by Don C. Locke

W. LaVonne Griffin, Director of the W.C. Reid Center of Performing Arts, and producer of “Street Corner Blues.”

The stage of the W. C. Reid Center was the scene of the debut of Anthony Alexander’s play, Street Corner Blues — a retrospective look at events of April 4, 1968. The action is narrated by Bob Smith, as he examined the day Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

The narrator takes the audience through the events from his perspective as a young adolescent living in a family directly touched by the events of the day. This young man, William Johnston, played by Pierre Griffin, is caught up in the many struggles of a family coping with life in a segregated city plagued with how to negotiate the many relationships he faced.

Williams father, James, played by Marcus Grey, is a part of the citywide strike that brought Dr. King to Memphis. His primary struggle over “being a man” is amplified by his wife, Nellie, played by Shantaine Goodlet, who works as a housekeeper for Mrs. Anna Stratton, played by Carolyn Stanberry. Nellie is caught up in the situation of being a silent housekeeper while her employer offers deprecatory, belittling, and negative remarks about Dr. King.

The Johnston family situation is further exacerbated when Nellie quits her job, in a very moving scene that actually captures the essence of the volatile race relations situation in the town. What this means for the Johnston family is that the young William became the only working member of the family.

Other events in the play portray William’s younger sister Denise, played by Kasia Maatafale, struggling with her emotions of being among the first to attend the recently desegregated school. She is torn between her African American best friend and her newly formed friendship with a white classmate. The action in the scenes with these three provides the audience with a clear picture of the struggle youngsters face as they chart new and unexplored territory.

Logan Murray plays the sax capturing “the Blues” in “Street Corner Blues.”

Perhaps the most powerful of all struggles in the play is the one between William and his friend Tyrone, played by Tobar Koone. Tyrone, a sometime follower of the teachings of Malcolm X, represents the essence of the real struggle in civil rights between those who advocate non-violence and those who advocate advancement at any cost.

One scene, in which Tyrone pulls a gun on store owner Mr. Robertson, played by Doug Grant, is particularly moving. This is the same store where young William is employed. Mr. Robertson expresses his frustration with being accused of wrongdoing “simply because he is white.”

The highlight of the play for this writer was the somber mournful saxophone music of Logan Murray that connected the scenes. In fact, it was the placement on the set of pictures of Jesus, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and John F. Kennedy on one side, all representing hope for the best, and the saxophonist on the other side of the set, that framed the entire play. One could not escape the seriousness of the play in the presence of the music.

The surprise ending of the play, set in contemporary 2008, brought the audience to its feet. Director W. LaVonne Griffin produced an outstanding interpretation of Street Corner Blues.