Though "Alabama Story" is set in 1959, the fight against book banning remains unfortunately timely. This production uses Stage One’s video screens for a pre-show/intermission slide show that lists recent incidents of censorship that have been brought by the ACLU of Michigan.
Playwright Kenneth Jones reported, "In 2015, when Alabama Story premiered at Pioneer Theatre Company in Salt Lake City, I naively thought I was writing a period piece that was a mashup of a courtroom drama, a political thriller, a romance and a memory play. Traditional. Entertaining. Almost old-fashioned. It never occurred to me that the piece would become more relatable as the years went on." https://bykennethjones.com/childrens-book-about-interracial-rabbits-wedding-is-called-propaganda-in-1959/
Jones has artfully delivered the history with a layer of fiction that adds heart and humanity to the script. Joshua Moore and Xia Skowronek give us the fictional Black and White childhood friends, growing up throughout the story and adding thought-provoking points of view.
Gini Larson brings a modest strength and dignity to her Librarian-champion role as the historical Emily Wheelock Reed, maintaining, “...A librarian must make books available. I believe that the free flow of information is the best means to work out problems facing the South, the nation and the world.”
Ayden Soupal is charmingly earnest as Emily's devoted assistant Thomas Franklin. David Brooks is appropriately smarmy and bombastic as Senator E.W. Higgins (based on a real senator, but the name was changed… to protect the guilty?) It was a treat to see Jeff Boerger back on stage as Garth Williams, witty artistic author of “The Rabbit’s Wedding” serving as our host/narrator/emcee, who also steps in to play various extra characters throughout the play.
The play is not short — about two and a half hours — but it flows quickly under Heath Sartorius’s direction, using a giant story book as backdrop, with the large “pages” turned by the actors to quickly move us from the library to other locations. Heath credits A.D. Karrington Kelsey with the backdrop-book idea and set designer Ro Salarian and painters Kelley McNabb and Lino Pretto did a lovely job executing this both appropriate and practical quick-scene-change device.
Peppermint Creek also is promoting resources below from the Michigan Libraries Association and the ACLU of Michigan that give us a roadmap for combating book banning.
MI Right to Read is a grassroots coalition of Michigan residents organized by the Michigan Library Association. The coalition opposes any attempts to ban books from Michigan libraries based on content subjectively deemed inappropriate. Its purpose is to educate the public and propose/support legislation that protects First Amendment rights and intellectual freedom. Find more information and take action at https://www.mirighttoread.com/.
Alabama Story continues through April 28 — Remember all Peppermint shows now start at 7pm (except Sunday 2pm matinees) at Stage One Sycamore Creek Eastwood, directly across from McAllister’s Deli on Lake Lansing Road; driveway east of the building, parking lot in back. Tickets at https://peppermintcreek.org/event/alabama-story/