“Calming the Man” to show for 1 weekend at Acrosstown Repertory Theatre

Calming the Man will show for one weekend only, Feb. 7-9 at Acrosstown Repertory Theatre ART to kick off Black history month.
“Calming the Man” will show for one weekend only, Feb. 7-9 at Acrosstown Repertory Theatre ART to kick off Black history month.
Courtesy of ART

A stage play written in Gainesville about calming generational anger in Black men is set for its first hometown performance about 30 years after its inception. 

“Calming the Man” will show for one weekend only, Feb. 7-9 at Acrosstown Repertory Theatre (ART) to kick off Black history month with three performances and discussion times at the end. 

“I think Gainesville is an incredible cultural hub, and this entire community is longing for healthy dialogue and spaces to engage in meaningful conversation, and the arts provide a unique and very special opportunity to have that meeting,” Director Ryan Hope Travis said in a phone interview. 

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In 1994, Anthony Lamarr White witnessed two shootings that left two of his young “black brothers” dead. 

The incidents took place around Valentine’s Day and Halloween, one at a club and the other at a small party. Both sprang from arguments that should have been minor, but escalated quickly to Black-on-Black crimes when young men pulled guns. 

White, a senior studying journalism at the University of Florida at the time, wrote an article for the Gainesville Sun after the second shooting. He wanted to look past the statistics at the young men themselves, both those who gave in to their anger, and those who “beat the odds.” 

Shortly after, White began writing a stage play inspired by the same anger he had seen in young Black men that had inspired the article. He called the play by the same name as the article: “Calming the Man.” 

The play, set in 1976 North Florida, follows a middle-aged Black man called Daddyo, and his sons Michael and Tracey. Daddyo struggles with what the play description calls psychological scars of a segregated past, and what White calls an inner, inherent anger. 

Anthony Lamarr White. Courtesy of ART
Anthony Lamarr White Anthony Lamarr White

“[Daddyo] was born into segregation, and so some of the anger is inherent. He got it before he even knew what to be angry about, because he kind of got it from his father,” White said in a phone interview. “But it’s also about… you have to learn to calm the inner anger. One of the characters says you have to learn to bend. Don’t stand straight up and take the punch straight up. You know, kind of do the rope-a-dope thing.” 

White worked on the play while studying for a master’s degree at UF, but when his mother got sick he quit school to take care of her and shelved the play until 2013, when a neighbor’s son went to college to study theater and asked about White’s play. 

As he refined the play, White moved to Atlanta, where “Calming the Man” was selected for the Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab Fellowship at the Alliance Theatre in 2017-18. He also took it to more festivals and readers theaters until its premiere at the 2021 Essential Festival. 

White eventually moved back to Perry, where he was born and raised, but he hoped to see “Calming the Man” performed in Gainesville, the town of its inception. He presented the play to ART some UF professors, who connected him with Ryan Hope Travis, assistant professor in performance at the UF School of Theatre and Dance. 

Both ART and Travis were enthusiastic about doing the play for Black History Month, even though ART has a “robust season” with only one open weekend in February. 

Travis said though the story is full of trauma-created resentment and pain, he felt it was important that he and the four Black men who are acting in it find the joy, love and compassion in the midst of a painful story. 

“This story is important now because we’re giving voice to a whole group of people who have remained largely silent in today’s narrative,” Travis said. “There’s a lot of assumptions around Black men, around how they experience trauma and grief, yet we hardly ever get a chance to hear from them directly. This story is inspired by actual events, but because it’s pulling on something much deeper, the story becomes universal.” 

Travis said the first night will feature a post-show conversation with White and the president of 100 Black Men of Greater Florida GNV, and the second evening a panel of Black women will give their response to the work. 

Both Travis and White said the play should serve as a catalyst for thought about how generations can learn to “calm the man” and handle the anger and unhealed trauma that can affect generations. Though the actors in the play only portray two generations, White said Daddyo’s inherent anger is carried down from his father and will be passed on to his grandson. 

But the brokenness is not the end of the story. White said his favorite part of the play is that, while one of Daddyo’s sons carries the anger, the other son learns to succeed. 

“Michael is the hope that it doesn’t matter where we come from, doesn’t matter the struggles we went through. We can still come out of this living our best life,” White said. 

Tickets are on sale now at the Acrosstown Repertory Theatre, for the following showtimes: 

  • 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7 
  • 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8 
  • 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9 

An excerpt from the Essential Festival’s 2021 production of the play is available here

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