The sincere and sensitive Jefferson is innocent.
Yet, prosecutors have condemned the young Christian black man from Louisiana to death. Jefferson’s lawyer claims the below average intelligent Jefferson is no better than a hog, and he lacks the mental skills to commit the pre-meditated murder he is charged with.
Jefferson takes his lawyer’s words to heart and acts as though he were as intelligent as a hog in prison. Jefferson’s godmother, Miss Emma, is disturbed by the situation and insists that Jefferson become a well-educated man with dignity by the time he is executed.
Miss Emma finally convinces the hard-heartened atheist Grant Wiggins, an elementary teacher, to educate Jefferson before his death. Wiggins attempts to give Jefferson a few lessons before dying, but Jefferson refuses to cooperate. Will Wiggins ever be able to impact Jefferson before his nearing electric chair execution? … Or will Jefferson impact Wiggins?
Spectators can find out next week when The Nicholls Players perform Romulus Linney’s “A Lesson Before Dying” from Oct. 30 through Nov. 2 in Talbot Theater. The drama will be performed at 7:30 p.m. from Thursday through Saturday, with a 3 p.m. matinee on Sunday.
Admission to the play is $10 for the general public and $5 for students. Tickets can be purchased at the door or from the Department of Mass Communication, located a 102 Talbot Hall. For more information, call (985) 448-4586.
“I think this play will really challenge people because of its strong message,” Norman Edmonds, an English junior from Thibodaux who plays Wiggins, said. “This play will make a real emotional impact on the people watching it.”
The play goes beyond the conflict between races to explore the internal divisions that hinder the black community: education versus religion, dark skin versus light skin and the responsibility of one man to himself and to his community.
“I think the play definitely expounds on many things, especially the truth about what justice is,” Stanley Coleman, the play’s director and instructor of speech and theater, said. “Many people don’t understand what some people go through, but this play will open the eyes of many.”
This semester’s cast of eight performers is much smaller than past productions by The Nicholls Players. Coleman said it has been it has been a different experience for him, but working with so few people has helped him learn the actors’ strengths and weaknesses better. “It’s very nice working with this small group,” Coleman said. “There weren’t many personality conflicts which usually occur with larger groups. This has been pleasant.”
Lafayette resident Walter Brown, a professional actor, director and set designer who has worked in the Los Angeles area, created the set for the play. Since the play is set in three different places, the main stage will consist of all sets at once. Brown is designing the set with a group of Nicholls students who are enrolled in a theater workshop course where they learn the specifics of setting up a stage, sound and lighting.
The setup will allow actors to switch from scene to scene immediately without interrupting the audience. Brown said the lights will shift from one scene to the next, drawing attention to each scene without disrupting the flow. “In this very intense show, the emotions are kept flowing and the intensity of the story is maintained [throughout],” Brown said.
Coleman said having the proper setup up was vital to the play because of its message and that it took place in Louisiana. He expects many people to attend because of its regional and ethical significance.
Although “A Lesson Before Dying” was re-written by 72-year-old Linney, a nationally award-winning playwright from Philadelphia and drama instructor at Columbia University’s School of Arts, the play’s script was adapted from the 1993 best-selling novel with the same title by well-known Louisiana author Ernest Gaines.
Home Box Office also recorded its version of the novel in 1998. Staying true to its original setting, much of HBO’s filming took place in southern Louisiana, some in the Thibodaux area. “For it to become a movie just six years after its release says a whole lot about how important the story is,” Coleman said. “Mr. Gaines wrote a masterpiece. The story may have been his actual experience, but we may never know that.”
Born on a Louisiana plantation during the Great Depression, Gaines moved to Vallego, Calif. at the age of 15. He immediately discovered a public library when he arrived, but he grew disturbed when he could not locate many books written about blacks. He was then driven to write one of his own.
After taking many writing courses at San Francisco State University, Gaines published his first novel, “Catherine Carmier,” in 1964. He would publish three more books over the next seven years but gained little attention. In 1971, however, Gaines completed one of the most famous novels of its time, “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.” The novel explained the difficulties of living in the United States as a black.
Gaines would publish several more novels over the years, focusing on the black community of Louisiana, an issue close to his heart. “A Lesson Before Dying” spent several weeks on the New York Times bestseller list after its release in 1993, and it became his most successful and popular novel to date. He continues to write at his residence in San Francisco.
Scott Fremin, English education senior from Schriever, who plays the Sheriff, encourages people of all ages to attend the performance because they can take something from the intense drama. “If you want to see an actual good show then please come because you won’t be disappointed.”