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GIVING BACK: Theater guild's social supports young artists

The N.C. Black Repertory Theatre Guild billed last Tuesday’s gathering at the Arts Council Theatre as a “meet-and-greet.” But the entertainers in the lobby held everyone’s attention so well that it looked more like a “move-and-groove.”

The five young musicians from the Triad Youth Jazz Society of Greensboro started playing at 6:30 p.m. on a staging area at the top of the steps leading in to the theater. Within a few minutes, the group had its audience of about 75 guild members and their guests in the palms of their hands.

Patrice Toney, the guild president, said that the social was organized to recruit new members to the guild and support young performing artists. “This is our way of giving back to the community,” she said.

The guild was organized in 1981 to provide volunteers for the N.C. Black Theatre Festival and other performances produced by the N.C. Black Repertory Co. that was started by Larry Leon Hamlin. Today, its 500 members work as ushers, sell concessions, do telemarketing, assist with clerical work and help with wardrobes during performances. Other recent social gatherings have included gallery hops and participation in the Winston-Salem State University homecoming parade, Toney said.

Toney has been the president of the guild for three years and calls her service “a great experience and an honor.” Inviting the young musicians to perform Tuesday night was another way that the guild is carrying on Hamlin’s vision, she said. “He had a passion for educating youth,” she said.

Toney, an adolescent-health counselor at the health department, recently received a grant to support Teen Theatre, a collaborative project between the health department and theater festival. As a result, the group presented the play Choices last October in the Arts Council Theatre and will gear up again for more shows with open auditions in January.

The guild is so much more than all the work that goes into putting together a show. It offers its members fun and fellowship, Toney said. The group is planning a trip to New York in the spring to see The Lion King and a second play yet to be decided.

“Exciting” was the way Stella Davis describes life in the guild. She’s been part of the group for six years and has served on the board for two. Also a member of the Marvtastic Society of the National Black Theatre Festival, she said she enjoys special seats at performances and meeting the stars at receptions afterward.

I had a hard time Tuesday night cornering Gerry Patton, who became the new executive director of the festival in late September. True to one of the missions of the group she heads, she was busy taking care of the kids in the band. Up and down the steps to her offices she ran, over and over, making sure that the musicians had plenty of the fried chicken that was spread out for the audience. And the purple chips, the purple jello, the purple grape juice and the cake with purple icing.

When she finally stopped running, we talked about her 12-year history with festival. Patton told me she started as a volunteer, became the coordinator of volunteers, worked in the office and served on the board of directors. She also served on the board of the guild and was a past president.

Patton said she’s excited about her new challenge. “And I’m very, very excited about what Mr. Hamlin has left for us to carry on,” she said. “The groundwork has been laid, and we have a firm foundation upon which to continue.”

She said the guild is very important to the continuation of that work. “Every member is a festival volunteer and serves in leadership roles,” she said. “They’re always here to help.”

Winnie Faye Speas became a member about 15 years ago and joined the board two years ago. The reason is simple. “I like the theater and wanted to support it,” she said. During her years as a guild volunteer, she said she has enjoyed watching the festival grow. And it’s been good for her, personally, she said. “It’s helped me appreciate theater, and I can appreciate it right here in Winston-Salem.”

You would have to spend your days buried in the back of a closet not to know about the festival the repertory company produces every other year, but not everybody knows about the company’s other performances. Mabel Robinson, the artistic director of festival, said that there are several: Black Nativity, a Martin Luther King celebration and various performances in the spring and fall.

Rehearsals for Black Nativity, to be performed Dec. 14-16 this year at the Arts Council Theatre, are going well, Robinson said. “We’ve got some fantastic voices and a lot of new faces,” she said about the 18 performers.

Robinson has been associated with the repertory company for 21 years. “It’s my longest association with any group,” she laughed. “I didn’t always see eye-to-eye with Larry, but the quality of what he demanded was the quality I demanded. We were a perfect match.”

Hamlin’s widow, Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin, remembered the early days.

The guild started with 10 people “trying to bring the community together,” she said. The group got together on the first Sunday of every month in a readers theater to raise money. They also served as the hosts of parties in their homes with a goal that each guild member would recruit 10 more. “Larry and I went to each one of those parties,” she remembered fondly.

One of Sprinkle-Hamlin’s recent contributions to the guild was to recommend the musicians for Tuesday night. They were Alan Thompson, 15, on alto sax; Tyler Montgomery, 10, on keyboard; Asia Stamey, 16, on drums; Josiah Clapp, 17, on guitar; and Mariah McFadden, 16, on bass. They were joined Tuesday by Stan Montgomery, one of the founders of the Triad Jazz Youth Society and its president; Mike Thompson, the society’s program director; and Annie Amos, its secretary.

This article was published by the Winston-Salem Journal and can be found here.

Jumpin' a tthe Summit with Jazz

• Jumpin' at the Summit with Jazz (Adobe Acrobat file)