Cadenza | Theater
The Black Rep makes ‘Front Porch Society’ a memorable virtual experience
“Front Porch Society” by Melda Beaty is the most recent production by the St. Louis Black Repertory Company (Black Rep). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the show was produced as a reading virtually via Zoom and live streamed Friday, Sept. 25, recorded and made available through Sunday, Sept. 27. “Front Porch Society” is the second show in the fall lineup of The Black Rep’s 43rd season. “Coconut Cake”—the season’s opener—was also a virtual performance.
Directed by Ron Himes, a Black Rep founder, Washington University alum and professor in the Performing Arts Department, “Front Porch Society” tells the story of one small-town Black community’s excitement and scandal as secrets come to light on the eve of President Barack Obama’s first election. Majorie Johnson plays Carrie Honey, a woman made bitter after seeking justice for her son’s death for the past 40 years, which she believes occurred at the hands of the police. Every year on election day she mourns his loss. She writes letters to the authorities in the hopes that they’ll give her son justice, but the system continually fails her and her son.
Through Johnson’s portrayal, we see the way the system can wrong those it should be protecting—the families of those who’ve lost loved ones at the hands of the system. Losing faith in the system can remove you from the world around you even when it looks like times are changing, and Carrie spends the majority of the play experiencing life vicariously through those around her. Choosing not to take part in the celebratory atmosphere of Obama’s impending victory, Carrie sits on her porch as people from the town of Marks, Miss.—one of whom was portrayed by Wash. U. alum Kentrell Jamison—keep her informed of the daily happenings, all to her disinterest. But the defilement of her son’s grave brings her into the present and almost destroys the significance of that historic election day, and the secrets that are revealed restore her faith.
Before each scene, stage directions and character descriptions were read, giving audience members the opportunity to fully understand and appreciate the production elements. These notes about costumes, setting and props are things that audiences oftentimes overlook when watching a production seated in a theater, as they are ushered along from their seats going from one scene to the next in a hubbub of blackouts and applause.
While it would seem that watching a production via Zoom would take away some of that so-called “theatre magic,” that wasn’t the case with “Front Porch Society.” Watching the actors via Zoom as opposed to being in the Edison Theatre, where The Black Rep’s shows are usually mounted, meant that we could see each and every actor up close and “personal.” We could feel their emotions, see their expressions; rejoice when they rejoiced and feel anger when they felt anger. Watching theatrical performances from home provides a different feel that audiences are going to have to get used to as we continue through the pandemic. And although the actors were performing from their own screens, that didn’t make it any less of a memorable experience. This virtual reading of “Front Porch Society” not only examined the way in which we participate in our civic duty and how we let personal experiences influence our political ideation, but it also proved that theatre can be done and done well in the midst of these unusual circumstances.