Book a TTNC Touring Production

Let Your Children Tell brings stories of unimaginable horror that are told matter‐of‐factly but with intensity and shock by the young characters. Their individual stories of horror, collected and skillfully interwoven by author/director Brenda Schleunes, show the awful human cost of racial prejudice and injustice run amok. Schleunes has selected passages from diaries and letters to show how family affection, concerns about boyfriends, clothes or education were shattered and submerged in the struggle to stay alive in a sea of death and hate. On a bare stage, handling a minimum of props, the players carry their words and thoughts into movements well-choreographed by Anne Deloria. Designed to tour, the production was commissioned by the North Carolina Council on the Holocaust. No strong appeal for humanity and understanding of the evils of hate and prejudice can be stronger than the actual words of these children.

It's not always easy to watch productions by the Touring Theatre Ensemble of North Carolina. The troupe often tells stories that simply need to be told, and it can be difficult to bear witness to these tales of injustice, hardship, and perseverance. Few companies, however, can be relied on to provide such thought-provoking dramas, shows that will have audience members pondering and arguing weeks after the curtain has come down. "The Life and Times of Fannie Lou Hamer" is the story of a Mississippi sharecropper who rose to national prominence as a civil rights activist dedicated, among other causes, to register black voters. In her mid-forties when the first Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee members spoke at her church - which was the first time she realized she even had the right to vote - she eventually ran for Congress and spoke at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. The drama is informative and entertaining,

As is standard with the ensemble's productions, "Fannie Lou Hamer" is presented on a bare stage with minimal props, which in no way impedes its storytelling power. Nicely interspersed through the story is a series of spirituals and freedom songs well sung by the cast and any audience member who cares to join. Brenda Schleunes culled the story from texts, transcripts, and other records of Hamer's life. Her script is sometimes poetic ("with sore hands and numb souls") but is basically as down-to-earth as Hamer herself. "She did good work" is the eulogy one character gives Hamer. And isn't that the best any of us could hope would be said of us?

Star-Spangled Girls offers fascinating personal stories of catching spies on U.S. soil or setting up hospitals at the battlefront. The fact that these anecdotes are from women makes this production from the Touring Theatre of North Carolina that much more interesting. The company’s founder and artistic director, Brenda P. Schleunes, wrote the play based onthe letters, transcripts and other material that make up UNCG’s Women Veterans Historical Collection. The result is an extremely personal account of World War II activities by women who served as Army nurses, Red Cross workers, WACS (Women’s Army Corps), WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots) and WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service).Five women capably jump in and out of characters as they tell their stories of love and loss, patriotism and discrimination, wild adventure and numbing routine. Their tales are interspersed with song snippets of the era (“Over There” and “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”).The actors fall in and out of accents – or even male characters – as the differing stories unfold revealing the strength, curiosity and gusto with which they became pioneers in the women’s movement.