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| Photo from The Birmingham News / Beverly Taylor |
John Northrop recently retired form his position as Executive Director of the Alabama School of Fine Arts where my daughter received an excellent high school education. I always enjoy hearing and reading what John has to say. He is also author of Mayor Todd, a drama based upon the racial tensions in Birmingham, along with the actions and attitudes of a progressive white mayor, that led to the election of the city's first black mayor.
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Mayor Todd?
ReplyDeleteWe already have a Mayor Todd, right here in Montgomery.
But he's Strange.
Northrop's "Mayor Todd" is a dramatized account of actual events in in the lives of Mayor David Vann and City Councilman (soon-to-be-mayor) Richard Arrington. Since so much of the dialogue and conjecture about the men's struggles and motives were from his imagination of the incidents, fictionalized names were used.
ReplyDeleteI thought the play did an excellent job of conveying that pivotal time in Birmingham politics and civic life. It was enlightening and informative as well as moving. I was left with a greater appreciation for Mr. Arrington, and for Mr. Vann. The play presented the humanity and the hope as well as the struggle within the political arena. So while "Mayor Todd" was intended to represent an actual mayor, it was not meant to represent an actual Mayor Todd.