AHOSKIE – How would you sell a visitor to Ahoskie on the notion that it’s a great place to live, work and play?

The answer to that question was played out on stage here Sunday when the Theatre Arts Specialization students at Hertford County High School ended months of work in a live performance entitled – “Straight Outta Ahoskie.” The performance was held in front of an audience gathered in the auditorium at Roanoke-Chowan Community College.

What made this original play so unique is that involved the input from a socially wide-ranging cross section of local residents. The information gained from those one-on-one interviews, conducted by the students early last month, served as the script, complete with a “ad-lib” flavor interjected by the Theater Arts classmates, for the 50-minute live performance.

“The concept for this production was conceived by the Advanced members of the Theatre Arts Specialization class here at the high school,” stated James Shafer, Theater Arts instructor at HCHS. “The main objective of the play was to discover through the input of those who live and work here in our town of what makes Ahoskie great and present that in the most uplifting way.”

The performance featured three main characters – each a member of the Theater Arts Advanced class: DeAndra Dyer, Sharnitta Fennell, and Ciara Futrell.

Dyer portrayed Zionah Lassiter, the owner of Zionah’s Beauty and Beyond, a hair styling salon located on Ahoskie’s Main Street. Fennell filled the role of Lisa “Lili” Harrell – who arrives at the parlor seeking advice from Lassiter on finding a professional daycare to enroll her child, and winds up filling in as a hair stylist for the day when Lassiter’s regular assistant calls and says she can’t make it to work.

Futrell performed as Claudia “Clow” Chow, a down-on-her-luck hair stylist from Alaska whose car breaks down in Ahoskie and she enters the beauty salon seeking advice. What she receives in return is a heavy dose of Ahoskie charm and history from Zionah and Lili as well as a cast of other characters entering and exiting the shop, either there for a hair styling appointment or just passing time to share a little old-fashioned gossip.

“This play was fun and very exciting. I love the teacher and the class. I had tons of fun,” stated Dyer.

Fennell said she also enjoyed the time spent working in advance of the production….seeing all the pieces come together on the stage.

It was a lot of work to get exactly what we wanted,” Fennell noted. “Working on the play was fun, being close with classmates and just laughing and being a team. I think the play was a great success and well performed.

“It was good honoring the people of Ahoskie and making people of this small town laugh and smile with my teacher Mr. Shafer and with my team’s help. We did it,” she added.

Futrell also stressed the team concept in this production.

“I enjoyed working with everyone,” she said, adding that she found it hard to keep a straight face during the performance. “The people who decided to help out did a great job. If I had a second opportunity to do it again, I would.”

Shafer noted the other Theater Arts students that played key roles in the performance – Kwamie Lassiter (senior), and sophomores Lauryn Tann, Tytiana Heath, and Tiyonna Horton.

“This play was exciting and fun to do. It was a lot of hard work and dedication put into it. All of the cast did good and had a great time,” stressed Lassiter.

“It was a great experience,” stated Tann. “It was really fun performing for people and with my cast mates. It was great because it helped improve my acting skills and my nervousness on stage, like once you got up there, it was really fine. I really enjoyed myself and wouldn’t mind doing it again. I just love entertaining people. It’s fun for me.”

“Being in Straight Outta Ahoskie was the best experience,” Heath said. “All of the cast were positive and we all smiled and laughed. I’ve never been so excited to get the chance to participate in something. When we performed I was truly nervous, but I loved every second of it and if I could do it again, then I would.”

During last month’s interview process, community members were asked if they would like to act out their roles live on stage. Several chose to do so, including Ahoskie’s “infamous” Chessiepete, Bearfield Primary School Principal Julie Shields, retired schoolteacher Jean Parker, and Ahoskie Town Councilman C. David Stackhouse, pastor at New Ahoskie Baptist Church.

“I have been participating in all things theatre for 20 years, but have never done anything quite like this project,” Shafer noted. “From the beginning it has been an experiment, writing an original play without a line by line script, depending largely on improvisation and the participation of community members that had little or no theatrical performance experience coupled with minimal exposure to the rehearsal process for the play. We had the privilege of working with Pastor C. David Stackhouse and Lt. Curtis Freeman from the beginning. They helped our class shape ‘the event’ in such a way that would reach the most people. They also brainstormed with the class who should be interviewed.”

Other than Chessiepete, Freeman, Shields, Stackhouse, and Parker, other community members interviewed for the project were Earline Davis, Jesse Dickens, J. Wendell Hall, Ron Lane, Johnny Ruffin Jr., Tyrone Ruffin, Coach Charles Simmons, Corelette Stephenson, Caroline Stephenson, Frank Stephenson, Sheriff Juan Vaughan, Mayor Wallace White, Lee Wilson, and Cal Bryant.

“Throughout the interview process I was impressed that we were supported all along by our volunteers; all agreed to come to our campus for the interview and all allowed us to take what they gave us to use in the play,” stated Shafer. “The important thing to know is that DeAndra Dyer, Sharnitta Fennell, and Ciara Futrell were the seniors that were a part of the Theatre Arts Specialization Advanced class that worked on the production from the beginning. They are the ones that interviewed everyone and got the grade for their performance.”

Shafer continued, “I was also struck by the heart that our interviewees revealed: they truly want the best for our young people and for this area. They all seemed to have made sacrifices and I felt honored to get the chance to meet these great people. Just one example was Ms. Jean Parker. She had never been in a play before and she is over (age) 70, but she was proud to participate and I think she did a fabulous job. That is courage and support and heroism in a way.”

Shafer also mentioned the support of this project from the administrative team at Hertford County High School.

“It was a risk to do this type of show, but our efforts were supported throughout the process. It was not an easy thing to put together, but the end result seemed to be very successful. Hopefully the spirit of respect was at the forefront, though it was a light-hearted story,” he concluded.

At the end of the performance, cast members and the audience enjoyed a fish fry as prepared by members of the New Ahoskie Baptist Church Food Ministry….just one more example of why this town is such a great place to live!