Clinton Turner Davis has got a sweetheart.
Make that sweethearts. Sitting on Davis' makeshift desk in the Moore Theater are two shiny, red boxes of chocolates that a little girl and boy -- both actors in this term's Drama Department Mainstage production of August Wilson's "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" -- have given their beloved director for Valentine's Day.
"Get down those lines," the grey-bearded Davis playfully barks in his deep bass at his two precocious stars as they leave the theater after a hard first day of technical runs. The kids flash wide grins and, giggling, wave good-byes at a softly chuckling Davis.
Asked later about his soft spot for children, Davis responds by reminiscing about his youth, a time spent partly in the theater. Out of his 30 first cousins, 10 are involved in the arts. And of those 10, six are theater people.
Because of his family, the theater became a "second home," a place of warmth and laughter, Davis said. Today, Davis, who is also a Professor of Drama at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, shares some of that community with any child who ventures into his theater.
The Dartmouth experience
Davis also has a particular fondness for the older kids -- the Dartmouth undergraduates who comprise the cast and crew in what is his fourth production of "Joe Turner's Come and Gone."
Davis, who accepted Professor of Drama Victor Walker's invitation to direct the play last year, said he found working with the students "fantastic." The actors, according to Davis, came into the play without any "pre-conceived notions" and were willing to experiment, "to try anything." Unlike professional actors who Davis said undergo "a tedious, intellectual process" when they act, student actors have "little or no editing of self," a rare quality that especially suits Davis.
Rehearsals are so exciting, Davis said, that it takes several hours for him to unwind afterwards.
'Back in the dark ages...'
As he grew older, Davis gravitated more and more towards the stage. "Back in the dark ages," as Davis likes to refer to his Washington D.C. high school days, theater soaked up most of his extracurricular hours. He performed in plays and acted as president of the high school's thespian club.
But while Davis loved theater and theater was important, at the time, what he really wanted to be was a doctor.
At Hanover College in Indiana, theater was nudged to the sidelines as Davis tackled the required pre-med courses. He could not, however, stay away from theater and ended up performing in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night."
After transferring to Howard University back in D.C. -- from which he would graduate magna cum laude -- Davis simultaneously performed and served on stage crew in "The Blacks" and "El Hajjmalik." Davis said that it was in college when he finally realized that theater was where he felt the "most content and complete."
New York, New York
The summer after graduation in "19-then," Davis joined the cast of a play at a local theater in D.C. During the play's two-week hiatus, Davis, on a tip from fellow Howard alumnus and friend, TV star Phylicia Rashad, traveled up to New York City's Public Theater for an audition for a play called "Slaughterhouse Play." Davis landed a role in the production, which also starred a pre-Taxi Danny DeVito.
Davis spoke positively of his first professional experience. "I had a wonderful time," he said.
After the show's limited run of four weeks, Davis stayed on in New York. The aspiring actor started searching for work sans agent, but was coming up disappointingly empty-handed.
The day he was to return home to D.C., however, he received a momentous call. The Negro Ensemble Company was looking for a few good crew people, the caller said. Could he come in?
Davis ended up working at the Negro Ensemble Company for 16 years. He started out on stage crew, becoming quite nimble with the thread and needle as he had to constantly "rebuild" costumes. Over the years, though, Davis began producing and, ultimately, directing plays. He also taught play writing and a movement class for his actors.
In 1983, Davis, who said he started using his middle name once he got to New York because he and recording artist Clifton Davis were receiving each other's mail, got a job as production stage manager in Lena Horne's one-woman, Tony award-winning show, "Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music." He said he traveled the world with the celebrated singer/actress' company before the show closed in England in 1984.
'Joe Turner's Come and Gone'
Upon his return to the States until the present, Davis has concentrated upon free-lancing as a director at a multitude of regional theaters. Over the years, he has helmed a staggering number of productions ranging from musicals to drama --seven of which have been August Wilson plays. He has directed "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" once, "Fences" three times and now, with this term's Mainstage production, "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" four times.
Davis' third production of "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" won six AUDELCO (Audience Development Committee) awards, including outstanding direction.
Set in 1911, "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" is the story of Herald Loomis (Lewis Berry '98) and his daughter Zonia (Grey Grantham) who travel, by foot, from the old South to the promises of the new North and search for their wife and mother (Grace Eboigbe '99).
Along the way, they run into a varied group of strangers and try to find their place, along with other African-Americans, in post-slavery America.
The director said that it is his favorite Wilson play of all. "The story and themes resonate within me very deeply."
