Telling the story of the golden era of Motown Records is no simple task, but a talented cast and crew at the New McCree Theatre has been doing just that on its stage this month.
The Motown Story, written by New McCree Theatre executive director Charles Winfrey, has two weekends of performances left in its run, with 7 p.m. shows on February 20, 21, 27, and 28, and 2 p.m. matinees on February 21 and 28. Tickets are available online. The work of bringing that complex story that covers multiple years of Motown’s history and music from influential acts like the Marvelettes, the Temptations, the Miracles, the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Michael Jackson, and Martha and the Vandellas among others to life falls on a talented – and large – cast that has been up for the task.
The production includes more than two dozen actors, a live band, choreography and all of the exciting visual and musical elements that would be expected in a production about Motown. With auditions in December, that gave Patricia Enright, the theatre’s artistic director and the director of The Motown Story, a short timeline to pull everything together.
“It’s a really good experience,” Enright said. “We rehearse every day. It’s always a challenge to put these parts to the machine together to make it run, but the groups work together well. They sing in groups together, we have a choreographer, so she teaches the dance to them, so by the time I see the dance, they’ve already choreographed it. The singers have been working with a vocal coach and then we bring the music in with the live band. So when we come together, everybody has already been rehearsing in their particular area.”
Many plays at McCree are high-energy and elicit passionate reactions – “The audiences, they get up, they dance with us, they sing during the plays,” Enright said. So working with actors to play into that engagement is key.
“I tell them all the time, there’s always three audiences,” she said. “The first audience is yourself. The second audience is the artist in you working with the person on the stage that you’re talking to. And then you have your audience out there. You have to involve everybody in order for that full experience to come to fruition.”
Enright also enjoys the director-writer interaction of working with Winfrey on one of his plays. The Motown Story has been performed before at the New McCree Theatre, but this is Enright’s first time directing it. She noted that one hallmark of any Winfrey play is that it will be meticulously researched.
“One thing I love about Charles’ plays, he always makes sure his information is accurate,” Enright said. “He studies it. So you get to learn something because there are a lot of times when we’re doing these plays and it’s like, wow, I didn’t know that. As far as the collaboration is concerned,he writes it and I take it and I put it on stage. So he gives me some freedom to see some things, but he just wants to make sure that it’s accurate, it is entertaining and it’s fun. Charles is a really good person to work for. He’s very attentive, and he loves it (theatre). And because he loves it, it helps everyone love it.”
The “fun” part of that equation relies on a talented cast, and that’s something that is always a guarantee at any New McCree Theatre production. Cast members for this show are: Quinnell Adams, Raymeon Billings, Bobby Blake, Curtis Brown, Michelle Bryant, Sharon Butler, Montrail Carr, Lashaela Clayton, Frederick Fife, Terrence Grundy, Cassandria Harris, Kimberly Harris, Tailore Johnson, Ronald Knapp, Wanita Kornegay, Yonna Mittz, Linda Moore, Sanaa Murphy, Sharone Murphy, Cameo Paschal-Fair, James “Ham” Powell, Harry Ryan, Alverine Simpson, Lewis Spears, Sherita Swanigan, Cliff Sykes, Shyron Thompson, Broderick Washington, Jaylon Washington, and Lawrence “Chris” Young.
Like many shows at McCree, the cast is a mix of performers who are familiar to audiences who regularly see productions there along with some newcomers. Part of the magic of the New McCree Theatre is the fact that many performers have literally grown up on their stage, including Enright herself who has been a part of the theatre since she was 14.
“It’s contagious here,” Enright said. “You’ll have new people come in and next thing you know, they don’t wanna stop. It’s just something magical that happens on the stage. It’s like a family, you look forward to coming to rehearsal.”
For Enright, McCree helped open doors to a career for her. She received a college scholarship out of McCree and then began a successful career as a screen actress. The foundation that was laid at McCree helped her in her profession, but she also says acting and theatre teach skills that are transferable to many different platforms.
“Acting teaches discipline,” she said. “In order to be on stage, you have to be disciplined. The best thing for me isI’m able to draw things out of people that they didn’t know were there. So that’s the good part, when they have that ‘aha’ moment themselves.”
Some of those moments start in McCree’s yearly youth camps. Many participants get their first exposure to theatre in that format, and they don’t always go willingly. But for many, it unlocks a lifelong creative spark.
“I would run down the street every day to be at McCree (when I was a kid),” Enright said. “It was my favorite place to be, and I like to see that for other people, for children especially. Some of the kids that come to the camps, they don’t wanna be there. And then they start watching, and then they see somebody else do something and then next thing you know, they’re lit up and it’s like, look at ‘them! And it’s not that they didn’t want to be there, it just causes them to have to go outside of their comfort zone. And then next thing you know, they’re on stage and they are asking, ‘When’s the next camp? I can’t wait to go.’”
As for The Motown Story, Enright encourages people to come and watch because it delivers what the New McCree Theatre is known for: an entertaining story brought to life by talented actors and musicians from the community.
“The singing is good. The costumes are good. It’s a fun time and you don’t wanna miss it,” she said.
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