Aftermath Notes

The Play's very first stage directions reveal that Mam Sue has, I believe, proudly placed "A service flag containing one star [that] hangs in the little window of the cabin." My gut instinct... is for us to not go the literal route with the virtual backgrounds, for example, having them be the interior of Mam Sue's Cabin, where Miss Burrill has set the play's action....Because it's a reading, I find myself feeling even more empowered for us to seek an artistically creative & theatrical rendering of what the viewers will see in the virtual background, that directly connects to and resonates the characters and the play's conflicted thoughts and actions.

I happily went down the rabbit hole of research about the service flag, which is called "The Blue Star Banner," and is displayed in the window of a home when a loved one is proudly serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. The Blue Star Service Banner was designed and patented in 1917 by World War I Army Capt. Robert L. Queisser of the 5th Ohio Infantry. Queisser's two sons served on the front line. So the play's 1919 time period is just a few years after his banner quickly became the unofficial symbol for parents with a child in active military service, including in this case, a "Negro" family. The character of John experienced what is powerfully and succinctly stated in an excerpt from a now famous letter, sent home to his mother, from a Negro soldier in France during WWI: "These people are so nice, that the only time I know I'm Colored is when I'm looking in the glass."

Also included in the first stage directions is "MAM SUE busilly sewing. The many colors in the old patchwork quilt that she is mending." And in one of Mam Sue's first lines of text she makes reference to the significance of the "smouldering wood fire," and in particular she says to Millie "See dat log dah, Millie? De one fallin' tuh de side dah wid de big flame lappin' 'round hit? Dat means big doin's 'round heah tonight!" The bible and their faith/religion also figures quite prominently in this family's life. And later in the play, when we first see John he is wearing his French War Cross medal.

I am quite interested in the possibilities of how a literal and/or impressionist version of The Blue Star Banner might be incorporated into our virtual backgrounds for Aftermath's reading. The Blue Star Banner symbol, its significance, and how the very country that John bravely served and put his life on the line for, did not serve him and his family equally...His father is lynched for standing up for his basic rights. Well, that is the sad aftermath for John and his family, which leads John to, in honor of his father and his sense of integrity, put his life on the line in Jim Crow South Carolina...to demand respect and accountability for the value that Black Lives DO Matter.

And here we are in 2021, where we are currently grappling with the recent, troubling insurrection in our nation's capital, as a result of the aftermath of our recent presidential election and the ongoing history of systemic racism in our United States of America.

I recently read a New York Times editorial written by the remarkable Charlayne Hunter-Gault, who was one of the two first African American students to integrate the University of Georgia in 1961. Here is an excerpt from her op-ed, "History is often defined as what happened in the past, and, as my journalism professor said on the first day of class, 'We learn from history that we do not learn from history.' Sixty years after Hamilton and I desegregated the University of Georgia, I hope we can all remember and examine our country's history in its difficult entirety - at a time when the kind of division I experienced walking onto that campus on Jan. 9, 1961, has reared its ugly head all over this country."

How timely to share Miss Burrill's play on January 16, 2021, "examining our country's history in its difficult entirety."

-Director Timothy Johnson

Koritha Mitchell (who will offer her thoughts and expertise on Burrill's Aftermath at Metropolitan Virtual Playhouse post-reading on 1/16/2021) is a literary historian, cultural critic, and associate professor of English at Ohio State University. She is author of Living with Lynching: African American Lynching Plays, Performance, and Citizenship, which won book awards from the American Theatre and Drama Society and from the Society for the Study of American Women Writers. She is editor of the Broadview Edition of Frances Harper’s 1892 novel Iola Leroy, and her articles include “James Baldwin, Performance Theorist, Sings the Blues for Mister Charlie,” published by American Quarterly, and “Love in Action,” which appeared in Callaloo and draws parallels between lynching and violence against LGBTQ+ communities. Her second monograph, From Slave Cabins to the White House: Homemade Citizenship in African American Culture, was published in August 2020 by the University of Illinois Press. Her commentary has appeared in outlets such as CNN, Good Morning America, The Huffington Post, NBC News, PBS Newshour, and NPR's Morning Edition. On Twitter, she’s @ProfKori.


