Neuqua students use the arts to observe
Like a richly layered and complex quilt, Neuqua Valley High School's "Tapestries" will weave bits of black history to create a composite performance of singing, dancing, acting and art.
"It's a celebration of black America," said English teacher Aubrey Smith, who is co-directing the show with theater arts teacher Brigid Tileston.
"We're paying homage to some of our favorite artists, musicians, playwrights and poets."
The 75-minute show, which launches the school's observance of Black History Month, takes the stage at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the Naperville school's main auditorium, 2360 95th St.
"We have a lot of singing, a lot of dancing and a lot of art in the play," Tileston said.
The show features several sets, one of which takes the audience to Motown in the 1950s, she said. The '60s are recalled with a girl-group performance reminiscent of Diana Ross and the Supremes or Martha and the Vandellas.
A piece of art prominently displayed in the show is a 50-foot-wide quilt crafted by art teacher Heidi Parkes in the Gee's Bend tradition.
"It's kind of used as a backdrop," Tileston said.
An exhibition featuring quilts made by black women in Gee's Bend, Ala., during the mid-20th century currently is traveling to several major art museums, Smith said.
The art of Harlem Renaissance painter Romare Bearden also is highlighted, Tileston said, along with the poetry of Maya Angelou.
The show includes a scene from "A Raisin in the Sun," Lorraine Hansberry's award-winning play about a black family in Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood.
A scene from August Wilson's Pulitzer-Prize winning play, "Fences," features junior Darilyn Burtley as Rose, a middle-aged woman dealing with her husband's betrayal.
"Because she's a giver, she's always giving everything she had," said Burtley of her character.
One of 37 cast members, Burtley actually plays five roles in "Tapestries" -- a singer in one scene, a dancer in two scenes, a character from "Dream Girls" in another, and Rose.
"I have a real passion for being on stage," she said. "I've been singing since before I could talk. I just started acting a year ago."
Burtley said about two-thirds of the cast is black. Several black characters, she said, are being ably portrayed by white student actors.
"Living in Naperville and being black, I'm kind of a minority," she said.
Burtley said that while the art in "Tapestries" addresses slavery and other unpleasant periods in African-American history, it also joyously celebrates African-American lives and achievements.
She said she learned more about her own heritage by being cast in the show.
"It let me know we have more potential then even we know, to see certain people have made such contributions to American history, in general," she said.
If you go
What: "Tapestries"
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Where: Neuqua Valley High School auditorium, 2360 95th St., Naperville
Tickets: $8 for adults, $5 for students and seniors
Info: (630) 428-6685 or ipsd.org