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| Ted Lange, best known for his role as the bartender, Isaac Washington, in the TV series "The Love Boat," was in Memphis as artist-in-residence for a two-week writing class. Here he searches through a folder for Carolyn Matthews' writing assignment. |
When
it comes to gun violence, Memphis ranks pretty high compared to cities its
size. On any given day, someone is left for dead or seriously wounded.
Conflict
and violence led to the shooting death of a young man by his friend in an
excerpt from “Ritual Murder.” The excerpt focused on the senseless killing and
ensuing investigation.
“When murder occurs for no special reason on a
Saturday night, it’s ritual murder,” said Levi Frazier, narrating the scene
when Joe Brown Jr. (Brandon Lewis) shoots and kills his best friend, James Roberts
(Willie Perry).
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| Young actors from Blues City Cultural Center perform an excerpt from "Ritual Murder," a play written by Tom Dent in which one friend kills the other. Levi Frazier (right) was the narrator. (Photos by Wiley Henry) |
In
the original one-act play, written by Tom Dent, Brown knifes Roberts. In the
excerpt, the actor from Blues City Cultural Center (BCCC) brandished a handgun.
The play was staged at the Memphis Office of Youth Services (MOYS) on April 29.
Levi
Frazier and his wife, Deborah Frazier, co-founded the performing and visual arts
organization 40 years ago. The couple, both actors, playwrights and performing
artists, took part in the play.
Ted
Lange (pronounced Lunge) observed the action from the audience with a small
group of budding writers. Lange is best known for his role as the bartender,
Isaac Washington, in the TV series “The Love Boat.”
He
was BCCC’s artist-in-residence for “Peace in the House,” a program that uses
the creative arts as a platform to engage youth in activities that promote
peace and reduce violence.
“Ritual
Murder” was included in “Peace in the House,” which was tapped for a National
Endowment for the Arts Challenge Grant. Lange was then given the green light to
teach a two-week writing class.
Nearly
a dozen youth from MOYS got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with the renowned
actor and writer in late April prior to BCCC’s presentation of “Peace in the
House.”
But
Lange didn’t come to Memphis to teach acting. “I didn’t give them any acting
classes,” he said. “I told them what I was doing and why I was doing it. And I
told them that ‘I want to see where your imagination takes you.’”
Imaginations
varied from one participant, or future thespian, to another after Lange gave
them an assignment and made sure that they wrote something each day. The assignment
yielded different results.
“I
gave them exercises and I tried to teach them some of the tricks that I learned
as a writer in the process,” he said. “I wanted to give them the benefit of
what I learned.”
The
class in turn used what they learned and scripted a storyline, or used poetry,
to ascertain what happened in the young man’s life that prompted him to kill
his friend in the excerpt from “Ritual Murder.”
“Before
a young person can do anything, they have to have peace,” said Deborah Frazier,
meaning peace from within.
Lange
observed a couple of adults taking part in the writing class. They, too, sought
his opinion and expertise. Some of them – both youth and adults – are aspiring
writers. A few are professional.
One
of them was Carolyn Matthews, a freelance writer and coordinator of BCCC’s
“Sew Much Love,” an entrepreneurial program for homeless and marginalized
women. She listened intently and picked up a few pointers.
“The
focus was to learn playwriting,” Matthews said. “He would elicit from us prompt
lines, devices and literary strategies to get us to think outside the box. He
also talked about word choices and diction.”
She
added: “The writing exercises were an invigorating experience.”
“You
got to do exercises. Just like you work out your body, you have to work on your
writing,” said Lange, more than just a stage and screen actor. He directs and
writes plays as well. Twenty-five are currently in the hopper.
He
said working with young people is a natural fit. Levi and Deborah Frazier
thought so too when they brought Lange to Memphis. They first met the actor and
writer in Poland in 2017.
“Levi
was bringing over his one man show (about Ira Aldridge) and I was bringing over
information on a musical (about Ira Aldridge),” Lange remembers. “What brought
us together was the legacy of the first black Shakespearean actor in Europe.”
Ira
Aldridge was the crème de la crème in Europe in the 1800s, a black
Shakespearean actor so revered Poland honored him with a state funeral after he
died in 1867.
He
was the connection that brought Lange and the Fraziers together.
“Often
times when you see an actor on TV, you think Hollywood actor. You don’t have
time for young people,” said Levi Frazier.
Lange
debunks that perception and looks forward to coming back to Memphis.
