I have always known and loved Anne ever since I was very young. My mother grew up reading the Anne of Green Gables books and passed down her love of the series to my sister and me.

When I was younger and even now, I could relate to Anne because of her vivid imagination. I was always pretending to be someone else in a far off land, thinking up new and exciting stories to play out.

And like Anne, I always seem to be imagining scenarios and acting them out in my head. I suppose it was this habit which also sparked my love for acting. When you’re acting, for at least a brief time, it can give you the chance to pretend to be someone else.

Playing Anne has given me a different perspective of her character. When I thought of Anne, I thought of the little orphan girl who was always getting into trouble.

In Anne of Avonlea, Anne is not that little girl, though she still finds herself in sticky situations. In two years, she lost the closest thing she ever had to a father and found out that the closest thing she had to a mother was going blind.

She had to face many obstacles that molded her into the young woman that she became. She opted to put off her ambition of going to college so she could stay and help Marilla. This led her to the unexpected adventure of becoming the teacher of the Avonlea school.

Being the same age as Anne in this play has also given me some insight and helped me relate to her. All of a sudden, I am faced with the decisions and challenges of adulthood.

All of a sudden, I’m not a kid anymore. The realization creeps up on you. You don’t even know it’s happening until it has happened. Like Anne, I must face the challenge head on and learn from my mistakes.

Even though 

I may not know what might be past “the bend in the road,” I will put all of my faith in God, and I trust that He will lead me in the right direction.

The old van may have a cracked windshield (due to a loading mishap) and may be missing a couple of hubcaps but it “runs like a champ” according to Artistic Director, Terry Weber. Pictured here about to set out for Scott County in the rain.

The cast, Terry and I are like one big happy family. We’ve been touring together now since mid January. Besides, we have Dominic Gillette to keep things light. Dominic and LaKeta Booker are enjoying this ride and the newly discovered Glee App.

Fortunately, the rain stopped by the time we got to the Historic Courthouse in Huntsville, TN. Time to unload and make our set fit! We’ve got the unloading and loading routines down pretty well. In this picture, the wheelchair waits to be loaded up. “Never push a wheelchair empty!” Wise words from veteran touring actor and van packer extraordinaire, Joe Jaynes!

Each actor has his on stage role of course but this cast has kind of fallen into certain off stage roles as well. Joe supervises the loading. And he and Dominic are always on “flat duty” since those set pieces are quite heavy. Kelle Jolly leads the cast in vocal warm-ups. No need for pre-show music! The cast’s sirens and “ma, may, mee, mo, moos” can be heard through most walls and are quite entertaining.

We enjoy seeing new places and meeting new people wherever we go! Our hosts in Scott County were quite nice. They helped carry things, they held a reception for us after the show and they invited us to tour the old jail! In retrospect, I probably could have done without that and been just fine. It was rather creepy and poor Gayle Greene and Dominic got put behind bars!

Happily, they were let go and we got back on the road which was a good thing because we were expected at a church in Knoxville the next day.

We are half way through our scheduled number of performances. The old van has many more miles to go before it sleeps! I’ll have to say, touring theatre isn’t the easiest way to make a living! But The WordPlayers enjoys it and comments like these below, referring to Walk, Don’t Ride, make it all worthwhile.

“It was a high quality performance of great value to our students.” – D. Chambers, Sevierville Middle School

“It did a nice job of presenting facts to students in such a way that they didn’t even realize they were learning.” – E. Young, Robertsville Middle School

“…I love when students can actually participate in history. See it, touch it, feel it, and live it through reenactment.” C. Layton, Robertsville Middle School

“Each year, you do an excellent job. Keep it up!” – N. Jones, Robertsville Middle School

Would you be willing to risk leaving school or giving up that job on less than 24 hours’ notice to take a stand for something in which you believe?

Would you be willing even if you might go to jail?  Would you be willing even if you might be physically injured?  Would you be willing even if there were a very real possibility that you would be killed?

Oh, and if you are willing and if any of these things were about to happen to you, you must pledge that you will not retaliate.  You must promise to remain non-violent at all times.

In the spring and summer of 1961, over 200 freedom riders were willing.  Most were young adults; some not-so-young.  Most were black; some were white.  Most were from the South; some came from all over the country to join the movement against injustice. Nearly all of them ended up in jail.

