One-man show documents 'Passage' of history

When the loudspeaker in Anthony Irons' Alabama high school announced that students could miss class if they auditioned for a local theater production, the then-theatre-rookie received his acting call.

Irons (graduate-theatre arts) admits he only auditioned to get out of class and didn't expect to get a part in Speak of Me As I Am, a tribute to African Americans.

Now 27 years old, Irons will perform his one-man show Passage at 7 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday in 119 Arts.

Passage is a one-hour show billed as a "A Tribute to the Spirit of African Americans."

"It deals with African-American lineage from pre-colonial Africa to present-day America," Irons said.

The performance comes in time for Black History Month and will feature Irons acting, singing and dancing in 10 different segments. Each one represents a different era in African-American life.

The idea for the performance's format, Irons said, came to him in 1994, when he was asked to perform in a Kwanzaa production in Birmingham, Alabama.

"I didn't want to do monologue after monologue, so I wrote and performed different acts," he said.

When Irons was in Alabama, he would read Joel Chandler Harris' "Uncle Remus" stories to children. Irons enjoyed the stories so much that he decided to retell one of them, The Farmer and the Snake, last March in the performance option for the Graduate Research Exhibition.

The performance allowed Irons to tie for first prize at the exhibition.

"He is an incredibly skilled performer," said Jane M. Ridley, associate professor of theatre. "He puts his heart and soul into everything he does."

Ridley and Charles Dumas, associate professor of theatre, were advisers for Irons' Farmer and the Snake performance.

"Irons is a wonderful and very gifted artist who is helping to bring diversity to the University," Dumas said.

Just like Harris, Irons has also written stories for children.

"One story, called Simone, is about the camera girls of World War II," Irons said.

In addition to writing performance pieces and children's books, Irons has also penned about a dozen songs and has performed professionally in Alabama, Massachusetts and Ohio.

He was also an extra in the movie Fled and has appeared in five commercials, including some for Reebok.

In the meantime, Irons teaches Theatre 102 (Fundamentals of Acting) and is preparing for this weekend's show.

"Even though Passage is a tribute to African Americans, it is a performance for everybody to see," he said. "It's not a history lesson."