Under the baobab: Students’ accomplishments are most important piece of ‘Living Legend’ award
Sisters and brothers, as you read this, I will be at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem North Carolina. A little while ago I received the following letter:
“Dear Mr. Dumas,
Because of your significant contributions to the American theatre and to the entertainment industry, the 2022 National Black Theatre Festival (NBTF) has chosen you to receive the Living Legend Award at the Opening Night Gala Awards Banquet on Monday, August 1, 2022. On behalf of Jackie Alexander, producing artistic director of the North Carolina Black Repertory Company (NC Black Rep), and executive producer of the NBTF, we hope that you will honor us with your acceptance and attendance…”
The press release went on:
Charles Dumas is a professor emeritus from Penn State University where he has taught since 1995. He is presently a professor in residence at the African-American Theatre Program at the University of Louisville. He was also a Fulbright Fellow in Theatre at Stellenbosch University and was founder and head of the Acting for the Camera program. Also in South Africa he founded the camera acting program at the University of The Free State in Bloemfontein. He was also head of the Camera Acting program at Temple University in Philadelphia. Dumas’ students have been nominated and received numerous AUDELCO Awards, Tony Awards, Emmys, Oscars, Obies, Helen Hayes and Barrymore Awards and most recently the Pulitzer Prize in Drama.
Dumas is also a professional writer, director, producer and Emmy Award winning actor. He has written, directed, produced or acted in over three hundred plays. He has been a member of several companies including The Negro Ensemble Company, New Federal Theatre, 126th Street Rep, Arena Players, The Shakespeare Company of DC, The McCarter Company at Princeton, ATA, OLac, and Riverside Shakespeare. He is the co-founder and former Artistic Director of the Loaves and Fish Theatre Company, Shakespeare at the Palmer, and Myth Slayer Players. He produced and co-directed the only August Wilson Festival and Seminar which presented all of the Decade Series during the Playwright’s lifetime.
He is a graduate of the American Film Institute, SUNY at New Paltz, and Yale Law School. He has been married to Prof. Jo Dumas for over 52 years.
My primary contribution to American theater is what my students have accomplished. They have won Tonys, Oscars, Emmys, Pulitzer Prizes and become teachers themselves. Some from the first classes I taught at Penn State will be accompanying me at the NBTF. Professor Cynthia Henderson, Nedra Gallegos, Virginia Danford, Herb Newsome along with colleagues from the present: Terry Watson and Jo Dumas.
The NBTF is a gathering place. It is where I first met August Wilson and Lloyd Richards back in the ‘80s. Lloyd was there to receive the Living Legend Award. August was one of five Black playwrights being recognized.
I am not in the same league. My primary contribution to be a “Living Legend” is that I am still living. Former honorees like August and my friend James Earl Jones have Broadway theaters named after them. If I am remembered at all, outside of my family, it will be because of the extraordinary contributions of my former students.
Another look
Last week, I wrote that Professor Mingo’s “awards and accolades did not sufficiently impress the ‘powers-that-be’ at PSU.” I implied it was one of the reasons she was moving on to become an associate professor at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. AnneMarie wrote to assure me that wasn’t accurate. She said she had felt fully supported and encouraged by colleagues in her department.
Mea culpa.