“I think the community needs to see this”: A Director Brings Theater to East New York

“Feed the hog! He will eat it for you. That’s what you want, ain’t it?” a young actor shouts at the woman playing his godmother.

“Jefferson, behave!” the actress yells back, slapping his face and knocking him to the floor.

“Let’s do the slap again,” says Kareem S. Nemley, intervening in the scene. “Let’s try saying whatever emotions come to you.” He calmly instructs the actors, reassuring them that they’re doing great. He asks them why their characters say certain lines, allowing them to share their own interpretations.

Nemley founded and directs the Rooted Theater Company, the only active theater company in East New York. Every Wednesday and Saturday until the show opens in June, the staff and cast meet at ARTs East New York, a cultural organization on Livonia Avenue where East New York and Brownsville meet.

On a Saturday afternoon, the cast is rehearsing a scene from the Rooted’s inaugural show, “A Lesson Before Dying,” by Romulus Linney. Based on a novel by Ernest J Gaines, it depicts an innocent young African-American named Jefferson, sentenced to death for a murder he didn’t commit, and his journey to reclaim dignity after his attorney refers to him as a hog.

In New York City, cultural resources are distributed unequally, concentrated in the most affluent 20 percent of the city’s neighborhoods, according to a study by the University of Pennsylvania’s Social Impact of the Arts Project (SIAP).

“Socio-economic status, race and ethnicity, and distance from Midtown” contribute to the unequal distribution, explained Mark J. Stern, the lead researcher, in an email. East New York, the researchers found, is one of the areas with the fewest cultural resources.

“It’s hard for an arts and culture-based organization in a community that’s deemed as low income, because of priorities,” says Farrah Lafontant of the Brooklyn Arts Council, which provides grants for local artists and arts organizations.

“Arts and culture are not at the top of the list and I understand and respect that. Housing, mental health services and health services are on the top of the list and arts and culture are somewhere toward the bottom,” says Lafontant, who grew up in Bushwick and now lives in East New York.

Previously, the neighborhood’s only theater was the Gotham, built in 1901 and torn down in 1937. It had no theater company until 2013, when Nemley created the Rooted with funds from the Brooklyn Arts Council.

“We were a forgotten part of Brooklyn. When I say I live in East New York people make a face, like ‘Really?’” says Nemley grimacing. After the rehearsal, he sits on a red sofa that matches the color of his beanie. A tall 37-year-old, he looks younger with his blue hoodie and jeans, and disarming smile.

“That kind of connotation keeps people from coming to East New York and also keeps money from coming. That’s why, I think, there hasn’t been a theater in East New York.”

Nemley, a Brooklyn native, grew up in the Pink Houses, East New York housing projects often associated with headlines about crime and violence. Locals like Nemley see that reputation as only a partial picture of a neighborhood where the sense of community is strong and everybody looks after each other.

Nemley was “never a basketball kind of guy,” despite his height but ran track in high school and college. “I ran because that’s what I always did. Either being chased by bullies, or running home before lights came on, or there was some gunshots so you gotta run home,” Namley recalls laughing and walking by the building where he used to live with his mother and stepfather.

He never wanted for anything, but casually admits, “I did have a lot of casualties happen in front of my door. I knew friends that were killed in front of my building or in my neighborhood.”

Bright pink signs on the lawn stand out among clusters of uniform brick buildings. “Welcome to Louis Pink Houses NYCHA. A wonderful community,” the signs read.

“It makes you think it’s some suburb, because it sounds nice, pink houses, but when you move here, this is not what you think,” says Nemley, passing kids playing basketball in front of the buildings. There may be no pink in the Pink Houses, but on a sunny spring day, the surrounding neighborhood of brownstones is dotted with cherry trees in full bloom.

Nemley encountered the arts early on. The first show he watched was “A Raisin in the Sun,” which portrays an African-American family trying to buy a house in a white neighborhood. “I was 10 and it instantly caught my attention, because I definitely wanted to get out of the Pink Houses,” Nemley recalls.

He had taken dance lessons at an East New York community center and played a lead role in every show at his elementary school, but it was in North Carolina, where his mother sent him for high school and then college, that he dived into theater.

“In North Carolina, there are a lot of theater companies and non-profits in and outside of school, and I’ve always wanted to bring that back to East New York.”

He returned to the neighborhood 10 years ago and bought a condo with his husband, Wilfredo Florentino, who also works at the Rooted Theater as its chief administrative officer.

Nemley originally tried to get into acting and theater, but gave up when he couldn’t find a job that provided insurance and a decent living. He now works as a designer for IKEA’s communication department.

But a shocking incident in Brownsville last year made him want to produce socially relevant shows for his neighborhood. In January 2016, the city learned that five teenagers had gang-raped an 18 year-old woman on a local playground, after ordering her father to leave at gunpoint. A month later, the father and daughter admitted the men did not show a gun and revealed that they had been engaged in sexual activities before the men approached. The case was dismissed when evidence didn’t support the woman’s allegations.

