Jonathan Jackson, a native from Shreveport and a graduating senior theatre arts major/Floyd L. Sandle Theatre Arts president will conduct a one man show. The show will be held in the Conrad Hutchinson Performing Arts Center on campus Friday at 7 p.m.
The show is entitled Through the Fire. The theme is, if you don’t know your history then you’re destined to repeat it! Jackson has performed on the GSU stage in plays such as Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Tell Pharaoh, and Stadium View to name a few.
The show will be a composition of excerpts from multiple plays and speeches from various African American authors/writers. It’s not a religious toned play; however there are some religious volumes expressed within the presentation.
It’s a play that’s artistically emphasizes the troubles and most remarkable moments of African American history.
Throughout the production the audience will be propelled to go on a time lined journey with Jackson as he presents historical facts and represents the images and stereotypes of the Black man in society from slavery until the 21st century.
“This play is to help oneself to understand why we should stop and take the time to understand what Black History month really means to our ethnicity.
“The play gives our Grambling students an opportunity to learn what’s been and still is going on in the world which we live,” said Jackson.
“The production teaches us who paved the way for African Americans, what the African American man endured from generation to generation, where we as a people are destined if we refrain from knowing our heritage; instead of just following the trends that are set before us, and when we as a people reevaluate our decisions upon our own image to become a better male and female role model for the next generation,” Jackson explained.