Chatham Life & Style

By Mikki Stith, guest writer

Women’s Theatre Festival 2020

To see the schedule of events or purchase workshop tickets, click HERE. 

All WTFringe shows are unticketed with a $10 suggested donation.

Watch the performances stream live on Twitch.

A workshop reading of excerpts from XIX by Jacqueline E. Lawton premiered last Saturday, July 11, as part of the fifth annual Women’s Theatre Festival. Our very own Ivana Vazquez reviewed the reading last week.

Jacqueline E. Lawton and I took some time to discuss the themes of XIX (“nineteen”) and how her work serves as a form of activism.

Lawton first told me how she was commissioned for this play, set in North Carolina in 1919:

"The NC League of Women Voters wanted to tell a story that is not talked about. During this period, white women were working against Black women for the right to vote. There was a real fear that if Black women could vote, it would empower more Black men to vote and even hold office. The white people of the time did not want that to happen. They did not want Black people in positions of power.

“There were of course allies, but most white citizens of North Carolina were against Black suffrage and Black woman suffrage. The NC League of Women Voters wanted a full picture of this side of the story,” Lawton explains.

When we talked about not getting a full picture of history, it reminded me of the Wilmington Massacre of 1898. I grew up on the coast of North Carolina, and I was never taught this horrifying part of our state’s past.

“Those events are not far removed from what is happening in this play," Lawton agrees. "That exact event is in the recent memory and the conscience of these characters. They know what it means when they hear white people say that they don’t want Black people to vote: it means lynching and massacre. So it takes real courage to say that these are rights, and we are fighting for it because our future generations should not have to struggle.”

Since the theme of the 2020 season was family, the Women’s Theatre Festival wanted this story to focus on an interracial family. According to Lawton, this family is working together towards what they think is a common goal, only to realize that we all don’t have the same rights and opportunities:

"Early on I had to figure out who was at the center of the story. And I knew that I wanted Adelaide, a Black woman married into a white family, to be the main character. Since I knew about the Hayti community in Durham, I saw it as an opportunity to also bring that story to life. A lot of people don't know about this prominent Black community from this time."

Because we know North Carolina did not pass the 19th amendment, Lawton had to develop a story that supported these facts. That’s where the historical fiction came in. "We know that North Carolina did not vote to ratify the amendment,” she says. “Tennessee did, and that’s how the nineteenth amendment became law. So I developed this story around the family, interracial women fighting, and white woman not wanting Black women to vote. What could a white woman realistically do to stop Black suffrage? What level of betrayal would that be for Adelaide?"

Lawton explains that Adelaide then has to figure out what she’s going to do. Will she stay married? How will her family redefine the boundaries of their relationship? Adelaide also learns there is more she can to support and give back to her community than helping financially. As an educated Black woman, she can provide education opportunities. She teaches people to read so that when they are tested, they could read the Constitution and answer the questions. 

Lawton reminds us that part of the Jim Crow laws was that, regardless of a Black person's answer, a white authority figure would say it was wrong. But at least Adelaide kept people informed so that they could stay as engaged, involved, and politically active as possible. Adelaide becomes an activist in her own right in a way that, at the beginning of the play, she had never considered.

It was really exciting for Lawton to develop this part of her character:

"With activism, there is no one way to show up. Some people have the financial means. So if what you can do is give money, then give money. We also know that we are heard when we are seen, and the more numbers you have the easier it is to not be ignored. So if you can march, march. But if you can inform and teach, make that knowledge accessible to as many people as possible."

Activism is always at the center of Lawton's work, and it shows up through many different avenues.

"I always think about the whole human being: What does it mean to be a Black woman on this planet?” she asks. “What barriers prevent me from having full access to social mobility and life? I find active points that bring awareness around certain issues. Since I am a playwright, that is how the work shows up for me."

A big question about the world comes up, and then Lawton finds how a Black woman fits in. Having the Black women at the center of the play allows her to move XIX forward.

"When you place a member of a marginalized community at the center of the work, what you are saying is that we have value. We deserve to be contemplated and considered, and we deserve the full aspect of our humanity to be on display. No more stereotypes. No more of just our pain and suffering. I want to explore the fullness of my humanity, and that is what I put at the center of my work.

“There is no one play I’m writing that says Black Lives Matter. It is literally every play that I place a Black woman at the center of. I’m saying that we have worth and our lives are valued."

For Lawton, Black people are too often marginalized into being one thing.

She teaches undergraduates at UNC-Chapel Hill, and students all over campus from all backgrounds take her classes. One thing remains consistent: Black students wonder if they are Black enough because there are no examples in television or theatre that look like them.

Lawton's response to this: "Of course there isn’t! Because there is no one way to be in this world. You are Black enough. You, as you are, right now, this moment breathing. You are Black enough. The world will tell you that you are, whether you feel that way or not."

And that is why Lawton wants more opportunities to show this whole landscape. "You get to see Blackness in this whole kaleidoscope of what it could mean to be a Black person and it is beautiful. That is what I intentionally do with my work: I present a vast array of Blackness. "

Lawton looks forward to seeing the rest of the Women's Theatre Festival, and seeing where it goes from here: "We have a festival focused on women’s voices, and the more inclusive that festival can be the better it will serve the community. As long as it keeps going further and further then that's going to be awesome. It will continue to serve our community in the most exciting way."

Jacqueline E. Lawton is a playwright, dramaturg, producer, and advocate for access, equity, diversity, and inclusion in the American Theatre. She received her MFA in Playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was a James A. Michener Fellow. She participated in the Kennedy Center’s Playwrights’ Intensive (2002) and World Interplay (2003). Her plays include: Among These Wild Things, Anna K, Blackbirds, Blood-bound and Tongue-tied, Deep Belly Beautiful, The Devil’s Sweet Water, The Hampton Years, The Inferior Sex, Intelligence, Love Brothers Serenade, Mad Breed, and Noms de Guerre. Her one-woman play Edges of Time was scheduled for its world premiere, directed by Kaja Dunn, at PlayMakers Repertory Company this spring, but was unfortunately cancelled due to the COVID outbreak.

Mikki Stith (she/her), guest writer, is a performing artist and marketer dedicated to celebrating and advocating for artists throughout the Triangle. She's the founder of the Your Creativity Business podcast and the Raleigh Community Meetup, Powered by Twitch, the Twitch-official networking group for local streaming enthusiasts. When she isn't helping artists promote and monetize their art, she's watching sci-fi in cosplay while drinking a stout. Mikkimarvel.com