Using a different approach to live theatre, the Baldwin Players at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College performed their entire spring term production in front of cameras in the ABAC television studio.

That production of “A Program of Morality Tales” in a reader’s theatre format is now available online at watch.abac.edu/media/21s+Morality+++video/1_qpdxyj51/201261423.

“‘Morality Tales’ is the result of several hundred man-hours of effort on the part of the actors, technicians/videographers, and editors,” Dr. Brian Ray, Director of the Baldwin Players and Professor of English and Theatre at ABAC, said.  “It began as a vague idea to stage a video production of a reader’s theatre to allow the Baldwin Players to continue producing during the pandemic.”

The program includes a compilation of scripts from “The Game,” “Wisdom,” and “Hansel & Gretel.”

“Many of the performers in these plays were students in my Theatre Appreciation classes, and some, though, not all, had some previous performing experience,” Ray said.

Ray said the cast members played characters in the film version of the three separate morality stories.  The actors appeared in at least two of the stories, and a few of them appeared in all three.

Members of the cast included Justin Walls, a general studies major with a concentration in engineering from Cordele; Kaylee Myers, an agricultural education major from Dothan, Ala.; Harley Normand, an art major from Tifton; and Jaylin Croft, a history and government major from Moultrie.

Other cast members were Dontavious Bell, a vocal music major from Tifton; Roderick Baisden, a theatre major from Tifton; and Craig Mark Wells, a community member and a 1979 ABAC graduate.

“Wisdom” is a 15^th Century Morality Play in the true medieval tradition.  “Hansel and Gretel” is an adaptation of the Grimm’s Fairy Tale, and “The Game” is an early 20^th Century sketch Morality Interlude.

The entire process of planning, filming, and editing took place from November 2020 to June 2021.  According to Ray, the process involved unique opportunities and challenges.

“Using a TV studio, instead of filming on the stage, offered some new potential for the finished project,” Ray said.  “Many techniques that are unique to such projects could be used – such as green screen effects and multiple camera angles.  It often took four or five hours of editing work to finish two to three minutes of finished product.”

For more information about the production or the Baldwin Players’ fall semester presentation, interested persons can contact Ray at [email protected].  Fall semester classes begin at ABAC on Aug. 10.