by Charlie Barnett | May 30, 2026 | Theatre
Book by Robert P. Young III and Richard Lasser
Music and Lyrics by Charlie Barnett
Synopsis
Dawn Jacks — an idealistic African-American teenager — convinces her mother, Mary Jacks; her uncle Terrance Witt; and their employer, Rose Shapiro, to drive to Selma, Alabama. The reason? To join Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s march from the Edmund Pettus Bridge to Montgomery, the state capital, to demand voting rights for Negroes from Gov. George Wallace himself.
Rose’s husband, Nathan, a diamond merchant and racketeer, has passed on, but his employee Terrance, a WWII Army vet, remains loyal to Rose as her chauffeur/handyman. So does his sister Mary, who works as Rose’s maid in a home located in the solidly white, middle-class town of Ridgewood, New Jersey.
Gassed up, sandwiches and drinks packed, Green Book at the ready, and hearts full of hope, the foursome heads South, even as America, particularly the South, remains hostile to its Black and Jewish citizens.
Excited, Dawn encourages optimism, and Mary sings to cover her trepidation. Encounters with racists — a white gas station attendant and a state trooper — reveal the dangers of “traveling-while-Black-with-a- Jewish-woman-in-the-back-seat.” Arriving in Selma, the four join hands and head into the march.
Multiple tear gas bombs explode. Stench and smoke fill the stage. Sounds of police dogs attacking, billy clubs smashing heads, screams and chant-like prayers are heard. Injured, the four run for their lives. This day will live in infamy as Bloody Sunday.
Act II opens as the four — injuries oozing blood, dazed, disoriented — stumble back to the car and make their way back north, only to deal with the revelations that Nathan once raped Mary and that Dawn is their daughter. The show ends with a new, if fragile, understanding of what a family — and just maybe what a country — can be.
Production History
Audio and Video
by Charlie Barnett | May 1, 2026 | Charlie's Blog, News
My roots and folk music band, Barnstorm, is hitting the road. I’m finding that the band feels most at home in small listening venues, where we can really connect with an audience — and, hopefully, get them to sing along with us. We’ve got two such gigs coming up. If you’re near one of them, I hope you’ll consider joining us.
We will be playing in Northeast Baltimore on May 16th at The Four-Hour Day lutherie, an instrument-making shop and music studio located at 4305 Harford Rd., in the Arcadia neighborhood. The gig starts at 7:30pm, and tickets cost $20. For information, email [email protected].
Then on May 24th, we’ll be in Staunton, Virginia, at Queen City Music Studios at 16 W. Beverly Street (second floor). It’s a 7pm show, and tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. For information or tickets, visit queencitymusicstudios.com.
by Charlie Barnett | Apr 4, 2026 | Theatre
By Charlie Barnett
Synopsis
A two-act play inspired by the story of Briseis in Homer’s The Iliad.
Bree (Briseis) a mysterious classroom auditor at Ilium College in upstate New York has been assigned to Classics 101, a freshman survey course in Greek mythology. The professor adjunct, Harrison Robb, has a past of misconduct with his female students. We immediately find out that he can neither see nor hear Bree, although all the other students can.
Bree can sense that Harrison has already chosen his next victim, Christina, and Bree has made it a point to protect Christina. Meanwhile two recent alums, Josh and Hamilton arrive at the college to gift the school with a 20 million dollar classics wing, but the tangled web of Harrison creates obstacles to accept the gift. Meanwhile, Christina’s roommate, Tara, falls for Hamilton. While the story unfolds and we learn more about how Harrison takes his obsession with Christina to a new and dangerous level, questions about who (or what) Bree is begins to unravel.
Production History
by Charlie Barnett | Feb 1, 2026 | Charlie's Blog, Home Page, News, Uncategorized
There are 27 different institutes at the National Institutes of Health, and workers at every one of them have been impacted by the chaos of the current administration. Since the beginning of last year, roughly 10% of NIH’s workforce has been terminated without notice, encouraged to retire, or fired over email. Some former NIH workers created a group called 27 UNIHTED to support one another and advocate for a better future for biomedical research.
My folk band, Barnstorm, is proud to be playing a benefit show on February 15 to support 27 UNIHTED’s programs and advocacy. My bandmates are terrific: Greg Watkins on bass, Mark Carson on drums, and Michael Robert Taylor on fiddle and mandolin. And I’m delighted to reveal that our opening act is none other than the folk singer Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., former director of the NIH and, before that, of the Human Genome Project. Since his retirement from NIH last March, Collins has devoted himself to his music. The week after our show, he’ll be performing at the Lincoln Center in New York with soprano Renée Fleming!
The benefit show will take place at The Alley at Bethesda Boards, 7900 Woodmont Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland, on Sunday, February 15. It’s a BYOB situation and also BYOF (bring your own food). Tickets will be $40, with proceeds going to 27 UNIHTED, but laid-off federal workers are invited to come for free. It’s an early show: Doors open at 5pm and the music starts at 6pm. Hope to see you there!
by Charlie Barnett | Jan 15, 2026 | Charlie's Blog, Home Page, News, Uncategorized
I was recently commissioned to write a setting of Psalm 19 for the choir of Saint Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church on Sanibel Island in Florida. Of course, being the profound agnostic that I am, I had to look up the psalm. It’s the one that starts “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
In a couple of weeks, I’ll be traveling to Florida for the piece’s premiere. And I’m taking my guitar, because while I’m down there, I’ll play a sing-along concert from the Barnstorm songbook, accompanied by local accordionist Tom Cinarusci percussionist Doreen Bolhuis.
If you’re in the area, please come to the church (2304 Periwinkle Way) to hear the psalm piece during the 10:30 a.m. service on Sunday, January 31. Or come for a Barnstorm-lite show at 1:30pm the same place, same day. There’s no charge for either event.
