By Audrey Anderson
Hometown Weekly Reporter
The first public reading of the play “If the Walls Could Talk” was presented in in an exciting joint venture of the Needham Community Theatre and the Needham Diversity Initiative to present a program combining local significance, the arts, and social justice.
“If These Walls Could Talk,” written by Dawn Carroll and Terence Kidd, is currently in production. Dawn Carroll is a Boston-based writer, producer and founder of the Over My Shoulder Foundation (OMSF) which she started with Grammy Award Winner Patti Austin. A soundtrack for the play, “Songs for Mary,” was written by Dawn Carroll and Jon Butcher and orchestrated by Grammy-nominated guitarist/producer and filmmaker Jon Butcher. After having been mentored by Carroll at her foundation, Houston rapper MB Rhymes, whose name is Michael Berry, added his rap talent to two tracks of the release.
The thoughtful play is the story of Michael, who learns about Mystery Manor, the historically significant Pittsburgh house currently in disrepair. In its heyday in the 1940s, Mystery Manor was owned by black gambling entrepreneur Woogie Harris. Harris offered shelter to black talent passing through Pittsburgh, since, due to segregation, that were not allowed to stay in public lodging. Among the luminaries who stayed at the house were Joe Louis, Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and Roberto Clemente. Harris also offered black New England Conservatory-educated Mary Cardwell Dawson use of the second floor of the mansion for her National Negro Opera Company and music school.
In the play, Michael becomes invested in working with others to save the historic house and its history of helping the community of famous black entertainers, artists, and sports figures. Michael is shot and, while in a coma, he travels back to the 40’s to meet Harris and the fascinating luminaries who stayed at the house and learn about the history of the house from them.
Since the Powers Hall event was a reading, the actors sat in chairs on the stage of Powers Hall, and read their parts from the script, bringing their characters to life with voice and gesture. Among the 14 actors on the stage were MacKenzie Skeens who played Michael, Dr. Mikael Powell, who played Joe Louis, Robin Shropshire, who played Mary Cardwell Dawson, and EK William, who played Woogie Harris. As narrator, Barbara Pierre, read the notes and stage directions between lines of dialogue. At the end of the play, the audience heard someone announcing, “I’m the original Michael!” It was Michael Berry (MB Rhymes) who was in attendance. Berry excitedly spoke with the actors and audience members about his involvement in the project.
The audience was deeply affected by the characters’ drive to save an important piece of black history and their struggle to do so, as well as the colorful stories presented about the former inhabitants of Mystery Manor. “If the Walls Could Talk” is destined to become a successful play when production is complete. The audience in attendance on February 2 in Powers Hall was lucky to get a first glimpse.
