WS Chronicle

By Felecia Piggott-Anderson, Ph.D.

More than 45 supporters of the North Carolina Black Repertory Company played African instruments and sang with Baba Joseph Anderson and me as we led the welcome song “Funga.”  The guests attended my book signing and the N.C. Black Rep exhibit at Sawtooth School for Visual Art on Tuesday, Oct. 8. The title of my new book is “Locating the Neo-Black Aesthetic: Playwrights of the North Carolina Black Repertory Company React to the Black Arts Movement,” and several of the playwrights mentioned in my book were in attendance. It was the perfect complement to the exhibit “Sacred Threads: Weaving Stories from the North Carolina Black Repertory Company.”

Dr. Trudier Harris, J. Carlyle-Sitterson Distinguished Professor of English, emerita, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and University Distinguished Research Professor of English, emerita, University of Alabama, has published several texts on African American literature. Her most recent work is “Bigger: A Literary Life” (2024). She voiced her value of the worth of my research on this new text saying, “Any recovery or reclamation work is valuable, especially involving African American life and culture, because so much is missing from ‘official’ accounts. Education. That’s the point,” said Dr. Harris. “Younger generations are clueless, and scholarship such as yours offers them a pathway to a specialized kind of knowledge.”

Several guests from the North Carolina Black Repertory Company attended the gathering. Broadway veteran choreographer Mabel Robinson, singer and entrepreneur Janice Price Black, costume designer Frenchie LaVerne Slade, Jon Millner, marketing coordinator, Ms. Darlaney, and Dr. Elwanda Ingram, among others. Guests from my church, Alpha and Omega Church of Faith, and my family were also in attendance. Playwright Nathan Ross Freeman came to meet the students from Carver High School who attended the field trip at the Sawtooth on Thursday, Oct. 10.

Rebecca Silberman, director of operations and exhibitions at Sawtooth School for Visual Art, and Jon Millner, marketing coordinator for the North Carolina Black Repertory Company, welcomed the guests into the gathering and introduced me and the exhibit. “We are glad to see all of our guests tonight. The song brought a positive energy into the room. Tonight, we welcome Dr. Felecia Piggott-Anderson’s new book, and we were able to use her first landmark book, ‘The North Carolina Black Repertory Company: 25 Marvtastic Years,’ as a blueprint for our exhibit ‘Sacred Threads.’ Jon Millner had the vision for this exhibit, and we provided the space and support to bring it to life. It became a collaboration between various artists,” said Silberman. 

“It was amazing working with Frenchie LaVerne, costume designer for the North Carolina Black Repertory Company. We were able to bring her costumes into the limelight. Tomm Medlin allowed us to use one of his stained-glass pieces, and Poland Lou, director of ceramics, allowed us to borrow one of his creations. Also, Freda Ward from the Diggs Gallery allowed us to use a quilt her family designed in 1960 with cotton batting they grew in South Carolina,” said Silberman.

Millner commented, “We are greatly indebted to Dr. Piggott-Anderson for her research. In fact, we would not have been able to complete the exhibit without her book.”

Mabel Robinson gave honor to her grandmother Mary (Joseph) Ellen Gilliard Huginnie, who recognized her calling as a dancer when Robinson was only six months old. “My grandmother kept me while my mother worked. She would often tell my mother that as long as I was fed and dry, as soon as I was strong enough to stand in the crib, I would pull up and dance while the music played on the radio,” said Robinson. “People often remember my portrayal of a dancer/stripper in the movie “Cotton Comes to Harlem” or my work in “The Wiz.” These were positive productions that were directed by African American directors. These films allowed me to participate in the history of our enslavement and our freedom.”

Frenchie Slade attended the signing and the exhibit and said, “I made sure to be here to make my way to the Sawtooth Center for the exhibit and the signing because both of them celebrated work I have been doing for so long.

 “I have been designing for the company for almost 25 years. The first production I designed for was ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’’ under the direction of Mabel Robinson.”

Reynita McMillan Blake, my daughter, was excited about attending the gathering and said it brought back many memories from her childhood. “I enjoyed the signing and the exhibit because I was glad to see my mother receive recognition for writing the first book, which laid the groundwork for the exhibit. I was grateful to see her get her flowers because she devoted a lot of time to her research on Amiri Baraka, Ed Bullins, Larry Leon Hamlin, Nathan Ross Freeman, Mabel Robinson, and Janice Price Black. It took dedication and focus to get it done. It was phenomenal to see the fruit of her labor on display.”

Ben Piggott, my brother, and Artist Kayyum Allah from the Happy Hill Garden Artists Collective, were glad to participate in the book-signing, the lecture and the exhibit. “I have always appreciated the plays of Amiri Baraka and Ed Bullins. They captured our history in a unique way,” said Piggott. “Bullins was the minister of culture for the Black Panther Party, and Baraka was known as the ‘angriest Black man in America.’  There is so much to learn about our history through Black theatre.”