In March, Keith Josef Adkins was one of four finalists at the 11th Annual Spring Reading Series during the 2015 Premiere Stages Play Festival hosted by Kean University. He left the event as the winner – with his play, The People Before the Park, to return to the university’s Zella Fry Theatre as part of New Jersey Theatre Alliance’s Stages Festival. Directed by John J. Wooten, the play premiered Sept. 3, and will run through Sept. 20.
The park referred to in Adkins’ play is New York’s Central Park – recognized as one of the most visited parks in the United States. Before being expanded to the 843 acres of urban cultural paradise, it was home to free African Americans as well as residents of English and Irish descent. It is those people that prompted Adkins to develop this story.
Commissioned by Epic Theatre Ensemble in New York to write a play of his choice, Adkins initially worked with U.S. and Global History students to learn about the true events inspired by the play and to explore their heritage. After further research beyond Epic’s 2013-2014 season, Adkins created the full-length piece.
The play – which was selected from more than 400 festival submissions – opened to sold-out houses. Adkins posted to his Facebook: “I’m still writing, of course, for any future reiterations of the play… but right now I remain gleed-up… Keep living each other up so we can change the world through story.”
The synopsis of the story goes:
1857. New York City. A hard-work man and his son live in a respectful African-American community called Seneca Village. However, their solitude and safe haven are threatened when the City decides to remove the community from their homes to create the world-renowned Central Park.
Today, we call it gentrification. In 1857, it was eminent domain that evicted 1,600 residents from the land. The five-acre Seneca Village, founded by free Blacks in 1825, and other areas were demolished to accommodate the design of the park. In an NPR interview about the play, Cynthia Copeland – a lead researched of the site with the Institute for the Exploration of Seneca Village History – said a smear campaign was created to justify forcing out the residents. “They literally called them tramps, squatters, thieves, lowlifes. They referred to Seneca Village as ‘Nigger Village.'”
The play follows 42-year-old Stephen Van Cleef, who makes a living as an oysterman, and his 22-year-old son Jonas ready to leave his home and pursue his dream as an artist. Van Cleef hopes his wife, thought to have been stolen into slavery 20 years earlier, will return and refuses to leave even when his neighbors accept displacement offers. When given five days to vacate, Van Cleef chooses to stand up and fight the city.
The cast includes: W. Tré Davis (Off-Broadway’s Hamlet, Zooman and The Sign); Bridget Gabbe (Netflix’s “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”); Billy Eugene Jones (The Trip to Bountiful, The Mountaintop, Passing Strange); Shane Taylor; Andy Truschinski (The Heidi Chronicles, War Horse); and Michelle Wilson (A Raisin in the Sun).
Adkins co-founded The New Black Fest, a theatre organization dedicated to new and provocative playwriting, music and discussion from the African Diaspora. The organization served as curator of Facing Our Truth: Ten Minute Plays on Trayvon, Race and Privilege (now published with Samuel French) and HANDS UP: 6 Playwrights, 6 Testaments. During March, his play The Disappointment premiered in the United States and Cape Town, South Africa as part of Book Wings South Africa – a cross-continental theatre collaboration to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison.
For detailed performance information visit HERE. Submission for the 2016 Premiere Stages Play Festival will be from Oct. 1, 2015 through Jan. 3, 2016.
