Ain't Got Time to Die by Gregory S. Carr is the latest production of First Run Theatre, a theatre group dedicated to producing unpublished works-in-progress by St Louis playwrights The play focuses on the Truebloods, "colored" family in a state of change. Reverend Trueblood (played by Eric Toler), has resigned from his congregation because he believes the church members have negatively judged his personal decision to marry a younger woman three years after the death of his first wife. His son, eighteen-year-old Jeremiah Trueblood (Paris Crayton, III), has discovered his calling to be an actor on the stage, an ambition at odds with his father's dreams of starting the first local black-owned construction business with his only son. His young wife, Tirzah Trueblood (Joyce Meeks), is pursued by a visiting pastoral candidate (Alex Ross) who does not always tell the truth.

This is set against the backdrop of racially segregated Cairo, Illinois, in depression-era 1936. Jeremiah's love of the theatre allows many interesting tidbits of black theatre history to pepper the dialogue, and more are written out in the playbill notes. The lack of opportunities available to the Truebloods is highlighted by the fact that the Trueblood home is often visited by a white Pastor, Reverend Meriweather (Tom Mocca) preaches at Reverend Trueblood's church, eats dinner at Reverend Trueblood's table-but never invites Reverend Trueblood to his church, other than to perform his job as janitor. And when Jeremiah performs the strangulation scene from Othello with a white Jewish woman from Chicago, everything comes to a head-the racial tensions, the opinion of the law as it applies to the black population of Cairo, the pain of learning what the right thing is, and what it means to be alive-or dead.

One of First Run Theatre's goals is to give each play a full staging and this is done easily at the state-of-the-art theatre at DeSmet High School in Creve Coeur. The claustrophobic set, which is the living room of the Trueblood family, is artfully rendered, the lighting and sound, professional. The only short-coming of the production is that some of the members of the all-volunteer cast do not thoroughly know their lines. None of the slips were major, and for some of the characters, it seemed as if they could have been intended, yet there were enough at times to distract from the story line. Crayton turned in an especially moving and professional performance as the young Jeremiah, impressive even in his portrayal of Jeremiah playing Othello when he acts the scene for his mother and grandmother. Meeks's performance as the young wife, torn between her husband's goals for his son and the shorter distance she has from her own dreams of performance, was also notable. Enjoyable were Judith Jones as Mother Queenester Trueblood Reverend Trueblood's mother, and Tyler Duenow (also the technical director) as Sheriff Silas Morgan. Alex Ross was thoroughly greasy and despicable as the visiting Pastor Brownlow.

After the curtain call, Carr, who sat in the audience during the production, took the stage with the cast and fielded questions about the writing and the production. The audience was given insight into how the play was cast, where Carr did his research, and what some of the elements of the play meant For this opportunity alone, to see a proud cast and enthusiastic writer seeking feedback, it is worth the price of admission. But more importantly, the messages the play conveys about race, life, and love are what will see this play through to professional stages.

It's not often that a play suffering from both an imperfect script and a flawed production is nevertheless worth the trouble to see. But in the case of local playwright Gregory Carr's new play Ain't Got Time To Die, the central ideas are strong enough to come across in spite of such obstacles and to result in a very worthwhile experience. Given that the most serious of the production problems is correctable, it's even possible that the production may significantly improve by its second weekend.

Set in Cairo, IL, the heart of "Little Egypt," in 1936, Ain't Got Time To Die tells the story of the Trueblood family, headed by Reverend Hezekiah Trueblood, a widowed and remarried baptist minister. As the play opens, he has just tendered his resignation as pastor at his church because of the church leadership's having attempted to interfere in his choice of a second wife. Hezekiah's son Jeremiah is a talented singer and budding actor, but the good reverend disapproves of such endeavors, believing instead that black folk should work with their hands, as he himself does, when not preaching, as janitor at the local white Baptist church. Jeremiah does enjoy some support from his stepmother, Tirzah, and his grandmother, Mother Queenester. Following a confrontation with his father, Jeremiah leaves home with a troupe of actors from the WPA's Federal Theatre Project. His return several weeks later to perform the murder scene from Othello at the Cairo black YMCA le! ads to the climactic confrontations and a highly compelling conclusion. Though treading well-worn ground, this exploration of the African-American experience of racial injustice and oppression nevertheless has more than enough in it that is new, or said in new and original ways, both to make its point meaningful and real and to make many a white person of conscience rightly uncomfortable. To take one example, the character of the white minister who considers himself the "apostle to the negro" and who treats Hezekiah, his brother preacher, with revolting condescension throughout, is a fine portrait of the shallow liberal whose true colors and cowardice are inevitably revealed in the moment of crisis.

