Feature
March
03
“A Lesson Before Dying”
by Daniel Ruiz
Ernest J. Gaines’ beloved novel will be given new life as the Nicholls Players bring to the stage Romulus Linney’s “A Lesson Before Dying.” The play was developed for the Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s Southern Writers’ Project and is based on Gaines story of segregation and racism in the South.
Adapted closely from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “A Lesson Before Dying” is set in 1948 rural Louisiana and tells the story of two young men, both trying to break free of the chains that society has placed on them. This uniquely theatrical interpretation by Linney focuses on the struggles of the poor and oppressed trying to gain pride and dignity within a hostile and racist environment.
The play features a young man named Jefferson who is to be executed for a murder he probably did not commit. In 1940s Louisiana, the question is not whether or not young Jefferson will be executed, but how he will face his death. His godmother, who wants him to die a man, seeks the help of a reluctant young plantation schoolteacher, Grant Wiggins, to make sure Jefferson knows just who and what he represents before he takes his final steps. Bursting with life and freedom, Wiggins is torn between his desire to fly away from Louisiana with his girlfriend and his duty to serve the people who gave him the life that he takes for granted. Their struggle through these final lessons creates the dramatic arc of this powerful play and novel.
The play stars Warren Snowden as Grant Wiggins and Gary Baker as Jefferson. Also featured are Nicholls students Amber Papillion as Vivian Baptiste, Nathan Egnew as the unexpected ally Paul Bonin, Shalyn Calongne as the irritable Sheriff Guidry and graduate student Maya Kennedy as Miss Emma. Rounding out the cast is a Nicholls staff member, Assistant Director of the Student Union Mr. Melvin Harrison as the outspoken Reverend Ambrose, Wiggin’s bitter enemy in the education of Jefferson.
Produced in special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, performances will be held on the Nicholls State University campus in Talbot Theater on March 17, 18 and 19 at 7:30 p.m. and March 20 at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased an hour before the show in the lobby area of Talbot Hall. Advance tickets can also be purchased beginning March 14 in 102 Talbot Hall or by calling the Nicholls State University Mass Communication Department office at 985-448-4586. Advance sale group rates ar available for groups of 10 or more. Regular priced tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for students with a valid Nicholls ID.
