A REHEARSAL FOR “MEET ME AT THE OAK,” PLAYING AT THE O’REILLY THEATER’S RAUH REHEARSAL HALL, FEB. 19-MARCH 1.
New Horizon has featured all of Gray’s productions
by Genea L. Webb
For New Pittsburgh Courier
Family, love and integrity are a few of the themes explored in Layon Gray’s “Meet Me at the Oak,” which is part of Pittsburgh Public Theater’s Public Presents Series and is presented by New Horizon Theater Inc. The play runs from Thursday, Feb. 19 to March 1.
“We are happy to be affiliated with Layon. We’ve brought New York to Pittsburgh. His plays are crowd-pleasers,” said Joyce Meggerson-Moore, New Horizon Theater Inc., chairperson. “New Horizon is happy to have been able to form a partnership with a New York group.”
“Meet Me at the Oak” is a family piece that tells the saga of a tree that sits in the yard of the Richard family home. The tree, scarred with visible and veiled trauma, holds ancestral significance to the individuals that reside on the property. When a White family moves next door, a dispute ensues as the tree’s history and land it occupies is questioned.
“This is a little different than what Pittsburgh comes out to see from me,” Gray told the New Pittsburgh Courier. “Most of my stuff comes from a historical base, fact-based and based on real people. This is about a real tree. The tree is the main character and when people come to see it, they’ll understand why the family loved the tree for its rich history.”
Gray got the idea for “Meet Me at the Oak” from the tree that sat in his grandparents’ backyard.
LAYON GRAY
“When I was a little boy, my uncle Charles told me about a tree—a stump in my grandparents’ backyard—that had little carvings on it and I asked him, ‘What’s going on with this tree?’ He told me it was a tree that was used for lynching back in the day and I thought, ‘Wow, that would be something fascinating to talk about.’ So I used some of that information to create a play,” Gray said. He wrote the play in 2003.
The show was the catalyst that launched Gray’s professional career as a playwright. Prior to that, he worked as a Los Angeles-based actor in television and movies.
“I had to make the decision to either pay my rent or pay the theater to put ‘Meet Me at the Oak’ on, and I chose to pay the theater. That’s how much I believed in it,” Gray told the Courier. “That first night, only three people showed up and I thought, ‘Oh my God what have I done?’ Then the next night it was a long line of people to get in. The show ran for months, which was unheard of.”
“Meet Me at the Oak” has both female and male representation in the production, which is a departure from Gray’s casts that typically lean towards all-female or all-male casts.
LAYON GRAY, DURING REHEARSALS.
“This is a great family show dealing with serious issues of racism and family dynamics. With everything going on in the world today, I think it’ll resonate deeply with audiences,” Gray said.
With the production of “Meet Me at the Oak,” New Horizon Theater has produced every play in Gray’s play library. The partnership between Gray and New Horizon has lasted 12 years. The organization has done: “Black Angels Over Tuskegee,” “The Girls of Summer,” “Feed the Beast,” “Cowboy,” “Kings of Harlem,” “Black Sparta,” “de Moor,” “Searching for Willie Lynch,” and “WEBEIME.”
“It’s been amazing working with New Horizon Theater these past 12 years. The Pittsburgh community is very welcoming. They always come out and support my work, which is very, very important, especially for Black playwrights to get that support from a Black theater company,” Gray said.
“We will just have to start over,” Meggerson-Moore said when asked what will happen now since New Horizon has produced Gray’s entire library. “Our audiences really loved some of his plays so we’ll see what shows we’ve done before. We are gathering a new audience and some of them haven’t seen these plays. But we look forward to seeing what Layon churns out next.”
(Editor’s Note: “Meet Me at the Oak” plays at the O’Reilly Theater’s Helen Wayne Rauh rehearsal hall, 621 Penn Ave. For tickets, visit ppt.org or call 412-316-1600.)
