Clarence Brown theater's upcoming production of Alabama Story. Submitted by Aaron Orlov
The problem began with two rabbits. Then multiplied.
Based on a true story about a children’s book and set in 1959, “The Alabama Story” unfolds as a story of censorship, prejudice — and the power of books. The play's characters include a racist senator and the author likely best known for illustrating “Charlotte’s Web.”
The University of Tennessee’s Clarence Brown Theatre tells “The Alabama Story” Jan. 31-Feb. 18. The play by New York-based playwright Kenneth Jones opens the second half of the CBT season and is the fifth play of its 2017-18 selections.
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It's based on the true story of Emily Wheelock Reed, Alabama’s state librarian in 1959, and her stand to keep “The Rabbits’ Wedding” on library shelves. Garth Williams wrote and illustrated the 1958 book in which a black rabbit and a white rabbit get married in a woodland ceremony.
Williams illustrated books that include“Charlotte’s Web” and “Stuart Little” and created Little Golden Books that include “Baby Animals” and “Baby’s First Book.” But his story about bunnies in love stirred a real 1959 controversy in Alabama.
Alabama state senator Edward Oswell Eddins crusaded to remove the book from libraries, claiming it promoted integration and interracial marriage. When Reed stood against Eddins, Jones says the senator and others tried to "legislate her out of a job."
This obit told quite a story
Jones hadn’t heard of Reed or “The Rabbits’ Wedding” until he spotted the librarian's 2000 obituary in the New York Times. “As I was reading this obituary, I thought, ‘There is a play in this somehow.'
“I thought, ‘There’s a protagonist, an antagonist, this innocent world of children’s literature and a very tumultuous world in the 1959 Deep South when the Civil Rights Movement is about to catch fire,” Jones said in a phone interview with USA Today Network - Tennessee.
“There’s conflict — a man and a woman, insider and outsider, liberal and conservative, North and South, black and white — all sorts of conflict. That really jumped out at me.”
Jones clipped the obit, put it in a file, made some notes. "And I let it brew." He wrote two other plays, but "I always came back to this." The Detroit native traveled to Alabama to do research. In 2015, "The Alabama Story" premiered in Utah. The CBT production is its Tennessee debut.
Censorship and character
Jones says his play in "The Deep South of the imagination" embraces multiple themes. It's about censorship, race relations, prejudice, the power of books and the love of reading. Its story, he says, resonates with current audiences.
"Censorship is still with us, and the issues of freedom of the press and the First Amendment are still with us.
"To me, it's also about how a person's character is tested in times of change and stress. How are people when they are pushed again the wall? How are they going to behave? ... The main story really is about a person of good willing to do the right thing."
Jones parallels his historical drama with a fictional story of two childhood friends — a white woman of privilege and an African-American man — who reunite in Montgomery. "I wanted to show the effects of segregation on regular people."
Directed by UT Theatre Associate Professor Kate Buckley, “The Alabama Story” has a six-actor cast. Jones uses Garth Williams, played by UT resident artist David Brian Alley, as a narrator in the style of the stage manager in Thornton Wilder's "Our Town." Alley also plays supporting characters as the story unfolds.
Emily Reed is portrayed by actress Katie Cunningham, last seen in "Outside Mullingar" and "The 39 Steps" and now a CBT artist-in-residence. Her foe, the play's Senator E.W. Higgins, is played by guest artist Brian Mani. UT graduate students Jade Arnold and Brittany Marie Pirozzoli portray Jones' fictional couple. Visiting actor Chris Klopatek plays Reed's assistant.
Remembering that favorite book
The play, Jones says, is about "people trying to do the right thing. And people frankly who are raised to believe one thing. And when you are raised to believe one thing, you're not the villain of your world. You're the moral center of your world."
Jones hopes play-goers will leave the theater remembering their favorite childhood books. "I would really love for them to remember who passed a book to them. Most of us were handed books as children by a parent, a teacher, a librarian, a friend."
He'll participate in a panel discussion about censorship on Feb. 4 from 2-4 p.m. at Lawson McGhee Library, 500 W. Church Ave. A Feb. 6 reception at Clarence Brown will be followed by a 6:30-7 p.m. free staged reading of selected censored children' s books.
Times, dates and tickets for performances are at https://clarencebrowntheatre.com. Adult tickets are $42 for opening night, $22 for preview night, $26 for Wednesday or Thursday, $32 for Friday through Sunday shows. Discounts are available for students, UT faculty and staff, senior citizens and members of the military.