As a young man, Tyrone Butler, founder and artistic director of Augusta Mini Theatre, didn’t merely admire the Godfather of Soul.
“I loved his music,” he said. “It was all about his beat, his funk; and I just loved it. It was like I wanted to be the second coming of James Brown.”
In 2008, Butler wrote the first draft, and mounted the first production, of his musical play “The Man, the Message, the Music (A Tribute to The Godfather of Soul).” Since Jan. 13, the Mini Theatre has been running its latest production of the show in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The performing arts school and nonprofit traditionally puts on a theatrical production every January to commemorate Dr. King. To Butler, hailing the civil rights leader by celebrating Brown and his music is particularly apt, as the legacy of the two are intertwined.
“They both stood for something similar,” said Butler. “They stood for social change.”
Butler was a student Albany State University when King was assassinated in 1968. He was attending a show featuring renowned jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley when he heard the news. He and some fellow students would march from the campus across Albany, Ga.’s Flint River Bridge as a demonstration, Butler said, meeting resistance from local police.
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“[The police] kept telling us to move,” he said. “So we refused, and then of course, they started hitting us with the sticks and things; they had the shotguns.”
Butler was scarcely older than 18, and had never been in a protest march. He recalls struggling, then, with what contribution he could make to the causes that King stood for.
“That moment sticks,” he said.
Expounding upon the overlap in the impacts of both King and Brown, Butler remembers the first time he heard Brown’s “Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud,” released in 1968 several months after King’s death. He had been driving in his uncle’s car when the song came on the radio.
“I was singing with him— ‘Say it loud!’” said Butler, recalling how being Black had been associated in his mind—and in the minds of many young African Americans—with being ugly or unintelligent. “That meant so much to me. It may have been beginning of my freedom.”
The play is set the day after James Brown’s funeral. Three friends meet at Brown’s old nightclub, Third Word, to reminisce via song and dance about the Godfather, the highlights of his life, and of course his music.
Keyonice Burts is an Augusta Mini Theatre alumna who performed in the original production of “The Man, the Music, the Message” and has returned as an ensemble dancer for the current show, alongside student players Monae Burns, Symphynie Tubman and Christian Dunnum.
“This is my third time doing this particular piece,” said Burts. “So, it’s really getting back to my roots.”
Dunnum, who plays the character Flash, enjoys the opportunity to take on Brown’s legacy by engaging the energy of his fellow performers, who are all friends.
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“It’s a big task, and so it means a lot,” said Dunnum, whose favorite song in the show is Brown’s classic “Superbad.”
Burns, who plays the character of Curley, echoes the sentiment, exemplifying Butler’s aim to honor both King and Brown by way of artistic expression.
“It’s an honor to be able to tell the story, to be trusted with his life,” she said. “But it’s also a lot of responsibility, coming here every day, four taught me a lot about responsibility and you know what it really means to be a part of something so big.”
The Man, the Message, the Music (A Tribute to The Godfather of Soul) will continue to run at the Augusta Mini Theatre at 2548 Deans Bridge Rd. through Sunday, and again on Feb. 18 and 19 at 3 p.m.
There will be a special performance at Bettis Academy, 78 Nicholson Road in Trenton, on Saturday Feb. 25 at 2 p.m.
For tickets call 706-722-0598, or visit www.augustaminitheatre.org.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
