UNC alum and professor stages original play

_Correction (September 2, 1:24 a.m.): Due to an editing error, the photo caption accompanying this story incorrectly stated the name of Mike Wiley’s play. The play is called “The Parchman Hour.” The caption has been updated to reflect the correction. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error. _

Actor, director and writer Mike Wiley is a one-man staging, singing and dancing tour de force.

Primarily a solo performer, Wiley’s upcoming show, “The Parchman Hour,” boasts a collaborative cast of students.

His unique and historic documentary approach to theater will premiere this December as a partnership with the UNC Department of Dramatic Art and LAB! Theatre.

“We love taking new pieces, integrating technical elements and taking them to a new level of revision beyond the writing table,” said junior Bryan Burton, a producing director of LAB! Theatre.

Wiley is a graduate of UNC’s professional actor training program. After starting his professional career more than 12 years ago, he found himself in the same position as many aspiring artists.

“If you paid me, I would come,” Wiley said.

Having climbed the local arts hierarchy, Wiley now holds visiting professorships at both UNC and Duke University.

“The Parchman Hour,” Wiley’s newest play, tells the story of the 1961 Freedom Riders, a group of student activists dedicated to the racial integration of public life.

Defiantly riding public transportation through the Jim Crow South, the Riders garnered national attention for the early Civil Rights movement.

They were frequently arrested and often endured taunts, beatings and burn wounds, among other abuses.

“Once predominate black leaders like Thurgood Marshall and Jackie Robinson began commenting, it sparked a national debate on individual freedoms,” Wiley said.

The story is told through the perspective of freedom rider John Lewis, a member of the original thirteen freedom riders.

“It will be a good way to educate in the form of great entertainment,” Burton said.

But the play is meant to be more than a history lesson. At its heart, the show tries to inspect the more controversial elements of its depicted past.

“Many times when beatings were happening, federal agents were in the mix,” Wiley said.

The play also asks an audience to re-evaluate historic decisions and their subsequent effects on contemporary life.

“If King had gotten on the bus, would there have been a civil rights movement?,” Wiley said.

“Is it a black movement or a national movement?”

In class at UNC, Wiley and his students studied ways of staging flashbacks and developed parodies of 1960s television programs, seeking to lend an accurate period atmosphere to the production.

These often-racist parodies will be prominently featured in the work.

“When we started work, I was really hungry for more,” said senior Amelia Sciandra, Wiley’s student and a LAB! Theatre producing director.

Because the Freedom Riders were predominantly students, the show hopes to play heavily on student attendee’s minds and imaginations.

“I really wanted to show the student aspect,” Wiley said. “I can’t wait to take it to some classes and debate about issues.”

Whether debates are battled or imaginations are stirred, Wiley anticipates that students will be affected.

“I make a connection between the past and present,” said Wiley. “After watching, the show will sit in people’s hearts and souls.”

Contact the Arts Desk at artsdesk@unc.edu