By D. Kevin McNeir
Special to the AFRO
kmcneir@afro.com
For those who are diehard fans of the stage and anxiously await the holiday season every December, enjoying a production of the Charles Dickens classic, “A Christmas Carol”: counts as a family tradition.
Over the past decade, two Black actors, Gregory Burgess and Craig Wallace, portraying Ebenezer Scrooge in productions at Chesapeake Shakespeare Theater in Baltimore, and Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., respectively have successfully broken racial barriers and earned well-deserved accolades.
Burgess returns for his 11th year as Scrooge while Wallace will mark his 10th year in the role when the two productions open in the coming days.
Burgess reflects on his lifelong passion for the arts
As one of eight children growing up in segregated Richmond, Va., Burgess remembers how Sidney Poitier captivated his attention, debunking the myth that only white actors could make their mark on stage and screen.
“He was the only one of us [Blacks] out there and although I was only six or seven at the time, I distinctly remember being intrigued by his acting prowess,” Burgess said. “He was doing what white actors were doing and doing it equally as well. I said to myself, ‘if he can do it, so can I.’”
Now 65, Burgess has vaulted over previously entrenched hurdles of the past and successfully tackled numerous roles at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company (CST) in Baltimore, setting the standard in roles from Shylock in Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice,” to Ebenezer Scrooge in the Dickens holiday classic, “A Christmas Carol.”
On Saturday, Nov. 29, Burgess returns for his 11th season in the company’s adaptation of the classic which invites the audience to walk with Scrooge during Christmas Eve in 19th-century, Victorian Baltimore. Along the way, as this year’s co-director, Quāé Simpson, notes, the story, first published Dec. 19, 1843, reminds us that “redemption is always within reach, no matter how far we’ve strayed.”
“Each time this story is told, it asks us again: what kind of person will we choose to be?,” said Simpson, who collaborates this year with Séamus Miller in their joint role as director.
Hard work pays off as local theater companies embrace color blind casting
CST, which has long embraced a tradition of breaking with the status quo and assigning roles to actors regardless of race to foster diversity and address historical inequities, has allowed Burgess to flourish.
“The great thing about doing works by Shakespeare, August Wilson, and in this case Dickens, is being afforded the opportunity to examine the human condition while bringing my own experiences to the stage as a member of the cast,” Burgess said. “I did a lot of high school plays and then studied at Howard University where I learned that when I put more of myself, being human, into roles, the result was something for which I could be proud. I’ll never forget the first time someone came up to me and said, ‘Wow, I’ve never seen a Black person do Shakespeare before.’”
Burgess said he owes a lot to the producers and directors of CST.
“CST has done so much for people of color, particularly given their commitment to allowing us to take on more classical roles. By the time I was cast as Ebenezer Scrooge, it was nothing to take on a role that was not written for a Black actor. And the more I do it, the more I learn,” said Burgess who said he’s “been on stage” since his childhood when he and his siblings would watch The Ed Sullivan Show and then pretend they were The Supremes or The Temptations.
“No one has, or should have, a monopoly on any role,” he said. “Perhaps we may be limited by how we grew up, but with hard work you can overcome any limitations. Scrooge has been around so long that he has become a universal character. I met a man years ago from Saudi Arabia who was part of the cast in ‘Fiddler on the Roof.’ If you can see yourself on stage, you can see anyone take on any role and learn from it. What you realize is we are all humans with wants and desires which means we are no different from anyone else, no matter what color we may be.”
As for portraying Scrooge, Burgess said he believes it’s the dichotomy within the character that makes it the kind of role that resonates with audiences and excites actors as well.
“There are two parts to the character,” he said. “At first, Scrooge does not want to be part of the human experience. In fact, he doesn’t care. But then he has a revelation and realizes that he is part of his community. Further, he learns that there are things that he can do to make it better. That’s something I learned early on from my parents, especially my father who believed that if he could help one person, then his living would not be in vain.
“Still, we all have a dark side like Scrooge. And it’s that dark side that most of us attempt to keep at bay. I know about that dark side after growing up in a city like Richmond where segregation was prevalent. You have to work at keeping that dark side from taking over. But like Scrooge, we hopefully learn that we – that anyone – can be redeemed.”
Ford’s Theatre’s Craig Wallace, like Burgess, has made Scrooge his own
When performances of the classic Dickens story begin on Thursday, Nov. 20, at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., Craig Wallace will portray Scrooge – a role with which he has intrigued audiences for the past 10 years.
He said the role bears so much richness that it cannot be contained simply because of the color of an actor’s skin.
“Part of why I love doing it is because I’m able to watch people discover the play’s essential message of friendship, compassion, giving to those in need and being thankful,” Wallace said. “It’s easy to forget what Christmas means amidst the daily hustle and bustle, dog-eat-dog world in which we live.
Wallace said he’s loved playing Ebenezer Scrooge with so many wonderful artists over the last 10 years.
“The play’s message of the possibility of redemption and our responsibility for our fellow man resonates with children and adults alike, today more than ever. We are so proud to know that the show has become a holiday tradition not only for the DMV, but for people across the country.”
Visit www.fords.org or www.chesapeakeshakespeare.com for more information.