A frighteningly high number of them were beaten, kicked, punched, fire-bombed, and humiliated.  Miraculously, none were killed.  They remained non-violent.

Being part of creating a piece of theatre raises many questions.  As part of my involvement in Walk, Don’t Ride, I ask myself some of these questions. I cannot say for certain that I would be willing.

Jesus was willing.  In John 15:13, he said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

Was Jesus’ Holy Spirit working through the people and the events of that summer of 1961?  I believe so with all my heart.

Is Jesus’ Holy Spirit working through me? As a Christian, I believe so, but is my faith strong enough to be willing to follow His leading?  What if He leads me into the valley of the shadow of death?  Would I be willing?

Join us for The WordPlayers presentation of Walk, Don’t Ride, as we celebrate the courageous individuals who risked everything in the fight for equality. See the Walk, Don’t Ride page for public showings of the play.

I grew up in Nashville. My father worked downtown just a few blocks from where these sit-ins took place and yet, I don’t think I knew anything about them until I found this play three years ago.

How could something so significant have happened in my hometown and I not know anything about it? Apparently, I am not alone.

According to a recent report by the Southern Poverty Law Center: “Across the country, state educational standards virtually ignore our civil rights history.”

Hopefully, this is not due to some sinister plan. It could be there just isn’t time in the average U.S. History course.

In any case, it makes me all the more proud to be part of the team that is producing this play. Every time I see Walk, Don’t Ride, I am struck by the conviction and courage of the people represented in the play. The people participating in the Nashville Lunch Counter Sit-ins were college students. Black and white young people with their whole lives ahead of them, yet they were willing to put their lives on the line for the cause of equal rights.

The show was performed for the 8^th graders at Sevierville Middle School this past Wednesday. Afterward, the students had a chance to ask questions.

By the nature of their questions, I could tell that many of the students were intrigued by this idea of non-violent protest. In this day and age, with all the violence portrayed through the media, is it any wonder?

Have young people heard of non-violent protest? Do they know how much was accomplished by it during the Civil Rights Movement?

One student asked us, “If you were treated the way the people were in this play, would you remain non-violent?”

I answered, “I like to think I would. Would you?”

One day in 1943, Ms. Parks boarded the front of the bus because there was standing room only in the back. The driver, James F. Blake, ordered her – according to city code – to exit the bus and enter again through the back because of her skin color.

Frustrated, Ms. Parks stepped off and waited for the next bus. She vowed never to ride a bus driven by Blake again.

On December 1, 1955, Ms. Parks boarded a bus and sat in the very front row of seats reserved for African Americans. The bus became increasingly full and the section reserved for white quickly became filled.

However, one white man remained without a seat.

Lo’ and behold, Blake, the same bus driver from years earlier, asked Ms. Parks and three other blacks to relinquish their seats to the white man. Parks refused, and the police arrested her later for her misconduct. The Women’s Political Council, a Montgomery-based activist group, began posting flyers that very night to encourage blacks to boycott the bus.

Also on that evening, E.D. Nixon, president of the local NAACP chapter, met with Parks in her home and encouraged her to take the matter to court. The local court eventually ruled against Ms. Parks and fined her $10 in penalties and $4 in court fees.

Prompted by Parks’ arrest – in addition to several others for the same crime – the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) under the direction of Martin Luther King, Jr., as president, and Nixon, as treasurer, met to discuss the events and propose a new boycott of the bus system, as others had been discussed prior to Parks’ arrest.

The MIA passed an official proposal for the boycott on Friday, December 2, and its supporters spread the word through congregations the Sunday before to spread word of the boycott on Monday, December 3.

When Monday came, an overwhelming amount of African Americans refrained from using the bus system.

Although the original boycott was scheduled to last a short time, the African American community boycotted the Montgomery bus system 385 days. The determination of the protestors eventually led to the federal case Browder v. Gayle that declared the segregation of bus seating to be unconstitutional.

This is the background for the first section of our Black History Touring show, Walk Don’t Ride. Numerous performances are scheduled in the greater Knoxville area from today through Feb. 29.

There is a free, public performance on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 6:00 pm at First Baptist Church, 510 W. Main St., Knoxville. Join us!

