Puddingstone Creatives presents musical rendition of poem ‘The Crucifixion’

James Weldon Johnson’s “The Crucifixion” is getting a local musical twist this Easter season. Puddingstone Creatives, a community arts organization, will present an oratorio of the writer and activist’s notable poem about Jesus’ last hours, complete with live music and dance at the Resurrection Lutheran Church in Roxbury.

Poet and activist James Weldon
Johnson, author of “The Crucifixion.” PHOTO: CARL VAN VECHTEN/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

“It’s something that people will want to see because they can see themselves in it … More than anything else, I want people to understand they can do this too. I’m not making it a big star-studded [show],” said Verna Hampton, founder and executive artistic director of Puddingstone Creatives. “The whole thing is, this is community-based theater that everyone is invited [to] be a part of.”

Hampton, who is directing the production, founded Puddingstone Creatives to focus on collaboration, development and education within the arts. The organization, named after the bedrock upon which Roxbury sits, holds workshops centered on the performing arts, culinary arts, makeup, costume design and more. “The Crucifixion,” based on Johnson’s 20th-century poem of the same name, is Puddingstone Creatives’ latest endeavor in community arts engagement.

During a recent rehearsal, the communal nature of the show was on display. The electricity was out in the upstairs hall of the Resurrection Lutheran Church where the cast usually practices. So, Hampton and the performers improvised, instead occupying the downstairs fluorescent-lit room with blue walls and a whimsical tapestry of the crucifixion of a Black Jesus. The smooth sounds of trumpet, double bass and bass guitar animated the space as a handful of cast members ran through their lines and songs.

“The community has its issues,” said Michael Nurse, a performer and Puddingstone Creatives member of almost one year. “And I think it’s like letting in a ray of sunlight when you see something like this. It’s inspirational and aspirational.”

A cast of about a dozen people will bring James Weldon Johnson’s work to life with two performances at the Resurrection Lutheran Church. PHOTO: COURTESY VERNA HAMPTON

Nurse, whose booming, deep vocals rounded out the songs, said “The Crucifixion” rehearsals have been a place where younger people can come and forget about the mundaneness of daily life. For his part, he said he’s learned a lot from working with Hampton, thanks to her experience as a professional actor and playwright.

A cast of about a dozen people will bring Johnson’s work to life with two performances at the Resurrection Lutheran Church. The first will take place on March 23 and the second one the following day on Palm Sunday, which marks the end of Lent and the start of the Holy Week in Christianity.

Deniece Woodard, a 23-year-old musician who produced beats for the show and will be playing bass, said she’s most looking forward to seeing how the audience responds to the piece and relates to it.

“There’s a lot of things about Black history with the crucifixion. It’s like relating it to the Black experience of extrajudicial murder and cops killing people,” she said. “So, I think that if people are able to make those connections, I think [the show will] be pretty successful.”

Many Black people, Hampton said, may be intimidated by the idea of engaging with live theater. “The Crucifixion” and Puddingstone Creatives more broadly are remedies for this — spaces where artists can thrive and where audience members can feel welcome.

“It’s important in our community,” she said, “for us to have a place and a space and a voice of our own to create without people taking judgment.”