UNC will commemorate the life and work of novelist, essayist and poet Richard Wright April 12-13 to mark the centennial of his birth in 1908.
Over the course of the weekend-long centenary, Wright’s life and work will be celebrated in several public events, including a staged reading of Paul Green’s revised adaptation of Native Son, a colloquium hosted by UNC’s Institute for the Arts and Humanities and a commemorative performance in Memorial Hall.
The Richard Wright Centennial is sponsored by the Center for the Study of the American South, Carolina Performing Arts, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Institute for the Arts and Humanities, The Paul Green Foundation, and the departments of dramatic art and communication studies, with the generous support of the Music Maker Foundation and the New Traditions Theatre Company.
The event highlights are:
Staged Reading of the Paul Green Adaptation of Native Son
Saturday, April 12 at 7:30 p.m. in Gerrard Hall
Free admission, reserve tickets through the Memorial Hall Box Office at 919-843-3333.
Tickets available beginning March 31.
The Richard Wright Centennial Colloquium
Sunday, April 13 at 1 p.m. in the University Room of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities in Hyde Hall
Free admission, all ticket inquiries through Carry Matthews at the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at crmatthe@email.unc.edu.
Richard Wright Centennial Commemorative
Sunday, April 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Memorial Hall
Free admission, reserve tickets through the Memorial Hall Box Office at 919-843-3333.
Tickets available beginning March 31.
The staged reading on April 12 at 7:30 p.m. in Gerrard Hall will feature Carolina alumnus and noted playwright Paul Green’s adaptation of Native Son, the revision of the original collaboration between Green and Wright undertaken in Chapel Hill during the summer of 1940. The reading will prominently feature the New Traditions Theater Company.
Wright’s contributions to literary, social and political dialogue will be examined at the Richard Wright Centennial Colloquium at 1 p.m. April 13, hosted by the College’s Institute for the Arts and Humanities in Hyde Hall. Featured at the colloquium will be Julia Wright, Richard Wright’s eldest daughter, who will deliver her paper, “Richard Wright’s Premonition of Katrina in his Flood Stories.” Other presenters: Jerry Ward, who will discuss, “One Writer’s Legacy: Richard Wright and Our 21st Century,” and Margaret Bauer, who will discuss, “Call me Paul: The Long, Hot Summer of Paul Green and Richard Wright.”
Respondents will include UNC English professors Trudier Harris, Randall Kenan and Mae Henderson. The event will be moderated by English professor Laurence Avery.
The culmination of the weekend’s events will be a special Richard Wright Centennial Commemorative, free to the public on April 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Memorial Hall. Julia Wright, daughter of Richard Wright, will participate in the program, which will feature a dramatic narrative of Wright’s life and performed readings of his work. The original production will be based on biographical and autobiographical sources and will include performed selections from Wright’s fiction and non-fiction (Native Son, The Problem of the Hero, The Outsider, Joe Louis Uncovers Dynamite and Blueprint for Negro Writing). Wright’s letters, poetry and music, along with film clips and documentary footage, will be interwoven throughout the evening’s performance. Julia Wright will present a selection from her father’s last, unfinished work, A Father’s Law. The evening will also include scenes from Paul Green’s adaptation of Native Son.
The April 13 program will feature a variety of performers, including North Carolina blues musicians Lightnin’ Wells and John Dee Holeman. The program will be directed by UNC communication studies artist-in-residence Joseph Megel.
For more information on the Richard Wright Centennial events, contact coordinator Jonah Garson at jonahgarson@gmail.com.
