Jacqueline E. Lawton
  • Home
  • Info
    • Artistic Statement
    • Bio
    • Awards and Fellowships
    • Affiliations
  • Writing
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
    • Plays
    • Productions
    • Commissions
    • Award Ceremonies
    • Publications
  • Dramaturgy
    • New Play Development
    • Production Dramaturgy
    • Dramaturgy and Script Consultation
    • Additional Resources
  • Advocacy
    • Appearances
    • Facilitation, Workshops, and Trainings
    • Gender Equity
    • Theatre Action >
      • After Orlando
      • Climate Change
      • Every 28 Hour Plays
    • Testimonials
  • Teaching
    • Qualifications
    • Curriculum Development, Theatre Arts Integration and Teaching Artist Training
    • Philosophy
    • Experience
  • Producing
    • ARDEO
    • On Stage with the Migration Series
    • Out of Silence: Abortion Stories from the 1 in 3 Campaign
  • Media
    • Gallery
    • Good Ink
    • Media Coverage
    • Interviews
    • Press Releases
    • Podcast & Video
  • Blog
  • Contact

The Hampton Years: 1940s Arts Drama Replays in 2013 by Virginia Spatz

4/15/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
(L-R): Bakri Mohamad-Nur, Denise Hall, Jacqueline Lawton, Shyia Simmons, Ashley Williams, Bonita Frazier, Lolita Rushing, Margaret Smith, and Imari John.
“It’s dangerous what you’re teaching these students. Self-expression, much good that’s going to do them. They’re Negroes. The world will only give them so much.” This speech appears in a new work of historical fiction by local playwright Jacqueline Lawton. Set in the 1940s, “The Hampton Years” follows artist/educator Viktor Lowenfeld as he struggles to establish an art department, over administrative opposition, at Hampton Institute. 

Lawton was originally drawn to the story, she says, by the intertwining dramas of Jews struggling to make a new life after the Holocaust and African American students struggling to make their way in the unwelcoming art world. “I knew I was writing about Margaret and Vicktor Lowenfeld rejecting Harvard and settling in Hampton, Virginia – such an isolated spot for Jews,” Lawton recalls. “And I knew I was writing about Viktor's stewarding the lives of these young artists,” muralist John Biggers (1924-2001) and sculptor Samella Sanders (now Lewis, b. 1924).

“What I didn't know was how much of the story was about fighting for the arts,” Lawton continues. “I began to realize how hard Viktor had to work – he had to develop a curriculum and hire teachers and do everything a department chair has to do, but he also had to fight, every day, to prove that the arts are necessary.” 

Now, as a visiting professor in the midst of the University of the District of Columbia's reorganization, Lawton finds “life paralleling art.” 

Theatre Arts at UDC has two faculty members: Assistant Professor Lennie Smith, whose position was recently terminated, and Lawton, whose year-to-year position is now more tenuous than usual. Theatre majors find this “heartbreaking” and a “big disappointment.” They fear losing faculty they counted on for advice, recommendations, and networking; some say their tie to UDC “is severed,” and one notes “they pulled the rug out from under us.” 

Excerpted from "1940s Arts Drama Replays in 2013" by Virginia A. Spatz, originally published in East of the River Magazine. Click here to read the rest of the interview.

Picture
Virginia Avniel Spatz is a writer and activist in Washington, DC. She is feature reporter on the Education Town Hall and helps produce The Politics of Health, both on We Act Radio (WPWC 1480 AM), and often contributes to East of the River magazine. She blogs on Jewish topics at Song Every Day.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    My Blog

    Picture
    I'm a playwright, dramaturg, and teaching artist. It is here where you'll find my queries and musings on life, theater and the world. My posts advocate for diversity, inclusion, and equity in the American Theatre and updates on my own work. Please enjoy!
    Tweets by @dulcia25

    Categories

    All
    Advocates For Youth
    ARDEO
    Blackbirds
    Dance Exchange
    Dc Theatre
    Diversity And Inclusion
    Dramatist Guild
    Gender Parity
    Intelligence
    Lions Of Industry
    LoTT
    Love Brothers Serenade
    Mothers Of Invention
    Musings
    Nnpn
    Noms De Guerre
    Nso
    Our Man Beverly Snow
    Plays For Two
    TCG
    Theatre Education
    Theatre For Social Change
    The Hampton Years
    The Inferior Sex
    Triangle Theatre
    Wizard Of Oz
    Women Artistic Directors
    Women Directors
    Women Dramaturgs
    Women Playwrights
    Women Stage Managers
    Women Theatre Critics
    Xx Playlab Festival

    Archives

    June 2020
    April 2020
    December 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    August 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    May 2012

    Reading List
    2am Theatre
    American Theatre Wing

    Americans for the Arts
    The Atlantic
    Black Girl Dangerous
    Colorlines
    Feminist Crunk Collective
    Feminist Spectator

    The Good Men Project
    Guardian: Theatre
    Guernica
    HowlRound
    Media Diversified
    The Nation
    NEA Art Works
    NPR Arts and Life
    NYTimes: Arts

    Opine Season
    The New Yorker
    The Paris Review

    Salon
    Theater Talks
    Think Progress
    WaPo: Theatre
    Works by Women

    Vox

  • Home
  • Info
    • Artistic Statement
    • Bio
    • Awards and Fellowships
    • Affiliations
  • Writing
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
    • Plays
    • Productions
    • Commissions
    • Award Ceremonies
    • Publications
  • Dramaturgy
    • New Play Development
    • Production Dramaturgy
    • Dramaturgy and Script Consultation
    • Additional Resources
  • Advocacy
    • Appearances
    • Facilitation, Workshops, and Trainings
    • Gender Equity
    • Theatre Action >
      • After Orlando
      • Climate Change
      • Every 28 Hour Plays
    • Testimonials
  • Teaching
    • Qualifications
    • Curriculum Development, Theatre Arts Integration and Teaching Artist Training
    • Philosophy
    • Experience
  • Producing
    • ARDEO
    • On Stage with the Migration Series
    • Out of Silence: Abortion Stories from the 1 in 3 Campaign
  • Media
    • Gallery
    • Good Ink
    • Media Coverage
    • Interviews
    • Press Releases
    • Podcast & Video
  • Blog
  • Contact