Rehearsals are now underway for Pierce to the Soul, the world premiere play by Chiquita Mullins Lee about the internationally-renowned folk artist and Columbus icon, Elijah Pierce.
In developing Pierce to the Soul over the past four or five years, we’ve done several public workshops. At each workshop an actor reads an excerpt from the script, playwright Chiquita Mullins Lee talks about her efforts to research and write the story, and then there is an open discussion with the audience about Pierce and the play.
Dayton actor Alan Bomar Jones, who will play Pierce in the world premiere, has participated in many of these workshops, as has veteran dramaturge Bill Childs. I’ve also participated as the director.
Actor Alan Bomar Jones as Elijah Pierce at the "Pierce to the Soul" workshop at the Columbus Museum of Art
Elijah Pierce died in 1984, but there are still people around Columbus who knew him – some who met him only once, some who knew him quite well. At almost all of these workshops – and we’ve done nearly ten – audience members have come forward with interesting anecdotes about Pierce.
Actor Truman Winbush, who read the role of Pierce in one of the early workshops, told us that he had visited Pierce’s barbershop as a teenager and provided a very amusing anecdote about the artist’s attitude towards the younger generation’s hairstyles. (Truman’s story will probably find its way into the play).
At Ohio Dominican University, one woman told us that her father – who used to rehab houses in Pierce’s neighborhood – would often take her with him when he dropped in at Pierce’s barbershop: “Mr. Pierce was a great BS-er – just like my dad!”
At the Columbus Museum of Art, another woman told us that she had taken her Bexley cub scout troop to visit Pierce. It was the early 1970’s, and she had taken the boys to the Columbus Museum of Art, and – having heard of Pierce – decided on the spur of the moment to walk them over to the barber shop on Long Street. Pierce happened to be there and welcomed them into his shop, where he patiently showed them his biblical “Book of Wood” – and generously took the time to explain his art.
At a workshop for the Columbus Historical Society, a man told us that as a young boy he had been hired by his grandfather, another barber, to sweep up the hair in his shop. Mr. Pierce, he remembered, would stop by to visit and seemed to the boy to have a real dignity.
Someone at one of the earliest workshops also pointed Chiquita to an extremely valuable source of information: Mr. Pierce’s godson.
All the stories we heard about Pierce pointed in the same direction: a man who was devout, generous, gentle, dedicated, humorous, proud, humble and completely unique.
Did you know Pierce? Or meet him? We’d love to hear from you. You can e-mail me at gnelson@catco.org.
–Geoff Nelson, Artistic Director
