Von Washington PBS movie airs June 25 in West Michigan
June 10, 2003
KALAMAZOO -- Von Washington, director of the multicultural theatre program at Western Michigan University, plays the lead role in "China," an original drama airing Wednesday, June 25, at 8 p.m. on PBS station WGVU, Channels 35 and 52, in West Michigan.
During the past four months, the movie has been shown on PBS stations from New York to Los Angeles and Alaska to Texas. It began airing in February, hitting such major markets as New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Houston, Detroit, Miami, Philadelphia and San Francisco along with a long list of smaller cities. The June 25 showing on WGVU is the first in West Michigan.
"So many times I've been involved in film projects and they don't actually get anywhere," Washington says. "In this case, it was left up to the discretion of others as to when it would be shown, so I was pleased when I saw the broadcast schedule. It's been very rewarding in that respect."
Washington says it also was very rewarding in another sense. The production team was very diverse all the way around. So often in such productions, the actors might be minorities, but the team working behind the scenes is composed predominantly of white males.
"It was really great," Washington says. "I've been in the business for so many years, but seldom, if ever, have I worked with a crew that from top to bottom was totally diverse."
Directed by Jeffrey C. Wray and based on a story by Charles Johnson, "China" is a thoughtful, quietly moving drama about an older African American couple. It was filmed on location in July 2001 in Lansing, Mich., and tells the story of Rudolph and Evelyn Jackson, whose lives radically change when Rudolph suddenly decides to take up the martial arts.
Washington says some of the people in Lansing involved in the project recommended him for a part. He was given the impression that he was auditioning for a supporting role, but when they heard him read Rudolph's lines they decided to cast him as the leading man.
Washington, who has directed and/or performed in more than 300 theatrical productions, is the founder, along with his wife, Fran, of Washington Productions Inc., a professional theatrical and educational video company that has produced historical dramas on civil rights leader Rosa Parks and the Underground Railroad. In "China," Washington stars opposite Sheila Stewart as Evelyn. Stewart performed as a chorus girl for 13 years at the famous Club Harlem in Atlantic City, N.J., then worked 20 years in the legal field before returning to her first love, show business, and pursuing an acting career.
Together, Washington and Stewart bring to life Rudolph and Evelyn, a couple married for more than 30 years and living a settled, if unexciting, life. Rudolph is a mailman trying to make it to retirement as his health and spirit spiral downward. Evelyn's attempts to take care of him include making his favorite foods.
One day, they spend an impromptu afternoon at the movies. Rudolph is captivated by a trailer on an upcoming martial arts festival and decides to sign up for classes. Undeterred by his initial failure, Rudolph works harder and is consumed with his training. He makes new, young friends, rejects Evelyn's soul food for health food and is drawn into a new, disciplined life. As Rudolph continues to find himself, Evelyn becomes more lost, angry, confused and displaced.
"He basically develops a new outlook that goes against the philosophy he has used all of his life," Washington says. "The film is about how he and his wife are turning a new page in his life at age 58."
Media contact: Mark Schwerin, 269 387-8400, mark.schwerin@wmich.edu