(From left to right) Jalen Carr as Floyd and Maylon Johnson as Louise in the Department of Theatre, Film and Media Arts’ production of August Wilson’s “Seven Guitars.” Credit: J. Briggs Cormier
Ohio State’s Department of Theatre, Film and Media Arts will present an adaptation of playwright August Wilson’s “Seven Guitars” in late October.
The dramatic comedy — following blues singer Floyd “Schoolboy” Barton and his goal of moving to Chicago to escape past hardships and pursue the American dream — will be performed on select days Oct. 23-31 at the Proscenium Theatre, which is located at 1932 College Road in Ohio State’s Theatre, Film and Media Arts Building. Select showtimes are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on weekdays and 3 p.m. Sundays.
Kevin McClatchy, associate professor of theatre, film and media arts, said he’s thrilled that Ohio State chose to produce “Seven Guitars,” heralding the show as a classic.
“It’s one of the greatest plays of the 20th century,” McClatchy said. “‘Seven Guitars’ is epic in its emotional landscape. Wilson’s ability to get inside the skin of characters and have them express themselves in a way that’s grounded in truth but also with heightened theatrical stakes — he’s second to none.”
Jalen Carr, a Master of Fine Arts acting student, said he will play Barton in Ohio State’s iteration of “Seven Guitars.”
The play challenges Ohio State’s performers and theatrical technicians due to its length and nuance, Carr said. Additionally, he said embodying a character whose experiences are so different from his own has been a tough yet rewarding process.
“I think the most challenging thing is the amount of text there is in this play. This is a 101-page script, so this is considered a very dense script,” Carr said. “The other thing that makes it a little challenging is that this piece is about the African American experience in Pittsburgh in 1948. I’m not from the Northeast, nor am I born in 1948, so being able to adapt the experience[s] of those people is something I’ve been working with, and it’s been great to learn a lot.”
McClatchy said another obstacle was a director change that occurred while the play was in its early production. He said the original director, Chuck Smith, had to withdraw due to personal reasons and was subsequently replaced by Terrence Spivey, former artistic director of the Karamu House in Cleveland.
Carr said he felt excited to work with Smith, but believes Spivey is ultimately the right director for the job.
“I was really looking forward to working with [Smith], but I knew that Ohio State was gonna put the right director in place,” Carr said. “Once [Spivey] got here, getting to know [Spivey], I feel like we got the director we were supposed to have.”
Carr said Spivey helped prepare the cast by giving presentations that detailed the play’s historical context.
“Spivey put together a couple of presentations to educate us on the history of African Americans around that time, and also the history of the playwright and what his vision was when writing this show,” Carr said. “You can have these lines, but if you don’t have an understanding of what you’re saying, you won’t have any feeling or weight behind your words, so it helped me with the delivery a lot.”
McClatchy said Spivey continuously pushes the actors to improve.
“Our students are here to challenge themselves as actors, and they are doing that, and [Spivey] is challenging them in a really positive and productive way,” McClatchy said.
Carr said he is most excited about bringing Barton’s character to life on stage.
“This character has the biggest goals and dreams, so to understand what those are and to tackle that task of trying to accomplish those goals and dreams is really exciting,” Carr said.
Tickets for the show start at $15 and can be purchased via Ticketmaster or in person at the Ohio State Theatre Ticket Office.
For more information about the show, including performance times, visit the Ohio State Department of Theatre, Film and Media Arts website.
