Wedding Band hits the stage today, a not-often-staged production that director Sam White calls a ‘masterpiece.’
Wedding Band, by the late-great Alice Childress, tells the story of the relationship between Julia, a Black seamstress, and Herman, a white baker, in South Carolina, circa 1918. The couple contend with all the faces of racism at the time: the legal system and the judgment from their own families, to name a few.
The “core of the play is about humanity, the richness of being alive in 1918, but also in 2023,” White said, pointing out that the themes of the play resonate in our modern era.
“It's a love story. It's a story about community. It's a story about what happens when social systems like political systems – like racism and misogyny and poverty – come into people's lives.”
White clarified that although these are heavy topics to parse through, “the truth will set you free."
“It's important to have stories like this so that we can learn from them. So that hopefully we can get the lessons from that era and other eras after it or before it so that we can continue to press forward.”
The beauty and masterful precision of Childress’ play is not in its heavy subject matter, but rather its characters. The play is about two people deeply in love and a whole community of entrepreneurial women.
As White argued, these characters are fully realized people who have a full range of realized emotion.
“As Miss Alice Childress says, she tells stories from the earth. She tells stories about people, everyday ordinary people. That's what makes her stories so extraordinary.”
On White’s part in staging this play, she is using music as a cornerstone.
“Jacob’s Ladder” is mentioned throughout Wedding Band. It is an old gospel tune that speaks to the characters of the show, White said, explaining that they start the production with the song.
Music is a sensory connection that has no boundary, something which can bring everyone in the audience to the play without any dialogue or exposition. “Jacob’s Ladder” also acts as a framing device.
All of the characters are trying to get to the top rung, their divine purpose so to speak, but due to their circumstances, they might not all make it.
White is dedicating the production to her father Fred White, Stratford legend Martha Henry, and the playwright Alice Childress.
As she explained, working with such important material can be difficult. As part of the process she often calls upon the ancestors, and each of those three have something to offer this production.
Born in Alabama, White’s father is her reference point for the deep south of South Carolina. Childress is the playwright and her dramaturgical information has been crucial for White, and Henry’s trailblazing made it possible for White to be in this position in the first place.
“On a personal note, my connection with this play is my heritage and so when I call upon the ancestors to be a part of my process, that includes my dad, my grandma, those great southern folks who brought me into this world, and then of course, Martha Henry.
“Martha Henry was from Detroit, born and raised like myself. And so I always sort of looked up to her because she was a prime example that you could go anywhere in the world and make art, make beautiful art.”
Wedding Band officially opens on July 14 and runs until Oct. 1.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the Festival’s website.
Director’s Notes is an ongoing series from StratfordToday, featuring interviews with Stratford Festival directors; discussing their project, their scope, and their goals for this year’s production.
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