TheBurg

02.16 | theburg | 51 and political unrest and the resulting assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, as well as the Vietnam War. More specifically for African-Americans, the laws of Jim Crow led to a full-grown civil rights movement and the assassinations of leaders Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., along with the rise of the Black Panthers and urban riots in Watts, Detroit, Chicago and Washington, D.C. As such, the seminal question asked in this Tony Award-winning play is: When do we, as African Americans, get our ham? In fact, the question is waved constantly in the face of audiences through Hambone, a disillusioned, mentally immature man who believes a grocery store owner owes him a ham and limits his conversation to the words: "I. Want. My. Ham." With the timing of this presentation, Open Stage challenges its audience—a predominantly white audience through the years—to answer the aforementioned question, a provocative one, at a time when organizations such as Black Lives Matter are interrupting political campaign speeches and invading malls across the United States to get a largely white American audience to honor the same sentiment, I. WANT. MY. HAM. From the ghosts that haunt us as a people in " e Piano Lesson" to the blues that consumes us in "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" and the religion that betrays us in "Joe Turner's Come and Gone"—even to the dream that escapes us in "Fences"—Open Stage "has provided a vehicle for there to be open dialogue about the issues," notes veteran actress and company member Sharia Benn. This is evidenced most by the post-show discussions Open Stage has held for each of the Wilson shows. Still, in a city that is 52-percent African American (according to the U.S Census Bureau's 2015 report), Benn and other Open Stage resident actors like Aaron Bomar and Ronnie Banks would like to see more blacks come out and hear their voice represented. With Wilson, Bomar believes African-Americans "have their own Shakespeare." Perhaps the great irony arising from this statement is that Open Stage has presented the "African-American Shakespeare" far more than it has Shakespeare himself, proving that the history, the legacy, the stories and the experiences of African Americans—yes, black lives indeed—have always mattered throughout the theater's long history. " Two Trains Running" runs Feb. 5 to 21. Tickets are $25 to $35 and can be purchased online at openstagehbg.com or by phone at 717-232-6736 or the box office (located in the administrative offices of Open Stage across the elevator lobby from the theater doors). Producer and Artistic Director Donald Alsedek directs a stellar cast that includes Aaron Bomar, Daniel Fordham, Louis Riley, Jennette Harrison, Ronnie Banks, Eric Sabin Sims and Caliph White. FebruAry theAtre eveNtS At hArrISburg'S ProFeSSIoNAL DoWNtoWN theAtreS rough Feb. 7 "RED VELVET" by Lolita Chakarbarti at Gamut eatre Fridays & Saturdays at 7:30 pm Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Tickets: Gamuteatre.org Feb. 5 to 21 "TWO TRAINS RUNNING" a drama by August Wilson at Open Stage of Harrisburg ursdays to Sundays, with these special events 2/5 Opening night w/reception 2/11 rifty ursday w/limited $15 tickets available 2/14 2 p.m. matinee includes post-show discussion Tickets: openstagehbg.com Feb. 17 to March 5 Popcorn Hat Players present "STONE SOUP" at Gamut eatre Wednesdays and ursdays, 10 a.m. Saturdays, 1 p.m. Tickets: Gamuteatre.org February 19 to 21 Harrisburg Shakespeare Co presents "A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM" Friday and Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, 2:30 p.m. at Gamut eatre Tickets: Gamuteatre.org Feb. 26 & 27 at 8 p.m. "BILL W. AND DR. BOB" a staged reading of the hit play about the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous at Open Stage of Harrisburg Tickets: openstagehbg.com

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