A month later, Nemley overheard on the subway a couple talking about the incident. “Boys will be boys,” one said. “Do you expect boys not to want to have sex with a girl?”

“It caught me off guard because I thought, ‘Where’s the sense of responsibility for these young kids?’ Because they had a choice, regardless of what was their fault and what wasn’t,” Nemley recalls. “It could’ve ended in such a horrible way.”

In “A Lesson Before Dying,” Jefferson tags along to a liquor store with friends who decide to rob it. A shooting ensues, killing his friends and a storeowner, but instead of running away, Jefferson decides to steal liquor and gets caught by the police.

“I thought the scenario that happened in Brownsville was really fitting for this show and wanted the boys to see it. And I think the community needs to see this,” says Nemley. “Hopefully they can get at that idea and understand that choice is all we have. And the importance of making those right choices could be life and death.”

Before auditions in March, Nemley made outreach efforts, going to community board meetings, and even soliciting random people on the street he thought fit for the characters. He also put flyers in every building at the Pink Houses.

“Not many people came, but at least they got to see the flyers and know what it’s about. Hopefully a lot of people will show up to the show,” says Nemley, looking up at the complex where he once lived.

He had studied “A Lesson Before Dying” at the University of North Carolina and played Jefferson. Now, he sees himself in Jacquel Gilmore, the high school student and aspiring actor he casts as Jefferson in the Rooted’s production.

Gilmore also grew up in East New York, in a complex called Cypress Hills once a Pink Houses’ rival, Nemley points out. Both raised by single mothers who kept them close to home and made sure they stayed out of troubles, they now find passion in the performing arts.

“Everybody’s norm of getting out, it’s really relying on sports. But I’ve decided to take a different route and go my own way with arts,” says Gilmore. “To me, acting is becoming someone who you’re not. Stepping into somebody else’s shoes, stepping out of your boundaries.”

The city’s Department of Cultural Affairs launched the Building Community Capacity (BCC) program last year, with $900,000, to support cultural organizations in underserved neighborhoods — defined as Jamaica, Queens, the South Bronx, northern Manhattan and East Brooklyn, including East New York, Brownsville and Cypress Hills.

The program doesn’t provide direct funding for local organizations, but hires program managers who provide technical training and network opportunities for local arts organizations.

“The smaller organizations that are located in underserved communities have the potential to be major pillars of the community, the major source of art and cultural programming, but just due to lack of resources in these areas they may not have the sort of technical expertise they need,” explains Ryan Max, director of external affairs at the city Department of Cultural Affairs.

“So the idea was to start a training program for smaller organizations and help them develop skills to better run their organizations.” The program targets communities undergoing rezoning, so that cultural organizations can have a greater voice in the planning process.

Lafontant says the program also helped raise awareness about their work, a challenge in a community that gives art and culture lower priority.

“Continued conversation about art and culture needs to happen, so that residents are aware of what’s in the neighborhood to support them and improve their quality of life,” says Lafontant. “Building Community Capacity is a good beginning, but we can definitely continue to do more.”

East New York has been undergoing rezoning, but there is no explicit budget allocation for cultural affairs. And there’s been no discussion about the arts at the community board, says Florentino, a member of Community Board 5 that oversees East New York.

Yet cultural resources are particularly important for neighborhoods like East New York, which ranks second in poverty among all city neighborhoods, with a third of residents living below the poverty line. In lower-income neighborhoods, “the presence of cultural resources is significantly associated with positive social outcomes around health, schooling, and security,” the University of Pennsylvania study found.

“Essentially we see cultural assets as one important aspect of a neighborhood ecology that promotes well-being,” explains Stern.

“It’s what feeds the soul or soothes the soul so that you can handle some of the most challenging life experiences,” says Lafontant.

Grants from the Brooklyn Arts Council enabled Nemley to start producing “A Lesson From Dying” at the Rooted, but he received only 70 percent of what he requested. To make shows accessible for everyone in the community, the company stages them free of charge, so the staff and cast all work as volunteers. “A Lesson Before Dying” will be performed only for two days, all the company can afford.

“There is a thirst out there. People want to see good shows that reflect the community,” says Nemley. “It’s not just about ‘The Lion King.’”

He hopes the Rooted can provide a window into people’s lives and an opportunity for adults and young people to have conversations. “If we were speaking to each other, the incident that happened in Brownsville wouldn’t have happened,” says Nemley.

He and his staff are currently seeking other grants to keep the company going after its inaugural show. He plans to produce two other plays with longer runs and, eventually, to have a building in East New York.

“I don’t think I would be where I am if it wasn’t for the arts,” Nemley recalls. “It made me know that there is something outside of the neighborhood.”