A truly grand finale for Marie G. Davis'Bubbling Brown Sugar' is last production

Jamia Sturgis had never been on stage before. Heck, the 13-year-old could count on one hand the number of times she had performed in front of people. A few times at church. And one time in sixth grade at a school assembly.

But Sunday, when Jamia strode onstage in a gold evening gown and stilettos to perform a solo at the Afro-American Cultural Center, she brimmed with confidence.

Then they played the wrong song.

"I couldn't believe it," Jamia said. "I was ready to walk off the stage."

Sturgis and 30 other students from Marie G. Davis Middle School performed "Bubbling Brown Sugar," a play about the Harlem Renaissance, at the center Sunday.

School plays are routine at many schools, but the production carried extra significance for the students at Marie G. Davis, which has some of the system's lowest test scores and highest suspension rates. The school will close at the end of this year, reopening with a military magnet program in 2008.

"The school board thinks we're just an all-black school that doesn't do nothing," said Eureka Kirkland, 14, who performed a tap dancing solo in the play. "I hope this shows them that we're able to do things."

Fourteen-year-old Zamyia Felton called the production a "way for us to go out with a big bang."

The once-proud school lost its International Baccalaureate magnet program as part of a new student assignment plan in 2002 that drew mostly from the impoverished neighborhoods nearby. Marie G. hadn't put on a full-scale production since at least then, Principal Pat Collins said, mainly because of a lack of resources.
A $9,000 grant from ArtsTeach, a local nonprofit that supports arts education, made "Bubbling Brown Sugar" possible. In addition to paying for props, costumes, the set and other necessities, the grant paid for the students to work with four teaching artists from the cultural center.

Students began working on the production last fall. Most had never performed for an audience. Some had trouble getting to rehearsals and practices.

"They really had to learn to rely on each other and support each other," said drama teacher Robert Ewing, who directed the play. "I've seen a lot of growth in terms of maturity in these kids."

Sunday's production, the third and final one, packed the house. Parents, grandparents, cousins and baby siblings crammed into the tiny theater. Some were watching the performance for the second or third time.
As Jamia stood on the stage, she wondered what to do.

The backstage crews eventually turned off the wrong song. Still, no music.

But Jamia didn't walk off the stage. Her mother, stepfather, cousin and grandmother were in the crowd, and she wanted to make them proud.

So she closed her eyes and did the only thing she could think of.

She started singing.

Without the music.

And got the loudest ovation of anyone.