The Black Students Association is reviving the Black History Production this semester in honor of Black History Month. Singing and acting auditions for the production were Monday, and follow-up and dancing auditions will be conducted Friday at 6 p.m. in the Living Room in the Campus Center.
Byron Martin, assistant director of student multicultural enrichment and support and director of BHP, said he wants to bring the full production back after a two-year hiatus.
“We want to do something more than just reading facts, Martin said. “We want something people can come see and be enriched.”
Martin participated in the production from 2005-09 when he was an undergraduate student. He said the production offers more than just black history, but history that affects everyone.
“The center focus is black Americans, but it’s really everybody’s history,” he said. “It’s important for everyone of every race to learn more about their own history; you won’t have to look hard to find a link, no matter what your race is.”
Russ Kirby, director of student multicultural enrichment and support, said the production is sponsored by the BSA, formerly Essence of Ebony.
“BHP is historically a mostly student-run production,” Kirby said. “It gave birth to Essence of Ebony, and now the BSA puts on the production. It’s great to see how the production helped to create a student organization and now organization helps to make the production great.”
Kirby said the production requires many different facets of involved students’ abilities.
“BHP will take the idea of a talent show by showcasing individuals gifts of the performers and tell portions of black history from beginning to now,” he said. “We have some very talented performers to tell the story of black history through a series of vignettes.”
Jeanetta Norris, junior music education major from Fort Worth and president of BSA, said she’s working closely with Martin and Kirby behind the scenes to ensure the production lives up to past standards.
“BHP was huge before I started going to school here,” Norris said. “We want to get back to having bigger productions again.
Norris said last year’s BHP was good, but she wanted a larger-scale event this year.
“Last year we did a banquet with a couple of monologues and performances,” she said. “It was nice, but we want to get back to putting on a big play.”
The play will also focus more on teaching as well as entertaining.
“It’s going to be more educational,” Norris said. “It’s going to dig deeper and give a lot of information that even I didn’t know.”
Kirby said the production will be indicative of how culture on campus is progressing.
“We’re hoping it will be a feature of the campus moving forward,” Kirby said. “We want to make sure we’re getting better and better.”
Admission is $5 in advance and $7 at the door. Email byron.martin@acu.edu for group rates. BHP will put on four shows in Cullen Auditorium during the first week of March. The first show will be Mar. 1 at 7:30; the second show will be on Mar. 3 at noon; and the third and fourth shows will at 2:30 and 7:30 on Mar. 4.
