Actors De’Lon Grant and Maurice Emmanuel Parent are reprising their roles in a Boston play, “The Scottsboro Boys.” They joined Boston Public Radio to talk about the show’s format, its message, and its effect on audiences.
The play follows the story of nine black boys who were falsely accused of rape in Alabama in 1931. It’s told through the style of a minstrel show, and Parent explained the format is crucial to understanding the piece created by the playwrights, John Kander and Fred Ebb.
“They’re using the format of a minstrel show to tell this story, to highlight how minstrelsy was the most popular form of entertainment in America for about a hundred years,” he said. “It involved grotesque stereotypes of black people and black lives, so [the play uses] these stereotypes to tell how these nine black boys were just seen for their race before they were individuals, before they were even able to get justice.”
Grant explained how a mostly white audience would alternately feel enjoyment and discomfort, prompting them to examine their feelings.
“There’s this unbelievable element...We’re giving you something that’s fun and great and sparkles and glitter, and then we’re punching you in the gut,” he said. “We’re taking these stereotypes back, saying, ‘This is what white people would have done to black people in 1931,’ so we’re taking back that power which I think is really interesting.”
Parent noted that the specifics of the venue also help to capture the audience, adding to the process of self-reflection for viewers.
“It’s a tale that I think is more powerful when it’s literally in the faces of the audience,” he said. “Theatre is a dialogue, and this dialogue needs to be had in an intimate space.”
Grant pointed out that audience reception has been affected by context, with inequalities in the American justice system at the forefront of national conversation.
“We’re seeing on social media left and right the injustices that are happening with [police] brutality,” he said.
Both actors said they felt personal responsibility to tell the story of the Scottsboro boys.
“This case and many cases like it were kind of lost in the history books,” said Parent.
Grant agreed: “I often feel like my life is built on the backs of these individuals,” he said. “This is an American story. This is our history.”
“The Scottsboro Boys” is a production of the Speakeasy Stage company. It runs December 30th through January 22nd at the Roberts Studio Theatre at the Calderwood Pavilion.
To hear the rest of the BPR interview with De’Lon Grant and Maurice Emmanuel Parent, click on the audio link above.
