I’m Ready Productions, a Houston-based stage play production company has adapted best selling author, Eric Jerome Dickey’s flavorful novel, Friends and Lovers to play script. The book-to-stage play will be performed in Dallas October 19-24 at the Convention Center’s, Naomi Bruton stage, a component of The Black Academy of Arts and Letters.
Started in 1995 by long-time friends Je’Caryous Johnson and Gary Guidry, I’m Ready Productions has been successful at both classic and contemporary stage storytelling. From Hamlet, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet to more historically based works such as Heaven’s Child: The Legacy of Emmitt Till and The Last Full Measure: Blacks in WWII. However, if you’re an avid reader of African American fiction, then you know I’m Ready’s work if you’ve witnessed Michael Baisden’s, The Maintenance Man or Men Cry in the Dark on stage.
Johnson, a trained actor and former Prairie View theatre student, along with Guidry, a self-taught prodigal musician, brought their talents together to give contemporary theatre a twistand Men Cry in the Dark was a great starting point. Baisden’s books have paved the way for Johnson and Guidry. Now, with Friends and Lovers already getting rave reviews, the joining of African American fiction and classic theatre seems bright.
When asked which one was the brainchild behind bringing novels to the stage, both Johnson and Guidry share credit. “We were two brothers that read books, which is considered rare among black men, but it was something Gary and I had in common,” replied Johnson. “So we decided since brothers don’t read fiction, we figured why not present the books on a visual medium?”
Oddly enough, at the time, author, Michael Baisden was a resident of Houston and his grassroots to mainstream bestseller, Men Cry in the Dark was cracking open bestsellers lists. “We also knew that women liked theatre and the saying goes, ‘where the women go the men will follow’, that’s why clubs have ladies night,” added Guidry. Maybe that’s why Men Cry in the Dark starred Richard Roundtree and Allen Payne. The play also broke box office records during its’ national tour.
However, the shaking of hands rolled altogether differently with Eric Jerome Dickey according to the pair. “We were fans at first. Eric is a great writer,” said Johnson of Dickey’s work.
Eric recalled meeting Je'Caryous about 3 years ago at Essence Fest. “They approached me, we got to talking, tossed around some ideas and I liked what the brothers had to say,” said Dickey, who wasn’t familiar with I’m Ready’s work prior. Seemingly pleased with I’m Ready’s ‘readiness’, the three remained in touch and soon thereafter, Friends and Lovers was being prepped for a different experience.
Dickey also made known his admiration for I’m Ready Production’s commitment to creating and delivering a good product. “I have a great deal of respect for what these brothers do. How they move a story. They are able to condense all the elements of a book without losing what the story is about, yet creating something new.”
Dickey freely voiced that he had no problem remaining open in order to witness Je’Caryous and Gary do what they do and make it team effort. “I pretty much dealt with the parts of the script that I was good at, and let these guys handle the rest.” Dickey chuckled. Guidry added, “Eric Jerome Dickey is in tune with the female mindset. When he’s speaking through his female characters, you can’t tell a male wrote the book. This is a specific element that both admire about Dickey’s work because it helped make dialogue flow and voided stereotyping.
Friends and Lovers, at the core, is about love and choices, which is focal in the stage production. “We want to relay to our audience that you have the choice to be a friend, a lover, or a friend and lover. It doesn’t have to be separate,” replied Gary. “Most relationships fail due to poor choices and lack of communication. That’s what we want to bring attention to.”
It is made clear that what Gospel plays do in the way of attempting to save people, I’m Ready Productions is attempting to so in order to save relationships. A valiant task for today's 30-second wedding mindset among many. However, I'm ready seems to be gaining ground on their goal. Seeing couples in the audience shifting over to be closer, holding hands, laughing together, and relating to what is happening on stage has been the observed response at these plays.
With an all-star cast starring Leon (The Five Heartbeats), Monica Calhoun (The Best Man), Maia Campbell (In the House), Mel Jackson (Soul Food), Miguel Nunez (Juwanna Man), and other reputable stars, Friends and Lovers is setting a new paradigm for I’m Ready Productions and what they’ve done in the past. “We’re elevating theatre as a whole,” said Johnson.
Excited to see his work take on a different from, Eric Jerome Dickey considers Friends and Lovers under the alchemy of I’m Ready Productions as nothing short of amazing and awesome. “It’s top quality. They went all out.”
Never having an issue with the adaptation itself, Dickey laughed when he talked about some of the ideas Gary and Je’Caryous threw his way. “One day they came and told me Debra’s (one of the main characters) going to sing and I looked at them and asked, ‘Why?” But Dickey rolled with it after the initial shock. “I understood from jump that Friends and Lovers was no longer a novel in this context, but a stage play. It was being translated on a different canvas.”
Another attractive element about the process for Dickey was the amount of input he was allowed to give but wasn’t expecting. “I was scribbling whole notes in the margins of pieces of paper, talking to other writers, and coming up with all kinds of ideas that Je’Caryous and Greg were open to.” And so far this chemistry has worked.
I’m Ready Productions is currently arms full in African American contemporary fiction. The company holds exclusive rights to Michael Baisden’s, God’s Gift to Women, which will be adapted for film, Eric Jerome Dickey’s, Cheaters, slated for stage production in the near future, and Carl Webber’s, Married Men, currently in the works.
Johnson and Guidry confess that it’s only because of the natural progression of how the authors they’re working with had come to them that their fiction clients are all male. No disrespect to the sista novelists. The validation is in the fact that they are persuing the queen of contemporary African American fiction, Terry McMillan, to present original, author-as-playwright, material.
I’m Ready Productions are movers and shakers and we plan to see and hear more from them in the future…the very near future. We wish them continued success.
For more information on the run of Friends and Lovers or I’m Ready Productions, visit their website at www.imreadyproductions.com.
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