On Black Theatre: Interview with Ava Wilson, Soul Children's Theatre Company

                      

Ava Wilson. Photo Credit Melyssah Colerangle

The South Dallas Cultural Center (SDCC), Dallas, Texas, is home to numerous burgeoning arts programs. Soul Children’s Theatre Company is one such entity with a mission to revive Black theatre in Dallas. According to the program’s Artistic, Education and Managing Director, Ava Wilson, Soul Children’s is a unique organization. Wilson, who is also an actress, playwright and poet, received her BA and MA in Africana Studies from Howard University and Temple University respectively. In December 2011, Soul Children’s staged successful productions celebrating both Christmas and Kwanzaa including The Brown King (written by Wilson and Soul Children’s founder, Harold Stewart) reviewed HERE in the Dallas Weekly. Soul Children’s upcoming production is “Angela’s Mixtape” by Eisa Davis. “Angela’s Mixtape” will be staged at the SDCC from March 8^th-11^th. For more information visit the Soul Children’s Theatre Company on FACEBOOK or email them at soulchildrenstheatre@gmail.com. Below, Wilson discusses the company, its upcoming projects, the state of black theatre, and her writing.  

Please tell readers what the Soul Children's Theatre Company is, how long it’s been in existence, how long you've been involved, what your role is as part of the organization and how it is funded.

Soul Children's Theatre Company is the only theatre in Dallas, Texas of its kind that caters to young African Americans (as well as their families) and provides them with quality theatre programming, theatrical training, and knowledge of theatre in the African Diaspora.  Soul Children's Theatre was founded by my long time friend Harold Steward in 2008 at the South Dallas Cultural Center.  Soul Children's is one of the Cultural Center's many artistic partners who use the space there to get their companies and work off of the ground.  At this moment, my title is Artistic Director; however, I am also the Managing Director and the Educational Director.

We are funded through the support of the City of Dallas and the South Dallas Cultural Center through Big Thought/Thriving Minds (a local organization that employs and funds artists from all genres) through a generous grant from Chase Bank.  However, we are not a registered non-profit at this moment, but we are in the works of completing that task in the near future. We also get additional funding from revenue from shows as well as tuition from theatre classes that we facilitate.  

Is this a space for black children specifically? 

Soul Children's Theatre is geared toward filling the void in Black theatre in Dallas by teaching the next generation about the African Diaspora through theatre to help heal our community and to give a voice to those who may not otherwise have one.  The Cultural Center is for everyone as it is a City of Dallas Institution.  Soul Children's motto is "providing quality theatrical programming that is by, for, and about the Soul Child!"  So, in short, to answer your question, yes.


It is my hope that Soul Children’s Theatre Company can support works that reflect and preserve those stories of the African Diaspora that have been forgotten, hidden, and misrepresented in the pages of history in order to teach youth the importance of African American theatre and its cultural significance.  

Soul Children's Logo 

What do you see as the importance of community theatre particularly in black neighbourhoods? 

Theatre is a slowly dying art form.  It is almost obsolete.  The world we live in today is completely digital; however, there is a transformative power in live art that is undeniable.  That alone is why community theatre is important in the Black community.  In the Southern US specifically, there is a surge of one type of theatre that does not necessarily situate itself in the legacy of historically Black theatre.  The works of August Wilson, Lloyd Richards, Barbara Ann Teer, Ira Aldridge, The African Company, and others are not heard of, known, or even sought after.  These are our theatrical ancestors, and if children decided to take up the craft of acting, they should be aware of strides that Black theatre has taken to preserve African culture, to resist oppression, and to educate.  

In this era of what my elders in the craft call "lights, camera, action negroes," who wish only to be seen and become famous, we must show children and our communities that theatre is steeped within our cultural mores.  That fact, along with the craft itself, is why theatre is important to our communities.

How long have you been writing and what are some of the themes dealt with in your work?

I have been writing since before I can really remember – everything from plays, poems, essays, short stories, and raps.  As far as plays are concerned, in high school I wrote mostly satirical pieces and was heavily influenced by George C. Wolfe's "The Colored Museum".  Themes that I deal with in my work range from issues that directly affect our people to how I am feeling about my day.  Little known histories are always interesting to unearth.  As I read more and consume more art, I am able to learn different techniques and strategies to utilize in my work.  The more I direct theatrical pieces, the more I am able to write in a way that plays on visual triggers and emotions – basically I currently like to make the reader "see" what I am writing.

                                           

Soul Children’s upcoming project is the play "Angela's Mixtape" by Eisa Davis that deals partly with mass political movements of the 1970s. Can you speak a little about the play, its significance, and whether or not the concepts presented are easy for children/teenagers to grasp.  

Well, per my agreement with the playwright's publicist, I can't really speak about the play without her permission, but I can say that the play is really awesome!  It is a coming-of-age story about Eisa Davis – Angela Davis' niece, whose real name is Angela Davis also.  It is a hip-hop inspired piece that weaves its way in and out of the height of the Black Power Movement in Oakland, California into Eisa's reality and her trying to come to terms with herself in spite of the magnanimous figure that her aunt is.  

The show goes up Thursday, March 8th and ends Sunday, March 11th.  I think that it will be easy for children to grasp because it is a story of mother/daughter relations, coming to terms with the history of our people, all set to a hip-hop beat.  The play moves around a lot from the past, present, to the future, so we are never "stuck" on one theme/idea for too long and I feel that students will be able to follow along with it and appreciate those dynamics of the play.  What's phenomenal about the Dallas rendition of this play is that it showcases the talent of 3 generations of African American women actors from Dallas.  It is a transformative piece that we bring new relevance to given the prolific local women in the show playing historic figures.

You have family who were active in Black Power Movements during the 1970s as well. Can you speak about that and the research that you conducted on these movements as part of your graduate studies.  

Basically, the research I conducted for my master's thesis was about the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements' evolutions in the parts of the South that were not considered the "Deep South" commonly referenced in the American narrative, specifically my native Dallas and surrounding cities.  I chose this research topic because my uncle was instrumental in the Black Power Movement here in Dallas.  For the most part, scholars and Dallas natives alike tend to believe that there were no Civil Rights or Black Power Movements in Dallas.  

What my research began to unearth was that there was a strategic method in place that sought to squelch all resistance and to wipe out all memory of it from record.  I have not "worked" on it since August of 2010; however, this summer the Cultural Center will be teaching their Summer Camp students about the Movements in Dallas and I will be working on that curriculum and teaching a few classes and conducting interviews with the students and key members of those movements. 

                                           

Ava Wilson is a native of Dallas, Texas.  A graduate of Booker T. Washington High School of the Performing and Visual Arts, Wilson was nurtured early in her theatrical career by the incomparable David Benn at Greiner Middle School and the talented sistas of Soul Rep Theatre Company, the premiere Black theatre company in Dallas, Texas of the 1990s. At Howard, Wilson had the pleasure of performing for Sonia Sanchez, Mari Evans, and Haki Madhabuti with a poetry consortium under the direction of slam poetry great, Tony Medina.  She also chaired the Kwame Ture Society under the tutelage of Dr. Greg Carr.  She credits her family, the history making and shaking McMillans of Dallas, for giving her a strong work ethic and for teaching her the importance of history and culture.