KOJO Productions, LLC Presents “Buffalo Soldiers: The Legacy”
Service and questions on the Western frontier
Service and questions on the Western frontier
“I started writing in 1999,” Scott confided during a break from rehearsals at Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center. “I wrote it, but in the interim, there were a few
personal upheavals in my life and so, I had to put the project on the back burner. It was there for 6-7 years. But the people who started with me, Bill Greer,
Anthony Timmons and Walter Orr, kept saying ‘Richard, when are you going to get back to it?’ That was in 2001. And they would ask about it from time to time.
Finally one of my neighbors knocked on my door and said ‘Are you still working on your play?’ I said ‘No, sort of, kind of, maybe.’”
The neighbor had two sabers that he sold to Scott. The Buffalo Soldiers project would not leave Scott alone. So Scott got Greer, Timmons and Greer back
together and added some additional cast members and started meeting once per week at Wil-Mar.
“We started meeting and discussing the play and what it was about and the terminology we were using, the characters and their make up and why it was
important that we sit down and talk about each scene, the motivation, the philosophical operation and the dilemma and personal battles they were going
through,” Scott said. “‘Why are we out here chasing people who haven’t done a blasted thing to us in the first place?’ ‘Yeah, well they would just rather see us
hung than to look at us.’ So there were some mental and emotional issues that were going on with these soldiers.”
The Buffalo Soldiers gave Scott a lot of food for thought. The Buffalo Soldiers were African American cavalrymen who served on the Western frontier after
the Civil War. They received the name Buffalo Soldiers because some American Indians said their hair looked like the hair of the buffalo.
According to Scott, their treatment was despicable. “The Buffalo Soldiers weren’t commissioned to go into battle until July 1866,” Scott said. “They weren’t
commissioned to go fight. They were basically slaves in blue uniforms. They weren’t looked at for what they knew.”
Although the play delves into a lot of emotional and psychological issues faced by the Buffalo Soldiers, its plot revolves around the efforts of Sargeant
McPherson to organize the Buffalo Soldiers and get them in shape to face battle.
Almost in line with the pace that Buffalo Soldiers was written, Scott isn’t in a hurry to have the first performance. He is hoping that its world premier will be
next April. And it is his dream that it will be produced in the Overture Center.
As a board member of the Friends of the Overture, Scott has had some concern about some of the small things that unintentionally may not have made the
facility a welcoming place for African Americans. “It just didn’t seem it was designed and was welcoming to just the average person, those who weren’t able to
pay the ticket prices,” Scott said. “It was to the point where I was the only Black person on the board of the Friends of the Overture Center — don’t get me wrong,
they are a very good group I enjoy working with. I would ask them what they saw that was wrong with the picture up there, a drawing that was created by the
architect. It didn’t have anyone that looked like me. No one else on the committee paid attention to it. If that was the case, what message was that giving
people? And I don’t want that message to be a perception that becomes reality.”
Scott’s dream scenario would be to produce Buffalo Soldiers in one of the Overture’s smaller theaters and have some of the homeless African American
men be subsidized to come in and watch the performance. Not only would these men learn something about themselves and their history, but it would also
expose them to a place they would never go and make the Overture more of a community arts building.
“If Overture truly is an institution for the community, then let the community be a part of being in there, doing something there for the community,” Scott
said. “I’m not taking anything away from the national acts that are coming in because they are wonderful. But you don’t always get a chance to see that. And
we don’t always get the chance to say that we did something there.”
Scott is hoping that his efforts and those of others in the African American arts community will lead to the creating of an African American performing arts
theater group that would produce local plays. It could also serve other purposes. “Wisconsin is becoming a very popular and well-respected place for films to be
shot,” Scott said. “And if we have a group of people who could serve as extras or audition for roles, can you imagine someone like Public Enemy coming in
and they contacted the Wisconsin Film Company to see if they had any Black actors. They would be able to point at this group as a source. There are a whole
plethora of things that could sprout off of this particular seed. I hope that will happen.”
As with any performing arts production, Buffalo Soldiers: The Legacy is in need of some financial backing if it is truly going to fulfill Scott’s dream of having
it produced at the Overture. Scott has met with Tom Carto, executive director of the Overture Center and he was interested in the project.
So far, Scott has been meeting most of the expenses out-of-pocket. And he emphasized that everyone involved in the production is a volunteer. Still there
will be expenses that need to get paid. “We would love to have a philanthropist who will underwrite the production, but that isn’t very realistic,” Scott said. “A
more realistic possibility is those people who would say that they want this group to do what it set out to do. We accept donations from $5 to $50,000.”
Just as the Buffalo Soldiers had to prove their mettle before they achieved peer status in the U.S. Cavalry, Scott and his troupe will also have to prove their
mettle to get the backing they need to put on a serious theatrical production. But with the legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers standing behind them, the realization
of Scott’s dream is only a question of when.
personal upheavals in my life and so, I had to put the project on the back burner. It was there for 6-7 years. But the people who started with me, Bill Greer,
Anthony Timmons and Walter Orr, kept saying ‘Richard, when are you going to get back to it?’ That was in 2001. And they would ask about it from time to time.
Finally one of my neighbors knocked on my door and said ‘Are you still working on your play?’ I said ‘No, sort of, kind of, maybe.’”
The neighbor had two sabers that he sold to Scott. The Buffalo Soldiers project would not leave Scott alone. So Scott got Greer, Timmons and Greer back
together and added some additional cast members and started meeting once per week at Wil-Mar.
