Some Old Black Man
Onstage or off, it’s all about relationships.
In this case, the “onstage” was SOME OLD BLACK MAN, James Anthony Tyler’s rich and compelling play about a father and son learning to live together while confronting issues both timelessly global and immediately personal.
As for “offstage”? That had multiple means. For one, COVID had the world in its grip, and so everything was forced offstage.
But “offstage” also meant the folks responsible for creating and presenting art – in this case, the University of Michigan’s UMS Digital Presentations, which in tandem with star Wendell Pierce endeavored to create a streaming event in place of the scuttled live production.
That’s where offstage relationships came into play. HMS’ friends and colleagues who had previously worked at such esteemed institutions as Lyric Opera of Chicago and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago now found themselves at Michigan, and so when it came time to find a production company to create the streaming version of SOME OLD BLACK MAN, they called us.
The resulting collaboration and digital presentation were magical and impactful, resonating deeply with HMS’ mission to bring the arts to everyone who wants, needs and deserves them (in other words, all of us).