It’s the second day of the Detroit riots, in the summer of 1967. In the epicenter of the riot, three people take refuge from the chaos in a gas station. As the violence mounts outside, tensions rise inside as the three consider the harsh nature of loss and the inevitable combustibility of their differences.

The virtual play reading will be followed by a virtual panel discussion between audience members, experts in various fields, and creatives from PURE Theatre. Spanning more than 200 years, BEARING WITNESS gives audiences an opportunity to think deeply about racial injustice and to come together to consider how to move forward in equity.

Randy Neale has authored more than 50 produced plays, including THE FOOL’S LEAR, which premiered at PURE Theatre in 2011, before touring the east coast, followed by two subsequent productions in NYC. Other New York plays include, CALLIOPE, HOW LONG CAN THEY LAST?, MCMANUS THE KING, and FOOL’S PASSAGE. He premiered his first one-person show, CHAOS THEORY, at the United Solo Theatre Festival on Oct. 2, on Theatre Row in New York. In 2018, LAST RITES was a finalist in Future Fest at The Dayton Playhouse and the Blue Ink Playwriting contest at the American Blues Theatre in Chicago. He has directed and acted in theatres in Detroit, Providence, Rochester, Burlington, Baltimore, and Boston. After more than twenty years as a theatre artist, dancer, teacher, and designer in New York, he moved to Charleston. He has directed previous PURE productions of LAST RITES, TIME STANDS STILL, A BEHANDING IN SPOKANE, RUSSIAN TRANSPORT, and OUR MOTHER’S BRIEF AFFAIR. For the past two years, he has been director of the PURE Youth Company and has staged three productions with this wonderful group, including their original play, CODE RED LOCKDOWN. He is a member of Actors’ Equity Association. Some of his PURE Theatre acting credits include STRAIGHT WHITE MEN, IF I FORGET, OUTSIDE MULLINGAR, GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS, SUPERIOR DONUTS, YANKEE TAVERN, THE SEAFARER, and MAN FROM NEBRASKA. He is extremely grateful to PURE for this production and for being his artistic home in Charleston since 2006. Information about his plays can be found at randyneale.net or theplaysthething.info.

Dr. Patricia Williams Lessane is Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Associate Professor in Sociology at Morgan State University. Prior to this post, she served as Associate Dean for Strategic Planning and Community Engagement and Executive Director of Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture at the College of Charleston. Dr. Lessane is a cultural anthropologist who has worked at The Field Museum and The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

Dr. George W. Hopkins received his Ph.D. in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He taught, researched, and published on 20th century US urban and labor history for many years at the College of Charleston. He also served as Director of the Urban Studies Program, Coordinator of the American Studies Program, Chair of the Department of History, and Faculty Senator. He was a co-founder of the Charleston chapter of the Carolina Alliance for Fair Employment (now the Charleston Alliance for Fair Employment) and former president of the Charleston chapter of the South Carolina Progressive Network. He has been involved in civil and human rights issues since the mid-1960s.

Lori Elizabeth Parquet will moderate our discussion. Lori is an actor, playwright, and teaching artist from New Orleans and is now based in New York City. Lori won a 2019 Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role from the New York Innovative Theatre Awards.