Story of infamous Tuskegee syphilis
experiment told in 'Miss Evers' Boys'
BY T KEVIN WAI.KER
rHECHRONiq E
"There are no overnight successes."
Those are words that Yetta Young lives by.
And she should know.
Young has been coming to Winston-Salem
for the National Black Theatre Festival since
1995. She sat in audiences at countless plays,
took notes and dreamed.
Photo courtesy of Yclta Young Production!
Actors in a "M/ss Evers' Boys" scene.
"I knew that one day I wasn't going to b<
just an attendee. I knew I would have my name
on the marquee," Young said recently by phont
from her home in Los Angeles.
/-*.-> unti.mi aiiu piuuucci Ul iviiJis
Evers' Boys" - one of this year's
NBTF plays generating a great deal of
buzz - Young is fulfilling her prophe
cy.
Written by David Feldshuh, "Miss
Evers' Boys" is based on the infamous
Tuskegee Experiment, a government
study in the 1930s and 1940s that
involved withholding needed treat
ment for black men in Alabama afflict
ed with syphilis. Although the play is a
fictionalized account of events that
took place as part of the experiment, it
is deeply rooted in fact. The lead char
acter, Eunice Evers, is based on Eunice
Rivers, the African-American nurse
who worked under the two doctors that
auinimsierea ine experiment.
Young said she was drawn to the play by its
historical roots.
"I was just amazed. I was not really aware
about all of this history," she said.
Young was commissioned to direct the play
after winning over audiences and critics for her
direction and production of an African-Ameri
can version of "The Vagina Monologues" fea
turing celebrities such as Mo'Nique and Vanes
sa Bell Calloway. The production raised nearly
$10,000 for Los Angeles women's shelters.
Her YettaYoung Productions also has brought
to the stage the Keith Antar Mason play "For
Black Boys Who Have Considered Homicide
When the Streets Were Too Much" and Ntoza
ke Shange's "For Colored Girls Who Have
Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is
Enuf," which was staged in Washington, D.C.
Young, a Fisk University graduate,
"stepped out on faith" and into the cut-throat
world of entertainment after she was down
?? I
Pelham
Houston
Roquemore
Philip
Brown
Coleman
Conrad
Young
sized from her Washington, D.C., social service
job in 1998.
As a West Coast theater director, Young has
had much success (and a slew of NAACP The
atre Award nominations), considering that Hoi
lywood is a world away from the traditions of
the Great White Way.
"L.A. is not realf^ a theater town," Young
said. "A lot of people out here want to be on tel
evision or in films."
Young held extensive auditions for the
seven actors - Alexander Pelham, Vincent
Conrad, Averil Houston, Gilbert Glenn Brown,
Bryan Roquemore, Darrell Philip and Shon
nese C.L. Coleman - who make up the cast of
"Miss Evers' Boys." She said the cast is a rare
find in Tinseltown, where everyone has stars or
dollar signs in his eyes.
"They are hard working. They are hungry,
and that is exciting. They are not jaded in any
way by this business."
Shonnese C.L. Coleman plays the title role
in the play. The role is a dream come true for
the actress who cut her teeth on the stages of
New York playing memorable characters such
as Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman.
"I was really interested in getting into a role
that I could study," Coleman said. She spent
time researching Eunice Rivers and wound up
having great respect for the nurse. Over the
decades, however, some have questioned the
ruie 01 iNurse Kivers, because at some
point she did discover what the govenv
ment was doing but held her tongue.
Coleman said her character is caught
between a rock and a hard place.
"1 teel she is a victim as well. She
was following her oath as a nurse by
following the doctors' instructions,"
Coleman said.
The various dimensions of the char
acter have given Coleman fodder as an
actress.
"It has challenged me to go places I
have never explored before," said Cole
man, who has starred in close to a
| dozen stage productions and played the
lead role in the Showtime short film
"Rain."
Ibis will be Coleman's first time at
the NBTF. She has been a longtime fan of the
festival and is excited about the possibility of
seeing other festival plays. Coleman hopes
people are just as excited about "Miss Evers'
Boys." She bills it as both entertaining and edu
cational, heart-wrenching and historical.
"I think we need to see things like this so
we can see what has happened in our history,
because if we don't know ^ur history, we will
make the same mistakes," Coleman said.
Young said the play is not all about tragedy
and despair. There are elements of humor,
dancing (the lead male character is an aspiring
professional dancer) and love. Young also said
that people who have seen the HBO movie
based on the play will get a new perspective
from the stage.
"Because we are doing it on stage, we are
forced to be more creative, so if you have seen
the movie, you will get something different."
Young said.
Downtown
Dining
South by Southwest
241 S. Marshall Street
Phone: 727-0800
Hours: Tu.-Sat. 5:30
10:30 p.m.
Features Southwestern cooking.
Bistro 420
420 W. 4th Street
Phone: 721-1336
Hours: M-F 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
lunch: W-Sat. 5:30 p.m-10 p.m.
dinner
Features gourmet cooking,
weekly and daily specials, live
music evenings.
Camel City Cafe'
878 W. 4th Street
Phone: 734.1797
Hours: M-Sat.
5 p.m. - 11 p.m.
Features eclectic, fresh,
innovative menu
Dill Pickle
Sandwich Shop
209 W. 4th Street
Phone: 723-5192
Hours: M-Sat. 7 a.m.- 3 p.m.
Features eat-in/take-out
breakfast, lunch.
Cat's Corner Cafe ?
411 W. 4th Street
Phone: 722-9911
Hours: M-F 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Th.-Sat. 5 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Features deli sandwiches, soups
and salads/dinner entries.
Henry F. Shaffner House
Bed and Breakfast and
Restaurant
150 S. Marshall Street
Phone: 777-0052
Hours: Tu.-Sun. 5 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Sunday brunch
11 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Features continental cuisine.
Kabob's Indian
Bar & Grill
321 W. 4th Street
Phone: 725-6778
Hours: M-F 11 a.m. - 10 p.m..
Sat. 5 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.
High Tea: 3-4 p.m., M-F
Sunday Brunch 11 a.m. - 2
^.m.
orth Indian and
South Indian chefs
Continued on page 30
Usting information from the Downtown Winston Salem
Partnership For nn>re information on downtown projects
and events, log onto www.dwsp.org.