Theatre of the Republic

January 7-9, 2005

Written by David Zinman | Directed by Tim McGhee

CONWAY — Strom Thurmond faces Judgment Day in "Strom in Limbo," an exciting new play about the life and times of the late South Carolina senator that has created a buzz throughout the state.

The Theatre of the Republic is presenting the work in a special four-day run January 6-9. State legislators are expected to be among those coming to the first performance on Thursday night (January 6).

The event is an invitation only fund-raiser to support the company's Main Street theatre. Tickets are on sale at $15 for the next three performancesÑFriday and Saturday evenings, and Sunday matinee (January 7-9). Seats are reserved.

The play had its premiere in November at the University of South Carolina Upstate at Spartanburg. It got widespread publicity and strong reviews. The Columbia State called it "riveting and realistic." Metrobeat, the upstate entertainment weekly, said the play was "provocative, funny, outrageous, enlightening, and poignant...a work of real substance that offers sensitivity and insight."

Editor James Shannon, who wrote the review, added: "The play comes closest of anything we've read or seen in explaining the unique relationship the late senator had with the people of this state."

The two-act work, a dark comedy by Conway resident and former newspaperman David Zinman, takes a probing look at Thurmond's long career. His 48 years in Congress made him the oldest, longest-serving senator in history.

When Thurmond died in June, 2003, he was 100 and had been in the Senate for eight terms. He burst on the national scene in 1948 when he ran for President as the Dixiecrat candidate. Thurmond got 39 electoral votes. Truman won the election.

"Strom" takes place in Limbo where newly arrived souls learn their fate. Thurmond, who started his career as a champion of segregation, is told he is going Down. The senator later became a racial moderate. But he never apologized for his earlier position.

So, it is not clear if he changed because of political expediency or because he came to believe it was the right thing to do. That's the issue before the Celestial Supreme Court. Thurmond goes on trial before the presiding justice--Martin Luther King Jr.

Zinman, who worked for the Associated Press and Long Island Newsday and now writes a column for the Horry Independent, said he wrote the play after researching Thurmond's career for a profile for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It ran on the front page.

"But I was still left with unanswered questions," said Zinman. "And that led to the play."

Donnie Guyton, a Conway native who portrays Thurmond, said he thinks the senator is depicted fairly. "You see his good side and his bad side," said Guyton, who has been acting in local plays for 17 years. "I think it's left to the audience to decide the way they feel about him."

Tim McGhee, the director, said the play is "well-written" and has historical information about Thurmond that people may not know. "Being a Yankee, I was aware people in the North thought of him as a racist. But the play also shows him in another light--as a senator very much concerned with the people of South Carolina. He did a lot of things to help them."

The fact that many of the play's characters are public figuresÑlike Truman and King--challenges the cast, McGhee said. They have to work hard to portray them as they were in real life. "I told the actor playing King he must bring out the fact that his character was a statesman, a wonderful public speaker, and a person who spoke with conviction."

A unique task facing Guyton as Thurmond is that he must jump back and forth from a 100-year-old man to one who is 40 years-old and then 20 years- old. "That can only be done with skilled acting and physical movement," McGhee said.

Co-starring are Phillip (Smokey) Jackey, the TOR stage manager who specializes in character portrayals; Robert Kerson, a career school teacher; and professional actress Rebecca Phippard.

Also in the cast are veteran TOR players. They include Tom DeCarlo, Guy Dozier, Vonna Gengo, Jennifer Walters, Christopher Carr, Kelvin Smith, Richard Brooks, Margaret Ross, April Fore, and Stephen Purcell.

For reservations or more information, call the TOR box office at (843) 488-0821 or 488-0824.