Michael Wayne Turner III takes us back in time to a turbulent era with his original drama “Ghost of King,” running through Sunday at Oakland Theater Project.
The talented writer/performer creates a unique character to frame Martin Luther King’s last sermon before he was assassinated on April 4, 1968.
Related Articles
Curtain Calls: Untangle Agatha Christie’s murder mystery ‘Spider’s Web’ in Orinda
Curtain Calls: ‘Cabaret’ greets its audience at Lesher Center through June 23
Curtain Calls: Shotgun Players explores inner workings of theater in ‘Best Available’
Curtain Calls: Crowd favorite ‘Chicago’ brings the Roaring Twenties to Chabot College
Curtain Calls: ‘Cabaret’ a call to action with musical numbers at Lesher Center
While many know King’s “I have a Dream” speech, fewer are acquainted with this last sermon delivered days before he died. In it, King calls for people to join his Poor People’s Campaign and march on Washington, D.C., to demand the government formulate a plan to redress employment and the housing problems of the poor. Marchers were to demonstrate at the nation’s capital from May 14 to June 24, 1968. Unfortunately, King’s assassination resulted in a much smaller event and fell short of its goal to win significant antipoverty legislation.
In “Ghost of King,” Turner not only delivers King’s final sermon in its entirety, but he also channels the great orator himself with his vocal inflections and physical movements. As the imaginary pastor framing King’s speech, Turner adds quite a bit of movement where he runs in circles, faster and faster and at the end incorporates dance moves by choreographer Keren Southall. While well done and adding a break from the intense speech, I’m not quite sure what Turner aims to accomplish with the movements. Possibly, he is showing how we continue to run in circles as we inadequately deal with poverty, homelessness and violence?
The powerful presentation becomes even more so given Oakland Theater Project’s intimate space, where you can practically reach out and touch the performer. For tickets to this riveting show, which coincidentally takes place at 1501 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland, call 510-646-1126 or go to oaklandtheaterproject.org.
Berkeley: “Mother Road” is fascinating work from former Bay Area writer Octavio Solis. Berkeley Rep presents this play inspired by “The Grapes of Wrath,” which reverses the trip taken by John Steinbeck’s protagonist Tom Joad as Joad’s relatives William and Martin travel from California’s migrant farm camps back to Oklahoma. Along their journey in a 1977 Dodge pick-up truck, they gather a chorus of travelers.
“I first heard about the play in 2015 when it was part of a new play’s festival. I remember being captured by the scale of the show,” said director David Mendizábal. “I was hungry for stories that reflect my community, and Solis took this iconic American tale of Steinbeck’s and did a reverse migration. Instead of the Joad family getting smaller during their trip to California as people died or left, Solis has it growing as his characters travel back to Oklahoma picking up people along the way.”
Mendizábal was also fortunate to work with Solis during the planning stages of the production and have the author at many rehearsals.
“I wanted to know how he heard the chorus operate and several other clarifying questions,” Mendizábal said. “It was a true collaboration. He was just so generous and trusting and kind.”
The truck William and Martin use to travel also acts as an important character in the story. It even has a name. Thanks to the artisans in Berkeley Rep’s props department, a smaller version of a 1977 Dodge truck was created using several different trucks that were torn apart and then reconfigured. Evidently, the truck does a few tricks as well, but the props department refuses to elaborate.
Starring James Carpenter as William Joad, “Mother Road” runs through July 21 at Berkeley Rep’s Peet’s Theatre, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. Call 510-647-2949 or go to berkeleyrep.org.
Also in Berkeley: In Aurora Theatre’s next production, an intern at a top magazine is given a dream assignment — fact-checking a masterpiece by a legendary essayist. The dream, however, turns into a hilarious misadventure when the intern discovers most of the facts have been embellished, adjusted or just plain made up.
It’s a battle between facts and truth in Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell and Gordon Farrell’s “Lifetime of a Fact,” running Friday through July 21.
Directed by Jessica Holt, the comedy stars Elijah Alexander, Hernan Angulo and Carrie Paff.
For tickets, call 510-775-2877 or go to auroratheatre.org.
Richmond: Masquers Playhouse takes on gentrification with the Pulitzer Prize winning “Clybourne Park.” Running June 28 through July 21, playwright Bruce Norris sets Act I in 1959 when a Black family moves into a white neighborhood with Act II taking place in 2009. The same house has just been sold to a white family in what is now a mostly Black neighborhood.
Loosely based on Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun,” Norris applies a modern twist to issues of race, housing and aspirations for a better life in his razor-sharp satire.
Richard Perez directs.
For tickets, call 925-232-4031or go to masquers.org. A talkback is scheduled immediately following the July 14 show.
Reach Sally Hogarty at sallyhogarty@gmail.com, and read more of her reviews online at eastbaytimes.com/author/sally-hogarty.