Free Southern Theater

In 1963, John O'Neal, Doris Derby, Gilbert Moses, and William Hutchinson drafted "A General Prospectus for the Establishment of a Free Southern Theater, Jackson, Mississippi." This document outlined the goals of the theater company and how they would accomplish them. They included: • To acquaint Southern peoples with a breadth of experience with the theater and related art forms • To liberate and to explore the creative talent and potential that is here as well as to promote the production of art • To develop an appreciation of the theater and related art forms- an understanding of the technical problems as well as ideas and concepts • To bring in artists from outside the state as well as to provide the opportunity for local people with creative ability to have experience with the theater • To emphasize the universality of the problems of the Negro people • To strengthen communication between Southern Negroes • To assert that self-knowledge and creativity are the foundations of Human Dignity With these goals in mind, they solidified a mission statement: "Our objective is to stimulate creative and reflective thought among Negroes in Mississippi and other Southern states by the establishment of a legitimate theater, thereby providing the opportunity for involvement in the theater and associated art forms." ==History==

The Free Southern Theater was formed in September 1963 when Gilbert Moses and John O'Neal met in Mississippi while working with the civil rights movement. Their first production, In White America, toured 16 towns and cities ranging in size from Mileston in Holmes County, Mississippi, to New Orleans. Gilbert Moses recalls: "The Holmes County people came in from the farms to see us. We had to play in the afternoon because they wanted to get back home by dark." They toured rural Louisiana and Mississippi presenting plays such as Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Initially consisting of both black and white actors, the company gradually became exclusively African-American and presented only plays by black playwrights such as the controversial LeRoi Jones (later known as Amiri Baraka). From the first, the company was plagued by artistic and managerial disagreements; and, with free admission as a primary objective, money was always in short supply. Following their January 1965 tour, the company did fundraising performances in New York. where they purchased an office space and gathered a board of directors. The company went from eight members to twenty-three. Charles Kerbs produced at least one of these workshops. They adapted the play In White America by Martin Duberman to depict the murders of Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) field workers James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman, killed in Philadelphia, Mississippi, by the Ku Klux Klan. They also performed Waiting for Godot in whiteface. and Ossie Davis's "Purlie Victorious". But in spite of grants from the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, and support from celebrities including Harry Belafonte, Arthur Ashe, Bill Cosby, and Julian Bond, The Free Southern Theater gradually lost its creative momentum and financial support. John O'Neal's theater company Junebug Productions strives to carry on the legacy of the Free Southern Theater. == Founding members ==

Gilbert Moses Gilbert Moses, a founding member of The Free Southern Theater and noted theater director, was born in Cleveland in August 1942. As a student at Oberlin College, Moses studied for a year at the Sorbonne in Paris before leaving school to join the civil rights movement. During his time in Mississippi, Moses served as a journalist for the Mississippi Free Press. New York Times theater critic Mel Gussow observes that an interest in the work of Jean Vilar and the Theatre National Populaire led Moses to pursue more "socially relevant theater". Following his involvement with The Free Southern Theater, Moses directed stage productions both on and off-Broadway. In 1969 Moses won an Obie Award for Amiri Baraka's 1969 play Slave Ship. Reflecting on a 1972 New York Times interview with Moses, Gussow observes how he "called for a deeper investigation of the lives of black people in the United States". As a student at Hunter College in New York, Derby was a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The department of African American studies at Mississippi State University observes that the SNCC "organized voter registration drives, self help economic and educational initiatives and carried out protests at such places as segregated local, statewide and national governmental facilities, public movie theaters, parks, medical facilities and churches". In 1980, The Free Southern Theater produced their final performance, a solo piece written and performed by O'Neal titled ''Don't Start Me to Talking or I’ll Tell Everything I Know''. The play features the character Junebug Jabbo Jones, "created by the SNCC members to represent and symbolize the wit and wisdom of common folk". This performance marked the final production of the FST, but also signified the creation of O'Neal's new theater company, Junebug Productions. == Notable productions ==

The first productions put on by the Free Southern Theatre were In White America and Waiting for Godot. These productions toured through the poor areas of the south, especially in Mississippi, where the company was founded. As part of their mission, the shows never charged an entry fee and performed in public places like churches and community halls. As mentioned in the History section, their production of Waiting for Godot was performed in whiteface since most of the cast was African American at the time. The theater also performed Purlie Victorious. In a New York Times article, a company member only referred to as "James" (James Cromwell, who played Pozzo) describes the enthusiasm that Godot received from the audiences in Mississippi. == Outreach ==

In addition to free performances throughout its existence, the Free Southern Theatre remained rooted in its Civil Rights roots. They had workshops for the community and college students at various stops on their tours, an acting apprenticeship, and a sponsorship program for local artists in Mississippi. Their partnership with the SNCC was essential for them to gain funding and support in order to continue their mission. The Free Southern Theater had to end its operations in 1980. Their mission did not entirely end, however, as Junebug Productions was formed in the shadow of the Free Southern Theater. This company is still working in several communities in the south in order to bring arts to areas that need it most. Their biggest project is the National Color Line Project in which the company travels and collects stories surrounding the Civil Rights Movement and uses them to archive history as well as bring new light to the current racial situation in the USA. ==References==