For Bo

DFW university premieres play about Botham Jean and Amber Guyger case

For Bo's subject, Botham Jean.

Photo courtesy of Facebook/Botham Shen Jean

UPDATE 4-19-2021: The play is making its premiere virtually this month via Theatre TCU’s Vimeo channel. According to a release, eight performances of For Bo will be presented virtually, April 22-25, 29-30, and May 1-2. Immediately following the April 29 performance, Allison Jean and Allisa Findley, Jean’s mother and sister, will participate in a virtual community panel to facilitate conversations of cross-cultural understanding.

Admission to the virtual performances and community panel is free; a donation to The Botham Jean Foundation is suggested. Advance registration is open now via the For Bo event page. A streaming link will be sent to registrants when it is available.

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A theater professor at TCU has written a play about one of the most controversial crimes in recent Texas history. Titled For Bo: A Play Inspired by the Murder of Botham Jean by Officer Amber Guyger, Ayvaunn Penn's work will be presented as a staged reading at the college on February 12 at 7 pm.

Produced by TCU's theater department and Penn's organization Black and Making It, which promotes black excellence in all art mediums and education, the play will be read entirely by students.

According to a release, For Bo uses a fictional narrative to explore "the issues that lead to Jean's death and how society grapples with the resulting trauma."

Following the play, an interdisciplinary panel of representatives from across the TCU campus and other community leaders will join the all-student cast and playwright/director Penn for a discussion to promote cross-cultural understanding.

"It is very special to have the opportunity to present this timely and socially relevant play at TCU with our talented theater majors," says Penn. "The students are excited, and I am equally excited. College is not only where students choose their careers but where they learn how to navigate the world. It is an honor to be able to demonstrate for students how theater, something we love so much, can be used not just for entertainment but as an agent for positive social change. Priceless."

On September 6, 2018, off-duty Dallas police officer Amber Guyger entered the apartment of 26-year-old accountant Botham Jean and fatally shot him. Guyger claimed that she thought she was in her own apartment and that Jean was an intruder, and was originally arrested for manslaughter. In September of 2019, Guyger went on trial for the shooting and was convicted of murder, receiving a sentence of 10 years in prison.

"I wrote For Bo so the conversations about what led to Botham Jean's death would not die with him," Penn says. "It's one thing to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but Jean was in the right place at the right time: at home. The wrong person entered his apartment and made a horribly wrong decision. How do we keep this from happening again? These conversations must continue and lead to action if we want to see change. Hence, my launch of the #ForBo Initiative. I wrote this play in an effort to do my part to prevent anyone else from suffering the fate of Botham Jean."

According to the release, the #ForBo Initiative "aims to use the performing arts as a catalyst for positive social change by fostering conversations that heal racial divides through empathy, examining issues within the American criminal justice system, and promoting healthy relationships between all, but especially African-American civilians and police officers."

Other #ForBo Initiative participants include the University of South Carolina Aiken and KD Conservatory College of Film and Dramatic Arts.

"Upon completion of For Bo, I approached Dr. Harry Parker, head of TCU theater department, and asked for permission to organize a Black History Month staged reading and discussion," says Penn. "My vision was not merely to have a reading of the play, but bring in panelists from academia and the community to lead a discussion in which they could provide professional insight into the issues surrounding this tragic case. I feel very fortunate that departments across campus accepted my invitation to come together for this important cause. Through productive conversation comes understanding, healing, and solutions."

For Bo will be performed in Betsy and Steve Palko Hall in room 130 at TCU. The event is free and open to the public. Seating is limited, and an advanced seat reservation is required. For more information, visit theatre.tcu.edu and blackandmakingit.com.

theater colleges

RIP Albert

Colorful and iconoclastic Dallas artist Albert Scherbarth dies at 70

Courtesy

Dallas artist Albert Scherbarth

Dallas artist Albert Scherbarth, known for his jubilant creativity which he displayed in a wide range of media, died on February 18; he was 70 years old. According to friends, he suffered a heart attack.

Scherbarth's myriad "canvases" ranged from printmaking to furniture to steel and metal working. He was a colorful presence in the Dallas art scene with a shock of thick hair that stood tall, definitive horn-rimmed glasses, and an unfiltered, no-nonsense personal style.

He was also a key figure in the Cedars District: an urban pioneer who settled in the area directly south of downtown Dallas in the early '80s when the neighborhood was a mostly-deserted collection of abandoned warehouses, before it became a major art nexus.

A post by Lee Harvey's, the Cedars District bar, said that "Some people don’t just live in a neighborhood — they leave their mark on it. Albert did exactly that. Through his art, his presence, and his time at our bar, he became part of the story here. We’ll miss him more than we can say. Rest easy Bert."

He was a real character, as well — a stocky physical presence (he played football in high school) who'd fix his stare upon you as if you were a critter to be studied.

One friend said, "I always feel that Albert is going to spring some meta shit on me every time i see him and he rarely disappoints. What a cool cat."

A native of Nebraska, Scherbarth moved to Dallas in 1979 to earn a master's in fine arts at the University of Dallas, Irving. After graduating in 1981, he began teaching in the community college district, including Brookhaven College, Northlake College, University of Texas at Dallas, and the Creative Art Center, as well as at Dallas' Arts Magnet.

Sculpture by Albert Scherbarth which appeared at the State Fair of Texas in 2018.Laura Walters/Facebook

After graduating from art school, he felt the need to do "real" work like his father, and took jobs in construction and woodwork, which helped shape the very physical nature of his art.

He was one of the early and many artists who resided in the Continental Gin Building, where he worked on his designs and commissions, fabricated other artists’ ideas, and helped galleries with installations, crating, and shipping.

Through the years he made furniture, got into fused and cast glass, poured concrete countertops, and painted, including a successful era of doing giant flower paintings. In his latter years, he acquired a welding machine and worked with builders, designers, and architects constructing screens, fences, furniture, and sculptures.

His works around town include a giant wine tree for Fleming Steakhouse in Frisco, and a sculpture named, "Cecil, age 12" up on Henderson Avenue at Capital Street which was was a finalists for the Henderson Art Prize. He also worked on the famed Bowler Hat sculpture in the Cedars.

In an interview with Voyage Dallas, he said, "I’m constantly looking for more meaning and more permanence in the work that I’m doing," and acknowledged that "I’ve been very, very fortunate to get a lot of really great commissions over the years. I’ve sold a lot of work and fallen into great studio situations – large spaces, cheap rent and wonderful landlords. Today, I think my ignorance of all the pitfalls ahead allowed me to storm through life and I have a certain stubbornness, a dogged determination to succeed."

"My grandfathers died before I came of age, my father died, my favorite uncle died so there was not much in the way of male guidance or perspective on how to be a man, so I’ve just kind of made it up on my own, stumbling through, winging it and I’m still alive, amazingly enough."

deaths artists

For Bo

DFW university premieres play about Botham Jean and Amber Guyger case

RIP Albert

Colorful and iconoclastic Dallas artist Albert Scherbarth dies at 70

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