Internal soul-searching with MLK-inspired production

Just before COVID restrictions began a year ago, Lansing’s Sycamore Creek United Methodist Church on South Pennsylvania Avenue staged a performance of “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” At 7 p.m. on Saturdays through March, the church is offering a very different presentation centered on the iconic Martin Luther King Jr. writing.

“We hope to make it an annual event,” pastor and executive producer, Tom Arthur said. “MLK’s message was a guide for me and our church for how not to sit on the sidelines.”

Instead of a live play based on the letter King wrote in response to a Methodist Bishop’s criticism of the Birmingham protests in 1963, this recorded four-part series has genuine movie elements. Links to episodes can be found on SCUMC’s YouTube page.
“Letters” includes footage of King and the Alabama demonstrations, displays of newspapers from the era and soundtrack music.

Clever camerawork — including a mix of views and focuses — add much. “Letters” is a visual delight that engages a viewer.
“The cinematography is beyond anything I could have imagined,” Arthur said. “It’s way more intimate.”

Randy Flick commanded the camera and editing work. Rico Bruce Wade (last seen locally in Riverwalk’s Zoom, “EA Eaters Anonymous”) directed.

Norryln-Michael William Allen reads as King in a jail cell. Allen channels the impassioned energy and calm intensity of the civil rights leader.

Jeff Croff, Ixion Theatre’s artistic director, is the Bishop who tries to lecture King on why his protests in Birmingham are wrong. Croff took over the role suddenly when another actor dropped out.

The “Letter” enactment is divided between three episodes. The forth episode is a stitching together of those three. Only the first episode has no conversation afterward. They should be viewed in order and there is no cost or time limit to view them.

“The whole experience isn’t just the “Letter From Birmingham” video/film,” Arthur said. “It’s live episodes of leaders in various settings, most local, reflecting on how MLK encourages or challenges them in their role as leaders.”

Sycamore Creek’s services use a similar formula. An in-house studio allows a recorded sermon to be followed by live conversation.

March 13 features reactions to MLK’s words by “two white leaders of institutions who have to navigate a wide variety of convictions,” Arthur said. Lansing City Council President Peter Spadafore and David Hornak are the leaders.

March 20 spotlights Sean Holland. “Who I’d call a Lansing version of MLK,” Arthur said. He’s a reverend friend who’s active in the Black Lives Matter Movement. The speaker closing the final episode on March 27 is Gloria Davis.

“I can imagine teachers using this,” Arthur said. “I think this has the potential to be a resource for a much wider audience than just the Lansing region.”

It’s certainly worthy of attention beyond an already passed Black History Month.

“It’s the quickest we could make it happen to MLK Day,” Arthur said. “But it fits nicely with Lent leading up to Easter, which is a time of internal soul-searching.”