2/18/2023 0 Comments Ragtime original cast![]() ![]() Observing a small rehearsal exactly one month before the show opens, it came as no surprise to hear open dialogue between director Mia Self and the actors about the experiences of the characters and their own relevant experiences, 114 years later. The #MeToo movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, a new administration-that’s all absolutely informing the story we’re trying to tell here.” If anything, the show seems only to have grown in relevance since Jennings’ first production and even since Ragtime’s Broadway premiere. ![]() “I am seven years older and with that comes more life experience, and of course I would be remiss if I didn’t mention what’s happened in our world,” he explains, “I’ve been informed by a lot of things that have happened. You know, I was 19 at the time but I was like, I’m gonna do this one day.” It was a dream he fulfilled in 2013 and yet again today, seven years later, and the time between certainly makes an impact on playing the character for him. While on winter break from NC State in 1999, Jennings had been hanging out with friends, one of whom had put on the Ragtime Original Broadway Cast album playing in the background, and he’d been struck by the song ‘Your Daddy’s Son’ featuring Audra McDonald. He previously played Coalhouse in a 2013 production by The Justice Theatre Project here in Raleigh, but he knew of Ragtime long before that in fact, he can recall the exact moment he fell in love with it. ![]() Returning not only to University Theatre, but also to the role of Coalhouse, a character who is himself returning to his lover. “In finding her, Coalhouse finds out other things that motivate him to be a better man,” he explained, “But also to try to make some dreams come true that weren’t necessarily available to people of color at the time.”įor Byron Jennings, it’s truly a story of returning. Jennings plays Coalhouse Walker Jr., an African American ragtime pianist in Harlem searching to reunite with his lost love, Sarah. “ was strong when I got here in 1998, and it’s beautiful to see that the tradition of great theatre is still happening here.” He also commented how wonderful it was to see how the program had grown and the impressive students he worked with. This is always, always home, so it’s great to be back.” It was a sentiment we shared, two alumni reminiscing together about staff and facility changes. Looking around the Thompson Hall lobby at the many show posters, Jennings fondly remarked, “This is home. I myself graduated in 2017 after various productions as an actor and one as a playwright, later returning as an alumna to act in their annual TheatreFEST summer shows. During my interview with Byron Jennings, we bonded over our nostalgia at returning to NC State. Manager of a law firm by day and local actor in the evening, Jennings cites University Theatre for much of the training that shaped him as an artist he is today, something shared between he and I. Byron Jennings, II is an alumnus from NC State, returning to their stage after graduating eighteen years ago with a degree in Political Science. Amongst the student cast at University Theatre stands one exception. ![]()
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