Local Playwright's Work to be Featured at Dallas' Black Academy of Arts and Letters

Donna M. Carbone, a freelance writer and journalist living in Palm Beach Gardens is being honored by the Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL) in Dallas, Texas on April 19, 2015. Her stage play, Shell of a Man, which is based on the life of a Vietnam veteran and focuses on the effects of PTSD will be given a staged reading under the direction of renowned actor/director/writer Akin Babatunde.

In a recent interview, Carbone explained how Shell of a Man came to be written and why she is so passionate about having it produced. "In 2011 I published two columns supporting better healthcare for veterans. A Vietnam vet wrote to me, expressing his thanks and beginning what was to become a much cherished and often painful friendship. He calls himself Robert L. We've never met. His face is but a ghostly image in an old photograph. I hear his voice only through the emails we exchange. I believe that distance and the anonymity of the internet allowed Robert to share his life with me in a way few others have heard. What he said forced me to accept that, despite being well-read, I knew nothing about what a black man endured being raised in the Jim Crow south or the effects of having served in a war zone. Although Shell of a Man is told through the life of one man, it is actually the story of many men."

Shell of a Man will be featured as part of the TBAAL's Spotlight on Playwrights series under the director of the highly-awarded actor/director/writer Akin Babatunde. Babatunde's theatrical career spans Broadway, regional theatre, film and television. He is the founder and artistic director of Vivid Theater Ensemble of Dallas and founder of Ebony Emeralds Classic Theater Company. Mr. Babatunde was the first African-American to be presented with the Dallas Observer Best Actor award. He has also been honored with the Dallas Critics Forum Award (1991 and 2004), the 2004 Legacy of Success, and the Alvin Ailey Performing Arts Award. He received the prestigious Individual Artists Grant from the Palm Beach County Cultural Council to create a new work Harvest of Voices based on oral histories.

In discussing Akin Babatunde, Carbone said, "I couldn't be more honored. Mr. Babatunde is a talented performer and writer. I certainly feel that I have been given a gift by his participation in the reading. I can only hope that the audience will be as thrilled to hear Robert's words as I was to write them."

To post a comment, you must register and login.