NEW BERN — “Sunday Family Dinner: Who Made the Potato Salad?” will be on stage at 7 p.m. today in the Cullman Performance Hall of the North Carolina History Center.
The one-act play was written by Antuan Hawkins, children’s librarian at the Kinston-Lenoir County Public Library and performer, and EJ Stewart, a Kinston native and noted storyteller and performer.
“I was commissioned by the Tryon Palace and Bate Foundation to write a play as a part of the African American Lecture Series at the North Carolina History Center at Tryon Palace,” said Hawkins. “Each year they have a different theme, and this year’s is about food. I started thinking about what happens when people get together, and food always plays a part, whether it’s a funeral or a happy celebration.”
Hawkins ran his thoughts by Stewart, and the two continued to collaborate until the play was born.
“As my thoughts tumbled across vignettes about food, I remembered a Cosby episode where he kept bringing different cakes from the kitchen and putting them in front of his wife. There was no talking, just jazz in the background, and all these cakes. And I thought of a church picnic with all the food … one thing led to another,” Hawkins said.
The ideas the two writers batted back and forth seemed too involved, too much to pare down to a short production. “That’s when the idea hit me to settle on the fellowship hall as the setting, and so many cooks making potato salad,” Hawkins said.
“In the African-American community, great pride is taken in the preparation of soul food. When it comes to certain dishes like potato salad, everyone seems to be an expert,” he said.
Cast members are Bonita Burney Simmons of Kinston; Shanee Dennie of Washington, D.C., and a Snow Hill resident; Terrie Oatman of New Bern; and Letari Thompson, who lives in Kinston.
A question and answer session will follow the performance, and a meal — including potato salad! — will conclude the evening.
“Every time you do something,” said Hawkins, “there’s always food involved.”
‘Sunday Family Dinner: Who Made the Potato Salad?’
African-American Lecture Series
Guest Speakers EJ Stewart and Antuan Hawkins
7 p.m. today
Cullman Performance Hall, N.C. History Center
Tryon Palace, New Bern
Free; sponsored by Harold H. Bate Foundation
Info: 252-639-3592