Now this is something I have been waiting to get the confirmation on for months. Remember when the Kansas City Public Library hosted a "conversation with Tom Pendergast," the historic local ward boss portrayed by living history performer Bill Worley? And then televised it under the program title "Meet the Past"?
Well, at long last it's now a series with a 12-episode order, and is going into production next month, and you can be in the audience. You won't want to miss the premiere, which features one of the finest actors I've seen in this genre of bringing historical figures to life.
His name's Charles Everett Pace, and he will be sitting down as Langston Hughes -- the locally-grown Harlem Renaissance poet -- for a chat with library director Crosby Kemper III on Monday, April 7. Here's a video I shot of Charles as Frederick Douglass, when he and Mrs. TVB were part of the traveling company that performed the "Bleeding Kansas Chautauqua" in 2004.
Charles often performs as Langston Hughes (and Malcolm X, among others) by a method of deep reading and understanding of his characters that I didn't think you could get short of writing their biography. Trust me, by the end of his talk with Crosby you'll swear that he is channeling Hughes from the grave. He's something else.
A week later -- by the way, these are all taking place in the library's grand Kirk Hall, the main floor lobby at its downtown branch at 10th and Baltimore, where parking in the garage next door is free -- the visitor will be Amelia Earhart, who for years has been portrayed by our friend Ann Birney of Ride into History. One of the reasons I can heartily endorse this series is that we know so many of the people involved, know that they are talented, know that they offer a pipeline into our past that is unique and compelling and, lastly, know that relatively few people have ever seen them perform. (Speaking of which, yes, I expect that if "Meet the Past" catches on Mrs. TVB will eventually be booked, but she's not in season one. Anyway, that's not why I'm excited. Seriously, did you play the YouTube? I know my camera technique isn't that great but still, you get a flavor.)
Of course, I'm also delighted that "Meet the Past" is a locally produced television show and is not a cookie-cutter clone of something else already on TV and is being filmed in a library, of all places, and somehow got funded in the teeth of a recession.
The one concern I have -- and I know this is Kemper's, too -- is conducting an interview with people who are used to performing in character, not appearing on talk shows in character. My guess is that's why they're front-loading it with two of the best, who can roll with the punches and think on their feet and in their seat while their interlocutor (Kemper) works on his Steve Allen technique. (I guess I shouldn't invoke Steverino and his campy "Meeting of Minds." Judging by the pilot episode, "Meet the Past" will be a lot less full of itself.)
Full information on "Meet the Past" is here -- and a chance to submit a question for Langston Hughes is here.
Below: A picture by Elise Del Vecchio of the scene at Kirk Hall when the pilot for "Meet the Past" was taped in 2007.
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