#TCTheater veteran actor James Craven starred in
Jungle Theater's production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Driving Miss Daisy in 2013, a play that I (a White woman from Minnesota) saw and loved, seeing it for what it is on the surface - the story of an enduring lifelong friendship. But James, with his experience as a Black man, looked deeper, and asked questions about what was going on just outside the action of this play, in the American South in the mid-20th Century. He did not get satisfactory answers, but it did inspire him to write his own version of the play, which 13+ years later he has done, along with Combustible Company's Kym Longhi who also directs the piece. The result is an unflinching look at the ugliest parts of American history. The parts that we don't like to remember, that we like to pretend are over and done with, the parts that the current administration is trying to erase. But now more than ever it's important to remember all of our history, even or especially the ugly parts, to ensure they don't happen again. It's time for Miss Daisy, and all of the Miss Daisies out there, to wake up to the reality of what her dear Hoke's life was like, what his family's life was like, when he wasn't driving her around. As with all of Combustible's work, this piece uses movement to help tell the story, with the addition of historical images to really bring this history to vivid life. Unfortunately this is a super short run, and only three performances remain, but if you're able, please go see this powerful, sobering, and important new work (
through March 14 at the O'Shaughnessy's Frey Theater on the campus of St. Catherine University).