“We started meeting and discussing the play and what it was about and the terminology we were using, the characters and their make up and why it was
important that we sit down and talk about each scene, the motivation, the philosophical operation and the dilemma and personal battles they were going
through,” Scott said. “‘Why are we out here chasing people who haven’t done a blasted thing to us in the first place?’ ‘Yeah, well they would just rather see us
hung than to look at us.’ So there were some mental and emotional issues that were going on with these soldiers.”
The Buffalo Soldiers gave Scott a lot of food for thought. The Buffalo Soldiers were African American cavalrymen who served on the Western frontier after
the Civil War. They received the name Buffalo Soldiers because some American Indians said their hair looked like the hair of the buffalo.
According to Scott, their treatment was despicable. “The Buffalo Soldiers weren’t commissioned to go into battle until July 1866,” Scott said. “They weren’t
commissioned to go fight. They were basically slaves in blue uniforms. They weren’t looked at for what they knew.”
Although the play delves into a lot of emotional and psychological issues faced by the Buffalo Soldiers, its plot revolves around the efforts of Sargeant
McPherson to organize the Buffalo Soldiers and get them in shape to face battle.
Almost in line with the pace that Buffalo Soldiers was written, Scott isn’t in a hurry to have the first performance. He is hoping that its world premier will be
next April. And it is his dream that it will be produced in the Overture Center.
As a board member of the Friends of the Overture, Scott has had some concern about some of the small things that unintentionally may not have made the
facility a welcoming place for African Americans. “It just didn’t seem it was designed and was welcoming to just the average person, those who weren’t able to
pay the ticket prices,” Scott said. “It was to the point where I was the only Black person on the board of the Friends of the Overture Center — don’t get me wrong,
they are a very good group I enjoy working with. I would ask them what they saw that was wrong with the picture up there, a drawing that was created by the
architect. It didn’t have anyone that looked like me. No one else on the committee paid attention to it. If that was the case, what message was that giving
people? And I don’t want that message to be a perception that becomes reality.”
Scott’s dream scenario would be to produce Buffalo Soldiers in one of the Overture’s smaller theaters and have some of the homeless African American
men be subsidized to come in and watch the performance. Not only would these men learn something about themselves and their history, but it would also
expose them to a place they would never go and make the Overture more of a community arts building.
“If Overture truly is an institution for the community, then let the community be a part of being in there, doing something there for the community,” Scott
said. “I’m not taking anything away from the national acts that are coming in because they are wonderful. But you don’t always get a chance to see that. And
we don’t always get the chance to say that we did something there.”
Scott is hoping that his efforts and those of others in the African American arts community will lead to the creating of an African American performing arts
theater group that would produce local plays. It could also serve other purposes. “Wisconsin is becoming a very popular and well-respected place for films to be
shot,” Scott said. “And if we have a group of people who could serve as extras or audition for roles, can you imagine someone like Public Enemy coming in
and they contacted the Wisconsin Film Company to see if they had any Black actors. They would be able to point at this group as a source. There are a whole
plethora of things that could sprout off of this particular seed. I hope that will happen.”
As with any performing arts production, Buffalo Soldiers: The Legacy is in need of some financial backing if it is truly going to fulfill Scott’s dream of having
it produced at the Overture. Scott has met with Tom Carto, executive director of the Overture Center and he was interested in the project.
So far, Scott has been meeting most of the expenses out-of-pocket. And he emphasized that everyone involved in the production is a volunteer. Still there
will be expenses that need to get paid. “We would love to have a philanthropist who will underwrite the production, but that isn’t very realistic,” Scott said. “A
more realistic possibility is those people who would say that they want this group to do what it set out to do. We accept donations from $5 to $50,000.”
Just as the Buffalo Soldiers had to prove their mettle before they achieved peer status in the U.S. Cavalry, Scott and his troupe will also have to prove their
mettle to get the backing they need to put on a serious theatrical production. But with the legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers standing behind them, the realization
of Scott’s dream is only a question of when.
| Clockwise from above left: Richard Scott Sr. (l-r), gives direction to Amadou Fofana, and Richard Scott Jr. aka "Scotty"; Fofana (l-r), and Scott Sr. receive their orders from David Krause; William Greer (l-r) and Krause have a confrontation; Anthony Timmons (l) receives playful direction from and Scott Sr. |
By Jonathan Gramling
Richard Scott Sr. has always been fascinated with the performing arts. As a little boy, he
was fascinated with Western movies. And while he has been minority services coordinator at
East High School since the 1970s, Scott created KOJO, a student drill team and has sung or
performed in countless productions over the years.
Back in 1977, Scott performed in ‘A Soldier’s Play’ that was directed by Ed Holmes. Scott
was curious about the role of African Americans in the military. And this curiosity, his
fondness for Westerns and old tune performed by The Persuasions 40 years ago came
together like a nexus: Buffalo Soldiers.
Scott just wanted to act in this kind of a production to satiate his curiosity. But he couldn’t
find anyone to write or produce the play, so Scott — who didn’t consider himself a writer —
set out to write ‘Buffalo Soldiers: The Legacy,’ a project nine years in the making.
Richard Scott Sr. has always been fascinated with the performing arts. As a little boy, he
was fascinated with Western movies. And while he has been minority services coordinator at
East High School since the 1970s, Scott created KOJO, a student drill team and has sung or
performed in countless productions over the years.
Back in 1977, Scott performed in ‘A Soldier’s Play’ that was directed by Ed Holmes. Scott
was curious about the role of African Americans in the military. And this curiosity, his
fondness for Westerns and old tune performed by The Persuasions 40 years ago came
together like a nexus: Buffalo Soldiers.
Scott just wanted to act in this kind of a production to satiate his curiosity. But he couldn’t
find anyone to write or produce the play, so Scott — who didn’t consider himself a writer —
set out to write ‘Buffalo Soldiers: The Legacy,’ a project nine years in the making.