Race and Racism
Two Fine Actors Bring a Conversation about Race and
Racism
By the Rev. Ann Gillespie
There’s no getting around it. If you are in one of the
Lenten Five Weeks With Flannery groups or are reading the Flannery O’Connor
short stories on your own, there are a number of opportunities to feel
discomfort with some of O’Connor’s racist language. To encourage open
dialogue about this language, we
have invited actors, Jeff Allin and Craig Wallace, to come to Christ
Church to perform a scene from the recent
Roundhouse Theater production of
Permanent Collection, and to talk about their experience of working
on a show that sets out to expose the subtleties of racism in the art
world.
Permanent Collection
focuses on two high level members of a museum’s staff as they engage in
a racially charged battle over the display of African sculpture. The
museum had flourished long and quietly under the guidance of the
foundation’s education director (played by Allin). When its new
African-American director (played by Wallace) discovers African
sculptures in storage and proposes to add them to the public galleries,
he’s opposed by the education director, who’s loyal to the late museum
founder’s instructions that nothing be changed. Spurred on by a zealous
journalist, the clash escalates into a bitter public struggle for
control.
We will use Jeff’s and Craig’s stories as a catalyst
to spark our own conversation about racism in Flannery O’Connor’s world
and our own. Join us for these thought-provoking and perhaps even
uncomfortable conversations that will both inform and open our minds.
In addition to recent appearances in
Much Ado About Nothing
at the Folger Theater in
Washington
DC,
The Soul Collector and The
Cherry Orchard at the Everyman
Theater in
Baltimore,
MD;
and Romeo
and Juliet at the Sidney Harman
Hall in
Washington
DC, Craig Wallace has
numerous stage and film credits to his name.
Jeff Allin’s numerous television appearances include recurring roles on
St. Elsewhere, and seven years on
the CBS soap Bold and the Beautiful.
He has numerous stage credits to his name and appeared most recently as
Nicky Giblin in The Seafarer
at The Studio Theatre in Washington, DC. Jeff is married to the Rev. Ann
Gillespie and is a layreader at Christ Church.