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character … I have a dream today.”

We all know these heroic words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoken on August 28, 1963, whether we lived through the events of the civil rights movement in the 1960’s or we learned about them in school. This defining moment in the civil rights movement took place when Dr. King gave this partially improvised speech at the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

During January and February (Black History Month), The WordPlayers is touring the play Walk, Don’t Ride: A Celebration of the Fight for Equality by Peter Manos. The play highlights several major events in the civil rights movement and includes this monumental speech by Dr. King.

The speech came at a crucial time during the fight for equality, as congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 less than a year later. Dr. King was fighting predominantly against the widespread racism in the southern United States.

The legal injustice up to the 1960’s stemmed from the system of laws instituted after the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, otherwise known as Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow, in effect, only granted African-Americans secondary citizenship, although the spirit behind the laws was “separate but equal.”

On top of that, whites in the South often committed crimes against blacks, resulting in little or no punishment.

Dr. King, originally a Baptist Minister, quickly became the leader of the protests against the prevalent racial injustices. Nonviolent sit-ins, rallies, and marches all became crucial elements in the rhetoric of Dr. King and the Civil Rights movement.

The “I Have a Dream” speech certainly captured the spirit of Dr. King’s passion for equality and qualified him as one of the greatest orators in American history. King’s speech alludes to the Declaration of Independence, American Constitution, The Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, several books of Scripture, and even Shakespeare’s Richard III.

His eloquent speech inspired many to fight evermore diligently for equality. In fact, President John F. Kennedy himself considered the March on Washington crucial to his civil rights campaign.

Dr. King went on to be named Time Magazine’s man of the year in 1963 and 1964, and he became the youngest man to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 as well. Undoubtedly, Dr. King’s dream finally began to materialize even before he was assassinated in 1968.

Come join The WordPlayers for Walk, Don’t Ride as we commemorate Dr. King and others and celebrate the history of the fight for equality.

We also invite you to the FINAL DRESS REHEARSAL of Walk, Don’t Ride on Thursday, Janunary 19, at 7:30 pm at Middlebrook Christian Ministries, 1540 Robinson Road (Get Directions).  Admission is free.  For a full schedule of performances, please click here. 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Freedom rides.

Rosa Parks.

Amazing Grace.

Lunch-counter sit-ins.

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize.

For some of us, those names, events, and songs are part of a powerful personal experience.  For some, they are part of a seemingly distant history.  And perhaps for others, they are unfamiliar. But without a doubt, a couple of generations ago, those people, events, and songs (among other things) changed the course of America.

The WordPlayers’ next touring show – WALK, DON’T RIDE, by Peter Manos – explores all of them and more, in an attempt to celebrate and commemorate the American Civil Rights movement.

Those of us who have been privileged to be in the rehearsal room the past couple of weeks with the talented cast have been moved by the surging lyrics and harmonies of the freedom songs; we’ve been swept away by the soaring rhetoric of Dr. King’s words; we’ve been uplifted by the courage and strength of Mrs. Parks; and we’ve been reminded of some events in America’s history of which we are proud and some of which we are ashamed.

WALK, DON’T RIDE, an example of the best kind of “edu-tainment,” has already been booked for over 20 performances in 16 different venues, including middle schools, high schools, colleges, and churches.  What an exciting Black History Month this February will be!!

There is an open dress rehearsal on Thursday, Jan. 19^th, at 7.30 PM at the MCM, 1540 Robinson Road.  Please join us!

It’s also significant (to me, anyway) that in the King James Version, in John 3:15, it talks about those believing in Jesus will have “eternal” life, but in the very next verse, the famous one, it talks about those same people having “everlasting” life.  Yes, maybe “eternal” and “everlasting” are synonymous, but when speaking Chapter 3 consecutively as a whole, the different words create a magnificent kind of build in the thought.

The King James Version was published in 1611, which was toward the end of the Early Modern English period (roughly 1475-1650).  At that time, our language as we know it was young, energetic, growing, changing, unbounded by many rules and restrictions: like a young adolescent set free to explore a new beach, or like a young colt learning just how fast he can run.  Shakespeare was writing at that time.

