Singer and actress Sandra Reaves-Phillips, who has performed in Broadway musicals, in movies and internationally, will star in "Defining Destiny," a drama concert embracing the 140-year history of the Willow Hill School, Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Statesboro High School auditorium.
Directed by Georgia Theater Hall of Fame inductee Mical Whitaker, the show features a cast of professional, amateur and student performers, all donating their time and talents, said Dr. Gayle Jackson, event planner for the Willow Hill Heritage & Renaissance Center. Proceeds will go to the Leadership Education Arts Program, or LEAP, for after-school and summer activities at the historic Willow Hill School near Portal in 2015.
Even Reaves-Phillips, who received a Drama League Outstanding Performer Award and an Audelco Award for her work in "Rollin' on the T.O.B.A." on Broadway, is performing unpaid in "Defining Destiny."
"We're still working at the volunteer level, people donating their time and talents, and what's really unique about this is, Sandra Reaves-Phillips is donating her time here," Jackson said.
Born in Mullins, South Carolina, Reaves-Phillips sang the blues in small clubs in New York City before landing a contract with Epic Records. She performed off-Broadway and garnered critical acclaim with a role in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical "Raisin." She co-starred at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris in the original production of "Black and Blue" and has many other stage credits.
Her film credits include "Round Midnight," in which she was featured as Buttercup, and "Lean on Me," in which she played Mrs. Powers and sang the title song. She has performed in Statesboro before, at the Emma Kelly Theater in 2005.
Locals and pros to perform
This concert also features the Banks Creek Primitive Baptist Church Choir, as well as Statesboro High School choral and theater students under the direction of Lisa Muldrew and Eddie Frazier.
Others on the program are Amir Jamal Toure, a lecturer, author and living history performer of the African and Gullah Geechee tradition; the Bethea Sisters, gospel singers who joined Reaves-Phillips on a European tour that included performing for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican Christmas in 1999; Corliss Reese, the director of Charter Conservatory; and descendants of the original founders of Willow Hill School, including Dr. Nkenge Jackson and Dr. Alvin Jackson.
In addition to Whitaker, who directs the Averitt Center for the Arts' Youth Theater, as the show's director, Saturday's program bills Alton West as musical director. West is chorus and literary one-act play director at Metter High School. Musicians slated to perform include guitarist Nathan Montalvo and drummer Matt Frison, both from Statesboro.
"Open Letter to her African American Classmates of Statesboro High School," written by the Rev. Jane Page, a white graduate of SHS during the 1960s, will be presented in a choral reading by SHS students.
The Willow Hill School was founded in 1874 by African-Americans, freed from slavery nine years earlier by the conclusion of the Civil War, to educate their own children.
When it closed in 1999, Willow Hill had been a school for 125 years and was the longest active school in Bulloch County. A historical marker unveiled at the site two weeks ago by the Georgia Historical Society, Georgia Natural Resources Foundation and Willow Hill Center recognizes the existing building, dating from 1954, as a Georgia equalization school, erected during the state's belated drive to justify segregated schools as "separate but equal."
The title of "Defining Destiny" is adapted from that of the book "Defining Their Destiny: The Story of the Willow Hill School," by F. Erik Brooks.
With the drama concert, Whitaker has aimed to broaden the message, illustrating how Willow Hill exemplifies a larger struggle, said Dr. Gayle Jackson. Whitaker and the Averitt Center for the Arts are working with the Willow Hill Heritage and Renaissance Center on a schedule of events for 2015, called The Arts at Willow Hill.
Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for students and $10 for groups of 10 or more. To purchase, call (912) 865-7154 or visit www.willowhillheritage.org. Tickets will also be available at the door.