Cell Phone Blues
Written by: Robert Johnson Jr.
Directed by: Aisha Dew
CELL PHONE BLUES, a new work by Robert
Johnson, Jr., and directed by Aisha Dew, is a five-character play
set in Charlotte’s black working class neighborhood (off Oaklawn)
during the period of community canvassing for Barack Obama’s
presidential bid in North Carolina, May 2008.
This 2009 National Black Theater Festival Reader's Theater Series
pick is a dramatization of tragic events in the life of an
African-American family that is confronted with unforeseen and
debilitating events. Rachel Jackson, a young college student has
been arrested for a drug offense that she knew nothing about. Her
father Charles Jackson has uncovered some unexplained cell phone
calls on his wife’s cell phone bill and these two events orchestrate
to almost tear this close knit family apart at its roots. This
conflict is complicated by David Wallace a predatory ex-con who
seduces young Rachel into a life of confusion that adds fuel to the
family’s tragic collapse.
The play tackles the issue of how stable families can be undermined
by jealousy and deception, and how the forces of gentrification,
drugs and poverty can cause human vulnerability and fragility to
escalate out of control.
Many people have written about the pursuit of the American Dream.
CELL PHONE BLUES looks at a particular family during a period of
political optimism and demonstrates that such optimism seldom
catches fire among those on the margins of society and that
structural changes of an economic nature must filter down to the
poor. It also sheds a light on the barriers and possibilities
between parents and optimistic youth during the Barack Obama primary
campaign in Charlotte. Finally, the play explores the tension
between dreams of economic success and the ever present burden and
companionship of the blues.
Showing:
September 23 - 27 & September 30 - October 4 2009
wednesday and thursday : 7:30 pm
( friday and saturday : 8:00 pm )
sunday : 3:00pm
at the Booth Playhouse, part of the Blumenthal.
tickets available at 704-372-1000 carolinatix.org
