you saw today were my poems. I just formulated them into monologues to make it into a production. They all come from my book, ‘Journey of Discovery,’” Reynolds said.
The play featured emotional moments and inspiring monologues, as each scene led the viewer through different periods of time.
One scene consisted of a mother grieving her child that had been shot while another portrayed a couple getting separated after running away from a plantation, both of which were intense and moving.
Actor Joseph Proctor played two characters in the show, Titus Wise and Moses Freeman.
The couple played by Octavia Anthony, left, and Joseph Proctor, right, are in despair as they have to separate after having ran away from a plantation together in the play “Stages of Understanding: Volume 2” performed on April 22. “Stages of Understanding: Volume 2” is a traveling play that told Black history in America through different decades in time. (Paloma Maciel)
“I feel like Titus and Moses are two sides of the same person. Titus is a protector and somebody who has a vision and a purpose, whereas Moses has a vision as well, but is more militant about it,” Proctor said.
“Stages of Understanding” had a scene solely focused on a historical plantation owner whose character was named Henry Oliver.
Oliver was played by Shane Weikel who delivered a monologue where he said, “Those maroon communities must be found and destroyed.”
“It’s hard to play the villain in a show, but Henry Oliver definitely fills the role of the villain,” Weikel said.
Towards the end of the show, many of the actors came out in new roles with picket signs and walked around the room chanting to represent the George Floyd protests.
“We’re living in an age where we’re not shown much of the systemic racism, so this show really kind of brings it to the front lines,” Weikel said.