San Marcos and the Conference that Can… Part III: Ted Shine

by Robin Byrd

The 2014 Black and Latino Playwrights Conference (BLPC) held in San Marcos, Texas at Texas State University honored, Texas playwright, Ted Shine with a Distinguished Achievement Award.

Ted Shine and Eugene Lee, Artistic Director for Black and Latino Playwrights Conference.

Dr. Shine is in his eighties now. He preferred ground travel to flying in for the conference; he preferred to let the younger theater artists sit on the panel discussion about “Swimming Up Mainstream” as an artist of color. However, being the hungry little children we were in that room, we begged a little. No we were not to proud to beg and we were so blessed with his wisdom even if from his seat in the audience. I don’t normally gravitate to people but I really liked talking to Dr. Shine. He shared a lot of information about perseverance and learning the craft of writing plays. He was so humble.

“Contribution” by Ted Shine is a play about the Civil Rights movement – the sit-ins to be exact. It is one of three one-acts in a collection titled “Contributions” which includes the plays: Platoon, Shoes and, Contribution. First presented in 1969 by the Negro Ensemble Company, Contribution is a brave piece of literature. Written as a three character female –centered play, Contribution is set in the early 1960s in a small southern town. It was poignant, it was funny and it was a little sad…

The director Nadine Mozon took a very interesting approach to staging the piece; “she enhanced it,” as Dr. Shine said. Mozon’s enhancement involved adding a citizens ensemble to give a visual effect to moments of description in the play. None of the authors words were changed. At that time, I had not read the play and turned to the playwright after the reading, “was that in the play?” “No, but I wish I’d written it that way.” Dr. Shine really appreciated that staging of his play. Earlier I had asked Dr. Shine how he felt about directors and the way they approached his work. He said that there were directors that he could trust with his work and could just leave them alone and they would always enhance the work but he had found out that there were some who weren’t so trustworthy. A playwright needs someone who understands their play and can elevate rather than diminish the piece. I asked him if he felt Ms. Mozon was one of those directors he could trust and he nodded, “yes” with a smile.

I have to agree. She lit that stage up with her vision and the actors were on point! Johnique Mitchell as Mrs. Love* was hilarious and amazing; George James gave a good performance as Eugene; the timbre of his voice worked well to give the words a certain undercurrent to the thought of being a black man during that time but being considered a boy – the absurdity of it, the pain of it… Katy played by Kia Malone held the right amount of fear-bred inactivity to give a full view of the times. The ensemble members: Matthew Drake Shrader, Morgan Macinnes, Taylor Joree Scorse, Ava L’Amoreaux, Vincent Hooper, Kelsey Buckley, and Chas Harvey were all the way LIVE! The sheriff! Stole every moment he was animated…The doctor/store owner, the angry mob, the pantomime of the young men at the counter, these visuals made for very lively storytelling. Even the stage directions were read excellently. I loved the surprise in this reading which was more like a production.

Director Nadine Mozon, also Associate Artistic Director for the conference (standing far left), Johnique Mitchell (standing fourth from left), George James (standing in white shirt), Eugene Lee, Artistic Director of the Black and Latino Playwrights Conference (standing far right), Kia Malone (in yellow sweater far right), and honored playwright Ted Shine (seated). Stage manager: Tommie Jackson III. Stage directions read by Sloane Teagle and Tony Hinderman. The ensemble members: Matthew Drake Shrader, Morgan Macinnes, Taylor Joree Scorse, Ava L’Amoreaux, Vincent Hooper, Kelsey Buckley, and Chas Harvey and stage crew.