WS Chronicle

BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY

THE CHRONICLE

According to organizers, there will be a hilarious and witty hit gospel stage play coming that comically confronts church traditions and when it’s time to make a shift.

It sheds light on power struggles, pride, church legacy and judgmental attitudes that hold too tightly to the past and resist the very change that could lead to a stronger church family and a far-reaching community impact.

Dreamcast Productions will present the play “Church Folk” at the K.R. Williams Auditorium on Winston-Salem State University’s (WSSU) campus on Saturday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m.  Dreamcast Productions is a family-owned and operated production team founded in 2014 and seeks to address real life topics through the eyes of faith, comedy and drama.

For this showing of the play, the producers have added to the special guest line up two-time Stellar Award nominee gospel vocalist Ruth La’Ontra.  She will be singing her new single, “Come Through,” which was written and produced by 10-time Stellar Award winner Anthony Brown.

Winston-Salem’s own living leg-end, “The Boss Lady,” Anita Dean-Arnette, a radio announcer with 103.5 The Light and 96.3 FM, will also be among the performers.

Jermaine Cherry, writer and producer for the play, says he was raised in the church and as a youth he would notice the older members of the church act a certain way versus the young people.  He said the purpose of the play is to bring healing, redemption and acceptance so people can come into church and be healed by God.

“What separates us from other stage plays is we give the people a full performance,” said Cherry. “At Dreamcast productions, we don’t put on plays; we put on productions.  We have a full state-of-the-art Tyler Perry-type set that is built on stage and is top of the line.  The experience you get when you come to see a Dreamcast production play is, ‘Wow that was a great show.’”

Cherry says they have had two previous showings of the play in the Raleigh area and wanted to bring the play to a different area for people to enjoy.  He says the Winston-Salem area has a strong African-American community along with the historic tradition of WSSU, and that attracted them immensely.

Cherry went on to say his production company also enjoys giving back to the community.  They have partnered with a sickle cell organization in North Carolina because the dis-ease is so prevalent in the African-American community.  The organization received proceeds from each of Dreamcast’s productions.

Cherry also plans on building a studio where young kids can come out and learn about the arts.  It will include teaching children a wide range of skills, such as script writing, performing and building the different sets.  He says he would like to run the program during the summertime and for students in year round school.

He closed by saying, “The mission of the company is to entertain people through the love of Christ and do good performing arts.”

To purchase general admission tickets for $30 and WSSU student tickets for $15, call the auditorium at 336-750-3220 ext. 601 or buy online at www.wssu.edu/tickets or www.dreamcastproduc-tions.org.