This is Gulf Coast live Arts edition from WGCU I'm John Davis.

Thanks for joining us.

Today's very special edition of the show is being recorded on location inside Ella Maes diner at the Luminary Hotel, because our conversation will be honoring the life and legacy of the diner's namesake, doctor Ella Mae Piper.

She wasn't just a pioneering black businesswoman.

She channeled the success she built for herself to create opportunities and institutions for people who were systematically denied them.

Born in Brunswick, Georgia, in 1884, Piper attended Spelman College in Atlanta and graduated from Raw's world famous Institute of Beauty Culture in New York as a Chiropoist or Foot Doctor.

After graduating, she moved south and set down roots here in Fort Myers in 1915, starting her practice and opening the town's first beauty shop.

She also became owner of the Big Four Bottling Company, where people could get soft drinks for $0.05 a bottle, and Ella Maes Diner at the Luminary Hotel, where we are now, incorporates thoughtful nods to her story throughout the space, including a vintage inspired bottle display honoring her bottling company and its logo, whose shape was inspired by the distinctive hats Doctor Piper was known to wear.

In 1915, Ella Maes mother Sarah Williams, while working at the Heitman Home, organized the first Christmas Day celebration for the children of Dunbar Heights, and this has remained an annual tradition for more than a century.

Today, the event serves more than 600 children each Christmas.

After Sarah died in 1926, her daughter, Doctor Piper, picked up the mantle and maintained the tradition with the help of area churches, businesses and friends who helped provide gifts for needy kids and for more than a quarter century.

Doctor Piper served as Grand Lodge officer and executive board member of the local Elks Lodge.

She was also an active member of Mount Olive church and the Pioneers Club.

She helped finance the construction of Williams Academy, the first school in Southwest Florida where black children could receive a high school education.

And she helped fund the Jones Walker Hospital, the area's first hospital for people of color.

Lee Memorial was an all white hospital.

Then she helped young people and scholarships to Tuskegee College, often using her own money.

She was also known for aiding the elderly, particularly those who were underprivileged or who had disabilities.

And she accomplished all of this as an African American woman during a time of strict racial segregation in Fort Myers.

At the end of her life, in 1954, she left her property to the city of Fort Myers with the stipulation that a be used to provide a place for children and the elderly.

And in 1976, on that property, the Doctor Piper Center for Social Services was dedicated, and a half century later, her passion and legacy lives on through the work they do, supporting vulnerable elderly residents in app risk, youth and special needs kids as well as their communities.

And now, as the Doctor Piper Center for Social Services marks its 50 year anniversary.

A new play about the life and enduring impact will premiere tomorrow evening at 7 p.m.

at Florida Repertory Theater.

Just steps away from Ella Maes diner again, where we're recording today's conversation.

This will be a single performance staged reading of the one woman show titled Walking in Her Shoes The Life and Legacy of Doctor Ella Mae Piper.

And I'm thrilled to be joined today by Monique Caldwell, who is directing this performance and who co-wrote the play with Michelle Tyrone Johnson of Kansas City.

Monique serves as education director of Florida Repertory Theater, and has worked with kids in the arts for more than 25 years.

She's a performer, arts advocate, director, and acting coach, a licensed theater educator with a BFA in musical theater from Howard University, and an Ma in Theater Education from Catholic University.

And in the interest of time, I'm not going to list her directing credits, but they are extensive.

Monique Caldwell, welcome to Gulf Coast Life Arts edition.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

And we're also joined by Sonya McCarter, who will embody Doctor Piper as the actor in this performance.

Like Monique, Sonya has become a pillar and a transformative figure on the region's performing arts scene.

Her extensive resume of acting and directing credits here in Southwest Florida is also just too much to get into now.

But I will note Sonya is founder and director of the Bridging the Gap Center for the Arts, which launched publicly last year and is committed to providing an imaginative space for black, indigenous and people of color artists to learn, grow and explore the creative arts through live performance, education, placemaking, storytelling and community connectivity.

Sonia McCarter, welcome back to Golf Course Life Arts Edition.

Glad to be here.

And Monique, I wanted to start with you.

How did this play come about?

Like, were you and Michelle commissioned to write it?

Yeah.

So I'll just start from from here.

I really I'm so glad that we are here in this place, in this diner.

Because literally right over there in that corner table is where I first came to eat here.

And so I was hired by Florida Repertory Theater as an education director about four years ago.

And I'm always looking for a good place to eat.

And because this was right across the street, and I want to say it was the day that I was also being interviewed for the job that I, that I happened here.

And then I sat here and I began to look around at all of the pictures on the wall, and I was like, oh, this is nice.

This is really nice.

And then I happened to look and say, well, who is this?

Who is this woman?

Why?

Why?

Her pictures all over the place.

And then, I asked one of the waiters.

I said, who is who's the lady on the wall?

