From race to rubber. That’s the kind of locally-involved theater in which Akron’s Center for Applied Theatre and Active Culture – through one of its participating theatrical groups, the New World Performance Laboratory – gets involved. CATAC has announced that it will receive a $15,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to support the development of a new work, “The Devil’s Milk Trilogy,” which will focus on the history of Akron’s relationship with the rubber industry.

Last year, NWPL’s Co-Artistic Director James Slowiak worked with The University of Akron on a performance called “The Color Line Project,” which took stories and ideas from several “story circles” for a two-year period and turned them into a theatrical production.

This time, through NWPL, he is creating a three-part undertaking of “The Devil’s Milk Trilogy,” during which he will conduct six intensive, two-week work sessions, Slowiak said in a telephone interview. The sessions will be held between March and November, with the entire trilogy to be performed back-to-back in January 2016 at the Balch Street Theatre.

Each work session will end with an open rehearsal where the public can watch, provide feedback and discuss the work in progress. After the performances in 2016 of the entire trilogy, there will again be opportunity for audience members to talk about the sections as they relate to the rubber industry and its impact on the Akron scene.

Part I, Slowiak commented, will be titled “Death of the Man.” It will be a solo piece performed by Jairo Cuesta (co-artistic director of NWPL). This section will cover the world history of rubber and the industry, including the devastating effects on the people and places of the Congo and the Amazon.

As Slowiak noted, the industry and city was built on a lot of blood. Writers will be using information from the 2011 John Tully book that serves as the title for the collective performances (the author Tully gave his “blessing” for the project), as well as information found in Roger Casement’s diaries. Casement had two sets of diaries – the so-called Black Diaries and White Diaries, the first of which gave minute information about his sexual ambitions, and the other that included strong images of the rubber industry. His accounts, Slowiak said, were used in large measure for Joseph Conrad’s famous novel exploring the exploitation of Africa, “The Heart of Darkness.”

Another historical work, Vicki Baum’s “The Weeping Wood,” set in the 1920s-1930s contains a couple of chapters set in Akron that are concerned with the rubber industry. As Slowiak says, the book is “sentimental but works.”

That work becomes a transition to Part II with more of a focus on Akron. The second part of the trilogy will be called “Goosetown” – named for an area in Akron where immigrants (mostly eastern European) congregated to work in the many rubber plants throughout the city.

Part II is to be a musical – a genre totally different from the opening somber solo work. It will be done by local writer/composer/singer/musician J. T. Buck, who has appeared in many local theaters, including for Actors’ Summit, a Knight Arts grantee.

J. T. Buck. Photo via Facebook

This section will look at the industry and its effects through the eyes of the workers and the labor union movement.

Part III, which will be directed by Slowiak, has no name yet, but the working title is “On the Devil’s Strip.” Plans are for it to be still yet another genre, a theatrical collage of lots of local industry characters (like Harvey Firestone and others). Slowiak intends to use lots of local talent in this section, as will Buck in the second part of the trilogy.

Slowiak said he hopes to have local guests familiar with the subject to lead the discussions after the performances of the individual sections. One can imagine that audience members will be surprised by a lot of the information and will no doubt have many, many questions.

CATAC, along with its edgy, intense, out-there bent for theatrical productions, also has its intellectual and historical side. Slowiak commented that he has been kicking around the idea of a comprehensive history and look at significant social and cultural themes as they apply to the city of Akron.

Jairo Cuesta and James Slowiak, co-artistic directors, New World Performance Laboratory. Photo via nwplab.com

Further announcements about open rehearsals and actual public performances will be made closer to dates. Slowiak commented that lots of people are involved, so there are large scheduling concerns at the moment.