In fact, 1611 is generally regarded as the year THE TEMPEST was first played by Shakespeare’s company.  It’s a period of time that a language can experience only once.

All of us are young for only one brief period of time.  Just as it is thrilling to watch a bunch of gifted teenagers playing soccer with abandon just for the pure joy of it, it is thrilling to voice God’s Word in this glorious translation, unbounded by rules of syntax and grammar (about which my computer reminds me with squiggly lines under words and phrases).

So please join us on New Year’s Eve to experience the Gospel of John and Revelation, voiced in the KJV in honor of its 400^th anniversary!! John begins at 7 PM; Revelation (augmented by music selections based on the text and Pat Marvenko Smith’s artwork) at 9.30 PM.  Come hear how fun it is for a nerd like me to say “a thousand two hundred and threescore days” instead of “1,260 days.” J (Revelation 12:6)

Read more about the Word-a-Thon.

I wish I had a camera to show you what was going on, but to simplify, we had to take poor “Mary” completely apart. First arms, then she was turned upside down to get her bottom half detached from her top half. Because of the way this mannequin sits, we had to take her other leg off because she still wouldn’t fit.

All of the humor in the process was amplified by the fact that Mary had no clothes on the bottom half (she only wears a white robe) and by my face turning completely red as I am laughing and taking her apart in front of at least three guards. The guards were also turning red and laughing with the rest of The WordPlayers’ team. They confessed to never having seen this before as they watched mannequin body parts through the scanner.

Once all of our props were through, we took a long walk to a gym where we had about 15 minutes to set up and be ready to perform.

I play the bag lady. She has been through some rough times. I think that the bag lady doesn’t feel like she is worth anything and she feels like everyone else thinks that too. As I was playing this part in prison, I felt like I could relate to how some of these men must feel. While the bag lady shares her story she has a revelation.

God knows the pain of the struggle that she feels, not only because He loves her, but because He experienced what it was to give His son for us. In that moment, I think that the bag lady finally believes that God understands her struggle and her pain. That connection and the kindness that is then showed to her saves her life.

As I looked into the eyes of the men who were watching, I wondered what their stories were and prayed that they could truly feel God’s love in the beautiful gift of forgiveness that Jesus brings.

The WordPlayers is a Knoxville-based faith-based nonprofit whose mission is to “impact theater artists and audiences by telling stories from a Christian world view,” according to Artistic Director Terry Weber. The theater company provides a “welcoming and encouraging environment for theater” and produces full-length plays and touring one-act plays, teaches classes, and provides programming, all from a Christian view.

In 1993, a group of local theater artists began brainstorming about this concept. By 1995, this group of artists was starting to give performances, and in 1998, following on the success of their production of “Paper Wings” at the Lab Theatre at the University of Tennessee, The WordPlayers officially incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It is “not a fully professional company, more of a community-based theater” but it does pay small honoraria to the theater artists.

The WordPlayers is looking forward to producing its largest venture to date at the end of the 2011-12 season: a production of the musical “Ragtime,” which looks at the idea of community and the American melting pot at the turn of the 20th century. A new children’s wing works with underserved youth. The theater company is also beginning to produce original shows, starting with a 25-minute play written by one of the members that will tour during the Christmas season and a 10-minute children’s show, also for the Christmas season.

The organization pays for its work through individual donations, corporate sponsorships, foundation grants, fees for touring programs, and ticket sales for its productions. “We have been really fortunate to have people coming to see our shows,” says Terry Weber.

The WordPlayers recently established an endowment fund at East Tennessee Foundation. The idea for the fund grew out of chats between ETF President Mike McClamroch and The WordPlayers board chair Gregor Smee while working out at the YMCA. From those conversations, The WordPlayers board found out that “It was less expensive to begin an endowment than we ever imagined,” reports Weber. “We wanted not to shut this down when the original members get too old and decrepit!” The endowment fund at ETF makes it possible for this small nonprofit theater company to accept planned gifts, gifts of stock, and other donations it could not previously handle.

The group plans to build the fund each year, with proceeds from their productions. “We can continue to invest ourselves, and hopefully attract other investors as well,” says Terry Weber. “ETF is a wonderful organization and we are privileged to be a part of it.”

See the original article at The East Tennessee Foundation website.