Original musicals
AUDIO EXCERPTS FOLLOW THE SYNOPSIS
Development History
Uncle Jed’s Barbershop
2005 New York Musical Theater Festival
St. Clement’s Theater, New York, N.Y.
Fully produced performances
2005 Director’s Choice Award
National Music Theater Network
Winner
2005 Denver Foundation/Eulipions Fund
Grant, $22,000
2005 Fox Theater, Aurora, CO
Performances
2004 Richard Rodgers Awards
American Academy of Arts and Letters
Finalist
2004 O'Neill Musical Theatre Conference
Finalist
2004 Cleo Parker Robinson Theatre
Denver, CO
Concert readings
2004 AMAS Theatre, NewYork, N.Y.
Concert readings
2003 ASCAP/Disney workshop
2001 Arts Alive grant, $1,500
UNCLE JED'S BARBERSHOP, a new musical created by David B. Wohl, Kenneth Grimes, and Susan Einhorn, is based upon the Coretta Scott King Award-winning book by the same name, written by Margaree King Mitchell and illustrated by James Ransome (adaptation rights secured).
UNCLE JED'S BARBERSHOP is inspired by the atmosphere, language, and music, of the late 1920's through the early 1960's, evoking rural Arkansas near the Mississippi Delta.
SYNOPSIS
Uncle Jed's Barbershop is a musical celebration of the only black barber in 1928 Monroe County, Arkansas, Jedediah Johnson (“Uncle Jed”).
In 1962, 43 year-old Sarah Jean Carter has returned from Detroit to her childhood home of Monroe County in order to attend the funeral of Uncle Jed, her favorite relative.
After finding herself unable to speak at the funeral, Sarah Jean encounters her nine year old self. Adult Sarah Jean and child Sarah Jean embark on a journey that takes them back and forth between their shared past with Uncle Jed and the present. By show’s end, each one has discovered how Uncle Jed’s story—and their interacting memories
of it— has become a guide for their shared journey into the future.
In 1928 Monroe County, 45 year-old Uncle Jed’s barbershop is the barbershop of his time: his customers’ porches, living rooms, shops, and share-cropped fields. Through his travels, we meet Uncle Jed’s family, friends, and members of his vibrant community. We also experience Uncle Jed’s ambition and efforts to build his own barbershop. Each time he makes headway, however, there are obstacles that set him back. These obstacles include the life threatening illness of his favorite niece, the Great Depression, resistance from friends and family, and the ongoing challenge of being black in the South of those times. In spite of everything, Uncle Jed never gives up.
In 1962, six months before his eventual passing, Uncle Jed is 79 years old. He and Sarah Jean Carter, ironically, have become the final obstacle to opening the barbershop: The passage of time has challenged their relationship, as well as their relationship with the family. Uncle Jed and Sarah Jean Carter wonder, even at this stage of their lives, if they can build a new beginning together.
Sarah Jean's and Uncle Jed’s stories are interwoven until his dream truly becomes her dream. Ultimately, at the age of 79, Uncle Jed triumphs. He builds his barbershop with the help of his niece and their community.
SONG EXCERPTS
Ken Prymus, as Jedediah Johnson
(“Uncle Jed”)-- Sharecropper/Barber
Tanya Gibson-Clarke
Choreographer
David Wohl
Composer, lyricist
Susan Einhorn
Director
Kenneth Grimes
Bookwriter, lyricist
