Embodying the characteristics of someone else has always come naturally to Maurice Emmanuel Parent. The writer, actor, and director remembers lovingly imitating (and nailing) his father’s distinct speech pattern growing up.
Parent puts this talent to work at The Front Porch Arts Collective’s “Holiday Feast”—staged readings of scenes from popular Black sitcoms— at Central Square Theater beginning Thursday, Dec. 12.
Parent, who’s also the co-founder and co-producing artistic director of the Front Porch, will portray the role of wise-cracking business owner George Jefferson from the groundbreaking hit “The Jeffersons.” The show tells the story of George and Louise, a Black couple that moves to a New York apartment on the city’s sought-after East Side.
Along with an episode of “The Jeffersons,” the Front Porch will serve up nostalgic classic Christmas scenes from shows such as “Family Matters,” “Amen” and “A Different World.” The cast includes local actors Christa Brown (a 2022 WBUR Maker), Shani Ferrell, Janelle Grace, Jonathan Kitt from the Huntington Theater’s production of “Toni Stone,” Malik Mitchell, Jada Saintlouis from 2022’s “Can I touch it?” at the Strand Theatre, Rick Park, TJ Robinson, Stephen Spencer and Daniel Washington. Jackie Davis, a film and TV actor and theater director who can be seen in Columbia Pictures’ 2019 “Little Women” will helm the production.
The idea for the “Holiday Feast” came about years ago after Parent worked with an actor who reminded him of Jackee Harry’s beautiful, slick-talking character Sandra on “227.” At the time, Parents and the team thought about staging readings of episodes of Black sitcoms to offer audiences a reason to gather during the holiday season. It took some time for the idea to come to fruition, but now, the collective that employs and serves communities of color while producing inclusive art seems committed to the tradition.Parent shared that working on the project offered an excellent opportunity to put some of the organization’s practices into effectiveness. For example, the Front Porch is paying full salaries to all involved “as if we were rehearsing a fully staged play,” he said. Also, determine the reading’s line-up was a collaborative process, which is also essential to the group. To get started, the team reviews a list of episodes gathered by Front Porch producer Donovan Holt and the theater’s apprentice. The group discussed the episodes and voted until a list of winners was identified.
Then, Parent explained, the group considered the actors who could play the characters and what would fit together.
In the chosen episodes, laughter and life lessons are on offer. This includes the haunting of the spoiled but kind-hearted Whitley Gilbert, a student at the fictional Hillman College on “A Different World;” a guardian angel teaching compassion to Laura Winslow who is fed up with her nerdy, relentless pursuer, Steve Urkel on “Family Matters;” and Louise’s discovery of mysterious monthly payments her husband George was making on “The Jeffersons.” The importance of perseverance comes into play when a pending snow storm threatens to ruin a Christmas pageant during an episode of “Amen.”
These holiday performances of moments from these iconic shows—featuring thriving household, a fictional historical Black college, an upper-middle class entrepreneur, and a dynamic church community—all point to the Front Porch’s ethos of family.
And since offering presents—along with decorating, gathering, and noshing with family—one of the central tenets of Christmas, the collective aims to give the gifts of laughter and connection when some might need them most.
The Front Porch Arts Collective’s “Holiday Feast” shows Dec. 12-14 at Central Square Theater, 450 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge.
