Charlotte theater company shifts to film during COVID, and plans a return to stage
Two unopened boxes packed with flyers take up space in Rory D. Sheriff’s living room. Inside are 5,000 posters promoting his Brand New Sheriff production of Ntozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf.”
Like the curtain, the flyers never went up.
Originally scheduled to run last April 23 to May 2, at Duke Energy Theater, the production would have been the last in the Brand New Sheriff season.
“Leading up to the shutdown, there was talk of minimizing crowds,” said Sheriff, who leads the nonprofit theater group, along with writing and directing plays. “We had so many questions.” The week actors were set to move into the theater for dress rehearsals, Blumenthal shut down the performance venue, pausing indefinitely the show BNS cast and crew had rehearsed for two months.
Positive momentum
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Sheriff was buzzing with energy. He had visited California and New York, and received positive feedback on play he wrote.
“Speakeasy” is based on wild stories from Sheriff’s childhood surrounding his aunt and mother. His aunt once shot a man, a story Sheriff dug deeper into as he researched the play. And his mother started a speakeasy to earn income to cover back taxes on an inherited home in Sheriff’s hometown of Reading, Pennsylvania.
That energy dissipated with the shuttering of theaters during the early days of the pandemic.
For a couple of weeks, Sheriff remained stunned. “I think it took until late April, early May to try to figure something out,” he said.
Like other Charlotte performing arts organizations, including the Charlotte Symphony and Charlotte Ballet, BNS considered offering digital experiences.
In June, the Dramatists Guild of America organized a nationwide reading of “Speakeasy,” and the following month, the cast offered virtual table reads through Zoom, as part of the Queen City New Play Initiative.
“It started building,” Sheriff said. “I wanted to stay relevant through social media, to see what kind of audience we could get.”
But despite some traction, Sheriff’s heart wasn’t fully in digital theater.
“I’m not a fan of virtual,” he said. “It can save us some money with rehearsal time and space, but we want to be together and see people and interact.
“My goal is to create a space for African-American performers to tell our stories year-round, not just in February,” he said, referring to Black History Month. “When that’s taken away from me, I’m hurt. We’re a part of America’s story.”
Energized by conversations with a director, he took a cast and crew to Reading to begin filming “Speakeasy” in the fall. “All the stars lined up (with) all my crew from Charlotte, and I brought them to my first hometown, and it just felt so great.”
A number of scenes were shot in Charlotte, too — some at Mert’s Heart & Soul, others in a cast member’s backyard.
Most recently, in February, Sheriff streamed “Speakeasy” for invited guests and donors. “The virtual response was amazing and inspiring,” he said.
Still, he misses the audience. “We’re missing that energy,” he said, “that instant gratification, the power of the applause, the emotions — as performers, we love that. We have something to give, and we don’t feel like we’re really giving virtually.”
Looking ahead
Sheriff has also reworked “Boys to Baghdad,” a play based on his experience as a U.S. Army combat veteran in the Gulf War.
“I went to a couple of film festivals last year, and I wasn’t impressed with a lot of the writing,” he said. “I came back and tweaked and retooled it for a short.”
The short film, set in a military motorpool packed with tanks and Humvees, centers on two main characters after their military service. They discuss the uncertainty of war and the emotions that surround a homecoming in the face of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Sheriff plans to enter it in festivals, including the Sundance Film Festival and the Charlotte Black Film Festival. He also intends to apply for a Small Business Administration Shuttered Venue Operators Grant.
For the first weekend in April, Brand New Sheriff also plans to perform “Be a Lion,” Sheriff’s follow-up to “The Wiz,” outside at Camp North End for free.
Sheriff has talked about his crazy dreams before, and his latest is to watch “Speakeasy” air on Amazon Prime. He’s in discussions with a director and fundraisers to see if that may be possible.
“It’s energizing and influencing me to write even more,” he said. “When the world is ready to open up, I’ll have a lot of stuff in my canon ready to rock and roll.”
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This story was originally published March 2, 2021 at 7:27 AM.