A New Play Explores Race Through A 1951 Birmingham Basketball Court

 ========= Old Image Removed =========1Array
(
    [_wp_attached_file] => Array
        (
            [0] => 2018/09/Separate_and_Equal_for_web.jpg
        )

    [_wp_attachment_metadata] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:5:{s:5:"width";i:1920;s:6:"height";i:1080;s:4:"file";s:38:"2018/09/Separate_and_Equal_for_web.jpg";s:5:"sizes";a:13:{s:6:"medium";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:38:"Separate_and_Equal_for_web-336x189.jpg";s:5:"width";i:336;s:6:"height";i:189;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:5:"large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:38:"Separate_and_Equal_for_web-771x434.jpg";s:5:"width";i:771;s:6:"height";i:434;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:38:"Separate_and_Equal_for_web-140x140.jpg";s:5:"width";i:140;s:6:"height";i:140;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:12:"medium_large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:38:"Separate_and_Equal_for_web-768x432.jpg";s:5:"width";i:768;s:6:"height";i:432;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"1536x1536";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:39:"Separate_and_Equal_for_web-1536x864.jpg";s:5:"width";i:1536;s:6:"height";i:864;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"Separate_and_Equal_for_web-80x80.jpg";s:5:"width";i:80;s:6:"height";i:80;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:38:"Separate_and_Equal_for_web-600x338.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:338;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:38:"Separate_and_Equal_for_web-600x600.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:600;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:18:"wbhm-featured-home";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:38:"Separate_and_Equal_for_web-553x311.jpg";s:5:"width";i:553;s:6:"height";i:311;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:38:"Separate_and_Equal_for_web-470x265.jpg";s:5:"width";i:470;s:6:"height";i:265;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:28:"ab-block-post-grid-landscape";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:38:"Separate_and_Equal_for_web-600x400.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:400;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:25:"ab-block-post-grid-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:38:"Separate_and_Equal_for_web-600x600.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:600;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:38:"Separate_and_Equal_for_web-125x125.jpg";s:5:"width";i:125;s:6:"height";i:125;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}}s:10:"image_meta";a:12:{s:8:"aperture";s:1:"0";s:6:"credit";s:0:"";s:6:"camera";s:0:"";s:7:"caption";s:0:"";s:17:"created_timestamp";s:1:"0";s:9:"copyright";s:0:"";s:12:"focal_length";s:1:"0";s:3:"iso";s:1:"0";s:13:"shutter_speed";s:1:"0";s:5:"title";s:0:"";s:11:"orientation";s:1:"0";s:8:"keywords";a:0:{}}}
        )

    [_imagify_optimization_level] => Array
        (
            [0] => 0
        )

    [_media_credit] => Array
        (
            [0] => Source: Jeff Hanson
        )

    [_navis_media_credit_org] => Array
        (
            [0] => 59E59 Theaters
        )

    [_navis_media_can_distribute] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1
        )

    [_imagify_data] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:2:{s:5:"sizes";a:10:{s:4:"full";a:4:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:13:"original_size";i:5776221;s:14:"optimized_size";i:322699;s:7:"percent";d:94.409999999999997;}s:9:"thumbnail";a:4:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:13:"original_size";i:4383;s:14:"optimized_size";i:4137;s:7:"percent";d:5.6100000000000003;}s:6:"medium";a:4:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:13:"original_size";i:8503;s:14:"optimized_size";i:8010;s:7:"percent";d:5.7999999999999998;}s:5:"large";a:4:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:13:"original_size";i:41282;s:14:"optimized_size";i:37440;s:7:"percent";d:9.3100000000000005;}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:4:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:13:"original_size";i:2227;s:14:"optimized_size";i:2072;s:7:"percent";d:6.96;}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:4:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:13:"original_size";i:24491;s:14:"optimized_size";i:22487;s:7:"percent";d:8.1799999999999997;}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:4:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:13:"original_size";i:14473;s:14:"optimized_size";i:13509;s:7:"percent";d:6.6600000000000001;}s:18:"wbhm-featured-home";a:4:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:13:"original_size";i:20771;s:14:"optimized_size";i:19155;s:7:"percent";d:7.7800000000000002;}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:4:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:13:"original_size";i:15299;s:14:"optimized_size";i:14267;s:7:"percent";d:6.75;}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:4:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:13:"original_size";i:3798;s:14:"optimized_size";i:3570;s:7:"percent";d:6;}}s:5:"stats";a:3:{s:13:"original_size";i:5911448;s:14:"optimized_size";i:447346;s:7:"percent";d:92.430000000000007;}}
        )

