Recalling Jonny Gammage: Play dramatizes racially charged case
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Ian Pisarcik as Officer John Vojtas and Corey Talley as Jonny Gammage rehearse the apprehension and fight scene. -
Director Mark Southers, left, and playwright Attilio "Buck" Favorini. -
Laci Mosely, portraying Narves Gammage, mother of Jonny Gammage, makes an emotional statement with Brett Caffiers, left, as Ray Seals in "The Gammage Project." -
Corey Tally as Jonny Gammage.
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Mark Clayton Southers has been working on "The Gammage Project" for two years and directing the play through rehearsals as it readies for a Thursday opening. There was a moment when he let his actors do some freestyle acting, just to have a little fun, before getting back to the play.
"That's going to be the most fun we have," he said. "It's a real tough piece. I found myself almost tearing up over dialogue I've heard eight, 10 times when the actress delivered it [in rehearsal]. It was heart-wrenching, because you never know when something like this can happen to a family member."
Where: Pitt Rep and Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company at the Henry Heyman Theatre in the Stephen Foster Memorial on the University of Pittsburgh Oakland campus, moving to the August Wilson Center for African American Culture, Downtown.
When: Thursday through Feb. 19, 8 p.m. Wed.-Sat. and 2 p.m. Sun., at the Henry Heyman Theatre. March 2-4, 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat. and 1 p.m. Sun. at the August Wilson Center..
Tickets: $12-$25 at the Heymann Theatre, www.play.pitt.edu/content/gammage-project. $15 in advance, $20 at the door at the August Wilson Center, www.pghplaywrights.com/gammage.
Painful memories of Jonny Gammage's death echoed through time when Jordan Miles was beaten by police two years ago, a case that became a renewed call to action for Attilio "Buck" Favorini. The playwright teamed with Mr. Southers -- a marriage of the University of Pittsburgh Repertory company and Pittsburgh Playwrights -- to create what is billed as a "docu-drama" of the events of 16 years ago.
Mr. Gammage, the 31-year-old cousin of former Steeler Ray Seals, died during a traffic stop in a confrontation with five police officers on Oct. 12, 1995. Mr. Miles, then a senior at Pittsburgh CAPA, was stopped in his Homewood neighborhood on Jan. 12, 2010, and ended up badly beaten by several officers. In both cases, the injured party was black, the officers were white.
First Published February 5, 2012 12:00 am