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Aftermath by Mary Powell Burrill Director's Notes: The Play's very first stage directions reveal that Mam Sue has, I believe, proudly placed "A service flag containing one star [that] hangs in the little window of the cabin." My gut instinct... is for us to not go the literal route with the virtual backgrounds, for example, having them be the interior of Mam Sue's Cabin, where Miss Burrill has set the play's action....Because it's a reading, I find myself feeling even more empowered for us to seek an artistically creative & theatrical rendering of what the viewers will see in the virtual background, that directly connects to and resonates the characters and the play's conflicted thoughts and actions. I happily went down the rabbit hole of research about the service flag, which is called "The Blue Star Banner," and is displayed in the window of a home when a loved one is proudly serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. The Blue Star Service Banner was designed and patented in 1917 by World War I Army Capt. Robert L. Queisser of the 5th Ohio Infantry. Queisser's two sons served on the front line. So the play's 1919 time period is just a few years after his banner quickly became the unofficial symbol for parents with a child in active military service, including in this case, a "Negro" family. The character of John experienced what is powerfully and succinctly stated in an excerpt from a now famous letter, sent home to his mother, from a Negro soldier in France during WWI: "These people are so nice, that the only time I know I'm Colored is when I'm looking in the glass." Also included in the first stage directions is "MAM SUE busilly sewing. The many colors in the old patchwork quilt that she is mending." And in one of Mam Sue's first lines of text she makes reference to the significance of the "smouldering wood fire," and in particular she says to Millie "See dat log dah, Millie? De one fallin' tuh de side dah wid de big flame lappin' 'round hit? Dat means big doin's 'round heah tonight!" The bible and their faith/religion also figures quite prominently in this family's life. And later in the play, when we first see John he is wearing his French War Cross medal. I am quite interested in the possibilities of how a literal and/or impressionist version of The Blue Star Banner might be incorporated into our virtual backgrounds for Aftermath's reading. The Blue Star Banner symbol, its significance, and how the very country that John bravely served and put his life on the line for, did not serve him and his family equally...His father is lynched for standing up for his basic rights. Well, that is the sad aftermath for John and his family, which leads John to, in honor of his father and his sense of integrity, put his life on the line in Jim Crow South Carolina...to demand respect and accountability for the value that Black Lives DO Matter. And here we are in 2021, where we are currently grappling with the recent, troubling insurrection in our nation's capital, as a result of the aftermath of our recent presidential election and the ongoing history of systemic racism in our United States of America. I recently read a New York Times editorial written by the remarkable Charlayne Hunter-Gault, who was one of the two first African American students to integrate the University of Georgia in 1961. Here is an excerpt from her op-ed, "History is often defined as what happened in the past, and, as my journalism professor said on the first day of class, 'We learn from history that we do not learn from history.' Sixty years after Hamilton and I desegregated the University of Georgia, I hope we can all remember and examine our country's history in its difficult entirety - at a time when the kind of division I experienced walking onto that campus on Jan. 9, 1961, has reared its ugly head all over this country." How timely to share Miss Burrill's play on January 16, 2021, "examining our country's history in its difficult entirety." -Director Timothy Johnson Scholar's Voices: Koritha Mitchell (who will offer her thoughts and expertise on Burrill's Aftermath at Metropolitan Virtual Playhouse post-reading on 1/16/2021) is a literary historian, cultural critic, and associate professor of English at Ohio State University. She is author of Living with Lynching: African American Lynching Plays, Performance, and Citizenship, which won book awards from the American Theatre and Drama Society and from the Society for the Study of American Women Writers. She is editor of the Broadview Edition of Frances Harper’s 1892 novel Iola Leroy, and her articles include “James Baldwin, Performance Theorist, Sings the Blues for Mister Charlie,” published by American Quarterly, and “Love in Action,” which appeared in Callaloo and draws parallels between lynching and violence against LGBTQ+ communities. Her second monograph, From Slave Cabins to the White House: Homemade Citizenship in African American Culture, was published in August 2020 by the University of Illinois Press. Her commentary has appeared in outlets such as CNN, Good Morning America, The Huffington Post, NBC News, PBS Newshour, and NPR's Morning Edition. On Twitter, she’s @ProfKori. Should you be in the position to do so consider a donation to the little theater that couldn't stop. Happy Holidays to you, your friends, and your family.