Delaware State University is celebrating the artists and intellectuals who voiced the black experience of the 1920s and ’30s in a production of music, dance, and literature. “DSU Harlem Renaissance” will be staged at 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, and Saturday, Nov. 21, at DSU Education & Humanities Theatre.
Director Don Blakey said the production allows the school to break from doing a play or musical and instead do something that marries history and entertainment. It gives students and the public a chance to see, hear and experience the Harlem Renaissance instead of just reading about it.
“You can actually see it happen in front of you,” he said.
Local actors and singers will impersonate the famous artists and minds of the time, including Zora Neal Hurston, A’Lethea Walker, Marcus Garvey, Langston Hughes, Fats Waller and more. Jazz musicians in the DSU stage band have been instructed by Blakey to let loose. “Don’t be church mice,” he said, so audiences can expect to see some showboating during their numbers, and during the Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington medleys. Audiences will visit Harlem’s haunts, like music Mecca the Cotton Club, and see dances that would be at home at the Savoy Ballroom.
The production is set up as a game show where two contestants must answer historical questions correctly to win top honors. After the host asks them questions he offers them hints in the form of a flashback, which will be a performance.
Blakey said there has been a decline in African American studies, and that many of those involved with the show didn’t recognize the breadth of the Harlem Renaissance and the people involved.
“They may have read a piece or two by Langston Hughes, but they didn’t know Langston Hughes,” he said.
This will be a chance to learn more. Some students are finding a new pride about their heritage as well. Blakey told the participating Caribbean students the people they were portraying, such as Claude McKay and Marcus Garvey, shared their Caribbean roots, and a new ownership of the material blossomed.
“Are you going to let them down by stating something blandly, or are you going to put your heart into it,” Blakey asked them.
The cast of at least 20 has been responding the history and the artistic material with passion, Blakey said. He hopes that will carry into the audience.
“It’s just a great uplifting experience that they can get from this,” he said.
Email Sarika Jagtiani at sarika.jagtiani@doverpost.com
IF YOU GO...
WHAT DSU “DSU Harlem Renaissance” production
WHEN 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, and Saturday, Nov. 21
WHERE Education & Humanities Theatre at DSU, Dover
ADMISSION Free
MORE INFO Visit www.desu.edu
