As part of the Black History celebration, the Ritz Theatre and Museum along with Director, Emanuel Washington presented a night of history, understanding and love of the art of letter writing.
The letters were presented in the style of Readers Theatre. “Readers Theatre is an activity in which students or actors, while reading directly from the scripts, are able to tell a story in a most entertaining form, without props, costumes, or sets. Actors are asked not to memorize their lines.
They are, however, encouraged to “ham it up” and use intonation and gestures appropriate to their characters and their characters’ words.” The actors presented each letter as if they were the writer themselves. The voices, the gestures the play on words, it was all there.
The actors read letters from W.E.B Dubois (Stamp issued in 1992), Madam CJ Walker (Stamp issued in 1998), Michael Leon, Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston (Stamp issued in 2003), Martin Luther King Jr. (Stamp issued in 1979) and many more. Behind the reader was a picture of the writer or copy of a stamp as issued from the United States Postal Service.
Mr. Washington gave the Postal Service many accolades for honoring Black Americans on the postage stamp and having such a diverse workforce.
“This event gave incite to why it is so important for all Americans to continue writing letters to their friends and family.
The art of writing has to come back. Events like these will help to ensure, we as a people see the value of the written word and use it to our advantage.” Wanda Mckinney, Customer Service Supervisor.
Mr. Washington and his actors were presented a plaque from the Postmaster’s office to add to the black history event.
This was the first annual event for the group, they plan to make this a tradition.
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