‘Angola 3’ to make debut at Carver Theater on Oct. 20
16th October 2023 · 0 Comments
By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer
The new stage play “Angola 3” will have a four-night run at the historic Carver Theater on October 20, 21st, 27th and 28th.
“Angola 3,” written by Parnell Herbert and directed by Saran Bynum, tells the story of Robert King, Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace. The play was produced by Poetic Panther Productions and 5th Dimension Studioz. King, Woodfox, and Wallace were prisoners at Angola (aka Louisiana State Penitentiary) and received worldwide attention for spending decades in solitary confinement at the prison.
“It (the play) is a tribute of strength, a tribute of defiance, a tribute of greatness, determination and truth that gives us the courage to speak truth to power,” Herbert said in a press release.
King was convicted of a prison murder in 1973 that would later be overturned on appeal. He spent 29 years in solitary before being released in 2001. Wallace and Woodfox each served over 40 years in solitary, the longest periods of solitary confinement in U.S. history. Wallace was released in 2013 after a judge overturned his initial indictment due to a lack of female jurors. He was re-indicted by Louisiana later that year but died of liver cancer before he could be arrested again. Woodfox’s conviction was overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals in November 2014. He would be released in February of 2016 and die of complications from COVID-19 in 2022.
The playwright Herbert was a childhood friend of Woodfox. When he went over 30 years without seeing anything about or hearing anything from his friend, he assumed he was dead. Then, he was shocked to hear that Woodfox had spent the previous 30 years in solitary confinement.
“I was outraged!” Herbert said. “I knew I had to do something to help my friend. The only weapon I had to my avail was my computer and skills as a playwright to draw attention to the Angola 3.”
Herbert approached Bynum about directing the play because he had seen and admired her films. He also felt the all-male story would benefit from a female perspective. Bynum said it was an honor for her to tell the stories of these three wrongfully convicted men and the decades they spent in solitary confinement.
She said the tale of their struggles remains relevant today.
Bynum was familiar with the basic story of the Angola 3, having grown up in New Orleans. She had also visited the infamous prison as part of a ministry program. “For me, to circle back and do a story on the most prominent three inmates in Angola just touched my heart because of the unfairness these three men went through,” said Bynum.
Turning the story of three men who were trapped in solitary confinement for so long into a stage play proved to be a daunting but rewarding task for Bynum. To prepare for the roles, the actors met with King and other formerly incarcerated people to discuss their experiences.
“It’s very challenging. We had to tear off the layers (of the actors’ natural personalities) and make the actors feel raw, like the inmates at Angola must have felt,” Bynum said.
Larry DE McGehee will play the role of King, Jay Dorsey will play Woodfox, and Justin Williams-Davis will play Wallace. The play will be sponsored by VOTE: Voices of the Experienced, a grassroots organization run by formerly incarcerated people that helps protect the rights of the formerly incarcerated.
Opening night festivities for the play will include a special guest appearance by King, the only surviving member of the Angola 3. There will also be musical performances from The Baby Dolls, Spyboy Rickie, Big Chief David of the Washitaw Nation, and Al “Carnival Time” Johnson. Dameon Neville will premier his new song “I Want To Be Free” in tribute to Wallace.
Tickets for the play can be purchased online at app.promotix.com/events/details/Angola3.
This article originally published in the October 16, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