    [_imagify_status] => Array
        (
            [0] => success
        )

    [_edit_lock] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1536859994:26
        )

    [_edit_last] => Array
        (
            [0] => 26
        )

)
1655974046 
1536843813

Steven Bond Jr., Dylan Guy Davis, Edwin Brown III (in the air), James Holloway, Adrian Baidoo in "Separate and Equal"

Source: Jeff Hanson, 59E59 Theaters

When Seth Panitch visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, he was struck by a legal code book that listed rules of segregation.

“What stood out to me was this one sequence when they talked about [black and white] kids, children, and how they couldn’t play games together,” says Panitch. “They were so specific.”

Panitch says in the case of basketball, it was too costly for Alabama to build separate basketball courts. So authorities would assign certain times that blacks and whites could use the courts.

Panitch, who is the head of the University of Alabama’s acting programs, had a thought. What if black and white teens stumbled onto each other on the court? And could that be a prism through which to discuss race?

That was the spark for the new play “Separate and Equal.” Panitch wrote and directed the play which premiered this month off-Broadway in New York. The play centers on a hypothetical basketball game between three white and three black teens in 1951 Birmingham — a game that would have been illegal.

Panitch used the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute’s oral history collection to inform his work. He says reading transcripts he noted how parents trained their children to fall into their expected roles under segregation.

“One of the main themes of the play is how we keep expecting the youth to sort our problems out. But the problem is that we’ve trained them so intently on our own failures that it’s difficult to see any other possibility in the future,” says Panitch.

In the theater, the audience surrounds the stage as if they were watching a real basketball game.

“They might get sweated on cause they’re pretty close to the action,” says Panitch.

The actors’ movements are choreographed, a combination of basketball and modern dance, and set to an original score that transitions from rock and to jazz. Panitch says he considered staging a real basketball game but it was problematic. A misthrown ball could go into the audience. He also couldn’t control the score which is a key plot point.

Panitch says symbolic is better.

“When you stylize something it really frees up the audience’s imagination for them to read the play in perhaps a different way than they would if it was literal,” says Panitch.

“Separate and Equal” runs in New York through September 30th, but it had a short preview in Tuscaloosa in August. Panitch says audiences in both cities would linger and discuss the show. In Alabama, the history was very real.

“Many of the older people in my audience in Alabama would come up and talk to me afterwards and say ‘That was my uncle.’ Or ‘that was my grandfather’ or ‘I see my family in that,’” says Panitch.

He says the New York audience may have had more distance from the history, but they are more polarized.

“In some respects, they do feel that it’s factual to them as a modern expression of race,” says Panitch.

He says there are no plans to bring the play to Birmingham, where it is set, but he hopes it will happen.

“I think that would be very important to do it where it was researched…and near so many of those milestones in the struggle,” says Panitch.

 

Emaciated after 5 years in prison, Belarusian dissident Tsikhanouski vows to fight on

Siarhei Tsikhanouski is almost unrecognizable. Belarus' key opposition figure, spent years in solitary confinement. He credits U.S. President Trump in aiding with his release over the weekend.

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s first images are stunning — and just the start

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has just released some of its first images. Its powerful new telescope will be able to quickly spot previously unseen astronomical objects.

Police say a man opened fire outside a Michigan church before staff fatally shot him

Police described the suspect as a 31-year-old white male with no known connection to the church. His motive remains unclear.

After a thrilling 7-game series, the Oklahoma City Thunder are finally NBA champions

Led by point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the league's Most Valuable Player, the Thunder outlasted the Indiana Pacers for the team's first title since moving to Oklahoma in 2008.

Federal judge says Abrego Garcia can be released on bail. That doesn’t mean he will be

A federal judge in Tennessee ordered Kilmar Abrego Garcia can be released on bail while he awaits trial on human smuggling charges. But ICE has indicated it may arrest him if he leaves prison.

Satellites show damage to Iran’s nuclear program, but experts say it’s not destroyed

Satellite imagery shows trucks at two key sites the day before the American strikes, suggesting uranium could have been moved.

More Arts and Culture Coverage