POWER & REVOLUTION SEASON SUBSCRIPTION
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Our Power & Revolution Season begins a new journey for CPG. We begin our next project to produce work of Alice Childress.
Class Enrollment
Black Theatrical Voice
To understand the influence Black artists continue to have, there must be an interrogation of the intersection of Black life and theatrical practice. Specifically working with and living into the Black aesthetic., which creates the Black Theatrical Voice.
Power & Revolution SEASON
Alice Childress (October 12, 1916– August 14, 1994) was an American novelist, playwright, and actress, acknowledged as “the only African-American woman to have written, produced, and published plays for four decades.” Childress described her work as trying to portray the have-nots in a have society, saying: “My writing attempts to interpret the ‘ordinary’ because they are not ordinary. Each human is uniquely different. Like snowflakes, the human pattern is never cast twice. We are uncommonly and marvellously intricate in thought and action, our problems are most complex and, too often, silently borne.” Childress became involved in social causes, and formed an off-Broadway union for actors.
What’s next for CPG?
CPG continues to choose an author to dive deep into. Following the ground laid by the 7 years of working on August Wilson, we have chosen a woman that was partially responsible for opening the door which he walked through.
SEASON SUBSCRIPTION
Our Season Subscription Plans offer you access to our entire season. It gets you backstage access. It allows us to continue to pay our artists. By making that a priority and incrementally raising that particular bar for ourselves we hope to compensate artists commiserate with their talent and experience. Season subscription dollars help us do just that.
Depending on the level you choose you gain:
Tickets for shows
Bottle of Wine
Signed photo of Cast
Free admission to other events
JSAAHC 1 Year Basic Family Membership
Preferential Seating
SEASON SUBSCRIPTION
About the CPG
Dr. Andrea Douglas had a vision of bringing theater to the African American Heritage Center, in particular August Wilson’s Century Cycle since it effectively tells the story of Black people in the 20th century. The trick was finding the artists to do it. After meeting with Leslie M. Scott-Jones to talk about the state of Black theater in Charlottesville, a plan was formed.
Black theater. Theater written and performed from the Black perspective was missing from the artistic community in Charlottesville. Alice Walker said, “If art doesn’t make us better, then what is it for.” The same things missing from the artistic landscape are missing from other Charlottesville landscapes in which Black people frequent as well. This community has suffered for it, without any realization of the suffering itself. The assumption that there is no audience for Black theatre in Charlottesville has been disproved by the success of CPG. The landscape is changing. Black theatre has arrived in Charlottesville. It is here to stay.
If you’d like to be involved with CPG, email publicprograms@jeffschoolheritagecenter.org.
Our Mission
To ensure a safe space for Black artists to create, learn and grow in all aspects of live theatrical production. Under the umbrella of public programing for the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, CPG is concerned with telling Black stories from the Black perspective within the 20th Century.
Our Vision
CPG strives to create a new group of Black artists from the community of Charlottesville, Virginia, and surrounding counties which have been long overlooked. CPG will foster the study of a Black theatrical canon and bring it to life, by demanding excellence, creating opportunities to engage with regional and national Black artists, and creating opportunities for every Black artist to step into roles that are unavailable to them in predominantly white area theatres.
About Our Director
Leslie M. Scott-Jones studied theater education at VCU and Theatre Administration at Howard University. She became the Artistic Director of the Charlottesville Player’s Guild in 2016.
Leslie has been active in Charlottesville community theater for over ten years. However, her interest in the arts goes back to her teens when she began writing, acting and directing. The world premiere of her first play, which she wrote, produced and directed, Desire Moments was part of the 2014 Capital Fringe Festival. She has gone on to write several plays, novellas, and short stories which can all be found on Amazon. Book Ends, her first full length novel, hit the shelves Valentine’s Day Weekend 2016.
Leslie has starred in Fences playing the part of Rose, directed Jitney, Gem of the Ocean, Two Trains Running, stage managed The Piano Lesson, and produced Joe Turner’s Come and Gone by August Wilson. She played Louise in Seven Guitars by August Wilson which ran in November 2017 with UVa.’s Drama Department. In 2019 she directed The Royale by Marco Ramirez at Live Arts. In 2021, CPG premiered her play, Thirty-Seven, about a young Black man faced with a decision to join the Movement for Black Lives.
She is a member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Guild and was part of the 2022 Directing Intensive Cohort at the Kennedy Center.
Hours
Heritage Center
Tuesday – Friday 1.00 pm – 6.00 pm
Saturday 10 am – 1 pm
Closed Monday & Sunday
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