TJ Crowley Kick-Off: Audio Drama Available Now!
With sponsorship support from Fidelity Bank and the Wichita Arts Council, a beautiful venue was created and equipped for the free TJ Crowley Audio listening event at Holy Savior Catholic Academy. (Staff photo)
WICHITA, Kan. (GVP) — In a cultural event that served as a kickoff for the June 11 national release of “The Real Education of TJ Crowley: Coming of Age on the Redline” audio drama a diverse group of community members gathered on Sunday for the premiere listening event. They experienced a poignant blend of history, storytelling, and dialogue on themes of race, identity, and societal change.
Author and Executive Producer Grant Overstake with members of the diverse audience who attended the listening event held at Holy Savior Academy, which is located where the story is set. (Courtesy photo.)
Sponsored by Fidelity Bank and the Wichita Arts Council, with additional support from the Kansas African American Museum and ARISE Ensemble, the event was hosted by Holy Savior Catholic Academy, located in the same neighborhood where the novel is set.
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The audience listened enraptured to scenes from the audio drama, set during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, school integration, and the Vietnam War. Panelists spoke about growing up along the redline, its ongoing effects, and the importance of shared listening and thoughtful dialogue in mixed-raced community gatherings.
The discussion, moderated by award-winning broadcast journalist Carla Eckels of KMUW, Wichita’s NPR station, featured panelists Sheila Brown Kinnard, Andy Bias, Dr. Michael Birzer, and author Grant Overstake, who provided their unique perspectives and firsthand experiences into the historical and cultural context of the story.
Set at the time of the passage of the Fair Housing Act, which was intended to desegregate neighborhoods, the audio drama reveals the harsh realities faced by Black residents in Wichita and across the country. Their efforts to cross the redline and buy homes in predominantly white areas were met with significant challenges, hostility, and opposition.
Broadcaster Carla Eckels of local NPR affiliate KMUW, expressed her appreciation for the audio drama’s vivid storytelling and historical accuracy in capturing real events and experiences on the city’s redline.
The adaptation was co-written by the author and multi-award-winning producer/director, May Wuthrich. The poignant, yet hard-hitting narrative, follows a white teenager's fraught quest to find meaning in a community rife with racial divisions.
Carla Eckels, who grew up in northeast Wichita, expressed her appreciation for the story’s accuracy, which reflects real events and people from one of the nation’s most racially segregated cities.
During the late 1960s Andy Bias, former Sedgwick County Commissioner and CEO of Mennonite Housing, moved from an all-Black school in North Carolina to northeast Wichita. He shared about the complex experience of attending school with white students. He faced stereotypes from teachers and classmates who doubted his placement in advanced courses, despite his academic prowess. Grant and Andy were classmates at Wichita’s Brooks Junior High School and have remained lifelong friends. Andy inspired the character of Andy (Birmingham) Campfield in the drama.
Sheila Brown Kinnard, a major force in local arts and theater education, and is also a soloist in the ARISE Ensemble, plays the role of Mrs. Lorraine Washington, a character inspired by her mother. Sheila, discussed the significance of Negro spirituals embedded in the story. As TJ and Dr. Washington listen to the traditional music in his converted garage den, the ARISE Ensemble gives voice to the Fisk Jubilee Singers, who introduced the soul-stirring music globally.
Dr. Michael Birzer, a professor of criminal justice at Wichita State University, incorporates the book and audio drama in his racial profiling course to stimulate introspection and dialogue among future law enforcement officers and social workers. He underscored the story’s value in fostering meaningful discussions in classrooms and book clubs.
Grain Valley Publishing is grateful for the enthusiastic support of The Kansas African American Museum, with Director Denise Shepard and Education Director Brad Richards. (TKAAM)
Birzer remarked, “If you haven’t heard or read ‘The Real Education of TJ Crowley,’ you’re missing out on a compelling narrative about race, redlining, and racial unrest in 1968.”
Denise Sherman, Director of The Kansas African American Museum, added, “Thank you to all who attended the Premiere Event. TKAAM is proud to be a community partner and supporter of this project! Thank you Grant Overstake, we appreciate your efforts to uplift stories of the Wichita community.”
Distinguished guests included State Sen. Mary Ware, Rep. KC Ohaebosim, and Josephine Brown, alongside key figures whose contributions and lives have shaped the narrative.
With its national release, “The Real Education of TJ Crowley: Coming of Age on the Redline" stands ready to spark nationwide conversations.
In attendance at the audio listening event was Josephine Brown, civil rights activist and founder of the ARISE Ensemble, shown with her daughter, Sheila Brown Kinnard, who plays the role of Mrs. Lorraine Washington in the drama, a role inspired by her mother. Josephine and her late husband, Dr. Val Brown, Sr., were the author’s inspiration to write the story. (Photo by Brad Richards, TKAAM)
Meet Our Cast
A full cast of audio luminaries bring the story's range of characters and their struggles to life in a radio theater-style recording, led by multi-award winning actors Dani Martineck as TJ Crowley, Dion Graham as Dr. Washington and Tavia Gilbert as Kate Crowley. Additional cast members include Peter Berkrot, Michael Crouch, Ari Fliakos, Kevin R. Free, Graham Halstead, Johnny Heller, Kirby Heyborne, Thérèse Plummer, Brittany Pressley, Shayna Small, John Wright and Sheila Brown Kinnard. The technical expertise of Producer Cameron Potts and his team at John Marshall Media infuse the recording with music and sound effects, further elevating the listening experience.
Led by Dani Marteneck, upper left, the TJ Crowley Audio Drama features 15 actors voicing 24 roles, with Dion Graham, Tavia Gilbert, Johnny Heller, Kevin R. Free, Shayna Small, Ari Fliakos, Michael Crouch, Kirby Heyborne, Graham Halstead, Peter Berkrot, Thérèse Plummer, Brittany Pressley, John Wright, and Sheila Brown Kinnard.
A Salute to Our Patrons
The audio project has been made possible by the fiscal sponsorship of the Youth Educational Empowerment Program (YEEP), with funding from Shocker Studios at Wichita State University, and the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Also, from The Lenox Foundation, The Stecher Family Foundation, Massachusetts Mutual Insurance Co. , Bird by Bird Outreach, and the following individuals: Abbe F. Large, Mike and Sally Harris, Marcia Ross and Jeff Kaufman, Michael Simon, Michael Birzer, Gretchen Eick and Michael Poage, and Sarah Bagby.
World Release June 11, 2024
Based on the novel by Grant Overstake, script adaptation by the author and May Wuthrich. Performed by a full cast. Presented by Grain Valley Publishing and Released by Blackstone Publishing on June 11, 2024.