RIGHT : In 2020 , Wilson Jr . was inducted into the City of Providence ’ s 2020 MLK Hall of Fame for Outstanding Service . He also serves on the board of directors for the Manton Avenue Project in Olneyville and the Center for Reconciliation at the Cathedral of Saint Paul in collaboration with the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island .
ABOVE : Joe Wilson ’ s script for the 2021 A Christmas Carol , the theater ’ s first performance after shuttering for twenty months amid the COVID-19 pandemic . LEFT : Wilson Jr . as Scrooge in the 2020 A Christmas Carol , which was presented virtually .
We haven ’ t just been talking about color , but we ’ ve been talking about civil rights , justice , equity . And so I thought , Well , why don ’ t we have a member of the cast say the land acknowledgment ?
So that was the impulse . I wanted to make it a part of the production because it was already a part of the way I was thinking about the production , acknowledging that we were not just making a play in ordinary times , but , you know , providing a space to acknowledge what we ’ ve all been through and what we ’ re all continuing to grapple with .
And what better play than this one , I would think . I mean , Dickens wrote a political tale . He was not writing a benign tale about the transformation of a man . Everybody ’ s seen this production so many times . But I wanted people to not sit back , but to find a way to lean forward in the production . The ghosts don ’ t come to Scrooge all the time . They ’ re coming to him this night , at this time , because Scrooge is at a dangerous crossroads . And I think , too , we are , in this country , at a very dangerous crossroads .
So I wanted to create a production where all of the actors in the show belong . And they could see themselves in this world and they could be their fullest selves . And that also became an obsession of mine throughout — you know , how could this world be as diverse as it can be ? And then I thought that that would also serve to further isolate Scrooge , this white man at the center of the story . There is a world outside of the world he ’ s created for himself that is very vibrant and very alive .
You ’ re also directing a show at the Gamm in January and February . I don ’ t know if I ’ ve ever seen you there before . This is the first time that I will be working at the Gamm Theatre . We spoke prior to the beginning of COVID about me directing this play .
64 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l FEBRUARY 2022