The text on the whole is very strong, and it is a privilege to see the premiere production of a play with as much to offer as this one has. But there are some flaws: the amount of repetition in the exposition of the conflict between the father and son is rather tedious and certainly unnecessary, and in several spots throughout the play, the dialogue is stilted and artificial in the extreme. But these things do not cripple the play; on the contrary, they are comparatively minor distractions from the good qualities found throughout the script. The greatest weakness in the production is one that can be corrected, or at least minimized, with a little work: many in the cast, two central cast members in particular, do not know their lines well enough. On the other hand, there are some excellent performances, most notably from Joyce Meeks as Tirzah, and virtually everyone has at least some truly outstanding moments. Eric Toler's line trouble holds him back from the performance h! e could have given as Hezekiah, but his moment of brilliance, when, at the climax of the tragedy, he begins preaching a sermon on the crucifixion, is a riveting and moving performance; the character and the scene come vibrantly to life in truly memorable fashion. Beyond that, the production values are generally on the level of a somewhat better-than-average community theater production, with all of the good and ill that that implies. I was certainly drawn into the lives of the family and came very quickly to care about their concerns. The extent to which the values and meanings of this tragedy are transmitted in spite of both its own imperfections and those of the production is a testament to the strength of the text. The cast includes Paris Crayton III, Judith Jones, Brian Jones, Tom Moore, Alex Ross, Tyler Duenow, Adam Rosen, and Jennifer Gordon.

It's appropriate that Gregory S. Carr's new play, Ain't Got Time to Die , is performed on a high school stage. Too often the show feels like a poorly disguised history lesson about racism in southern Illinois in 1936. Carr takes a standard lecturer's approach to his potentially intriguing material: Tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them and then tell them what you told them. Good theater, though, teaches by action and mystery, seducing the audience into asking questions instead of making them wonder why the characters are giving speeches to one another.

Carr writes in the tradition of Lorraine Hansberry and August Wilson, whose realistic dramas explore the struggles of African-American families at various points in history. Many of Carr's characters seem familiar: Reverend Hezekiah Trueblood (an imposing Eric Toler) is a stuck-in-a-rut father sacrificing all for his son. Tirzah (Joyce Meeks) is the supportive wife and mother who helps her son behind his father's back. Meeks provides a solid performance that the other actors should emulate. Her steady engagement with scenes and believable reactions make her the most interesting actor on stage. As Mother Queenester Trueblood, the wily, long-suffering matriarch, Judith Jones finds some of the comic moments and grows in confidence throughout the evening. Her advice to Tirzah that "the man may be the head of the family, but the woman is the backbone" brought audible reactions of agreement from the audience.

The dramatic conflict centers on Jeremiah (Paris Crayton III), who wants to become an actor in defiance of his father's wishes. It's a recipe that could bake up some potent drama, but the cake falls flat. The Reverend is all bluster and unlikable rage -- why an intelligent woman like Tirzah would have married him is the play's greatest mystery. Jeremiah, meantime, spends most of the time sulking. The supporting characters are mostly one-dimensional (the hypocritical preacher, the sleazy con man, the bigoted sheriff). After spending the majority of Act One in redundant character exposition, unnecessary side plots and history lessons, the play kicks into gear in the middle of Act Two. But the sudden shift in action is so unexpected and overplayed that it loses its potential power. There's a gleam of greatness at the end, when the connection between faith and despair is explored. If Carr could have captured that conflict consistently, he'd have had a much more compelling drama.

Happily, the pre-show and scene-change music -- authentic gospel songs performed by the Community Church of God choir -- provides welcome relief from the difficult script. Director Don Weiss and set designer Sarah Thorowgood don't help the (little) action of the play -- the living-room furniture is placed so that people get trapped in traffic jams upstage behind the furniture and have no reason to move down toward the audience except when they've obviously been told by the director to walk there. The characters spend most of the play sitting in chairs talking to each other. Fault both writer and director on that one.

First Run Theatre was created to support regional playwrights -- a great goal. But is a fully staged production truly the best way to use limited resources? Ain't Got Time to Die offers some interesting scenes and good potential, but it needs much work. Instead of paying for technical elements, perhaps First Run could pay for professional actors to do staged readings. The playwright would get necessary feedback and the play could be improved and possibly given a fully staged production in the future.

"Theater has the power to change things," proclaims one character in Ain't Got Time to Die . While this is certainly true, it's telling that Carr has one of his characters state it instead of making his play actually do it.