And they said, well, that's that's Doctor Ellen Piper.

And I said, well, I'm new to Florida, so who is that?

And so they gave me the right up and I at I began to and they have a right up right there on the, on the counter.

I began to read up on her and I said, wow, she did all of this.

So another time I came back with one of my coworkers and I said, you know, this would be an interesting story for a Florida Repertory to, to, to have on our stage.

And he said, you know, Monique, this is not the first time that that has been said, let's get to work on it.

So yes, we received a grant, to commission a playwright.

We chose Michelle Johnson because she was also a part of the Play Lab that we did.

She wrote an amazing piece, for one of the Play Labs, and we said she would be the best person to do that.

So she wrote the skeleton of it.

And because I'm the education director, I really wanted this to also be for children.

I wanted this to be pinpointed to children because we have a program called TYA at Florida Rep.

We have a program that tours in the school system.

It's called theater for Young Audiences.

And I said this would be a great theater for young audience to take into the school system.

So let's make sure that we not just write it, but write it targeting elementary, middle and high school kids.

So, she wrote the basis of it, the foundation.

She gave us that foundation.

And then I came in and just added those educational elements that kids would be able to resonate more to.

And that was three years ago.

So it's been three years in the making.

But we're here today and I'm really excited.

Was it always time that the premiere would be during the 50th anniversary year of the Doctor Piper Center, or is that just.

No, I think so.

We we had planned on doing it, but we had just begun.

We had to do a lot of edits to it.

But I think what we did was we pushed ourselves to get it done because Siobhan Chester is now one of our she's newly on our board, but she's she's been on the board for the doctor Piper Center.

She really wanted us to do this for that time.

So I said, well, let's let's, let's we don't have it to to the point where we it's ready for it to be on tour yet, but let's workshop and let's do it as a play reading.

And let's present it to the public.

It needs to be now if it's if if it can help with the celebration, it just makes sense.

Yeah.

All right.

Yeah.

And, Sonia, you're a Southwest Florida native.

You grew up in the very community that Doctor Piper kind of dedicated herself to serving and elevating.

I imagine she's someone that you may have been aware of since childhood.

Not really.

You would?

Yeah.

So I. Okay, so I knew the name Doctor Piper because of the center, but I never really knew about her as a person, as a human being.

What she did.

I didn't even really realize that my mom received the benefit of her services to the community.

Like, he remembers going to the back of Ella Piper when she was a kid and actually getting Christmas presents during that time.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

So again, even though I knew of her, I didn't really know all of the things that she had accomplished in the community and for the community over a hundred years ago.

That's crazy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We're celebrating 50 years for the center.

But she was here in 1915 and really started in 1916.

So yeah, and that's amazing.

Really.

I was.

You know, I'm I'm just going to say this one thing I think that that's the that's the key though.

A lot of people know her name, but they don't really know all of her accomplishments.

They don't know her contributions to the community.

And that's why we it's it's it's time for us to tell her story.

Even in my introduction, I went back and cut some things out.

Not because they weren't important, but just for time.

Right, right.

So nice.

Yeah.

Oh.

Well, Monica, I'm curious to dive a little bit into your writing process because Doctor Piper's story encompasses entrepreneurship, education, health care, philanthropy, community organizing.

How did you and Michelle decide, like, what to include?

Because there is so much.

Yeah.

So I have to credit Michelle for that.

She wrote the foundation of it.

I, I put some of the embellished sort of storytelling to it.

We didn't want just a one woman show, where we're just sitting there talking about ourselves.

But, what she did with the the great thing that Michelle did was she allowed the story of Piper to also be told through other people.

So Sonya has the wonderful challenge of in person or taking on the personality of minor Edison, Thomas Edison, Sarah Williams, her mother.

Andrea.

Is it Anna?

Anna heard, the young lady who, was like an adopted daughter.

And so she's telling the story through these people.

And so it allows us to be able to hear about her accomplishments, in a creative way.

So Michelle, the original playwright, was able to take the prominent ones that I think most people would probably resonate with and then put those into those characters.

And I added, you know, some of the educational elements, we have a mantra in there.

So we're trying to create these, these elements of storytelling because it is a story.

But in a way that is interesting for us, for when children leave, they leave remembering the stories, because it was told in such an interesting and creative way.

And they remember her contributions because it was told through story.

Yeah.

That makes sense.

Yeah.

And I'm wondering how you feel, Sonya, about the additional challenge of being one actor taking on all these different roles, or does that make it more engaging?

Because if you're just LMA Piper the whole time, it could turn into my least favorite ride at Epcot, the Hall president.

You know.

When I read the final version of the play, I told like, I absolutely love this.

This is so inspirational, and I definitely think that it is creative storytelling and that you're able to embody different people throughout our history that were impacted by her and who she was impacted by.

I think that this particular one woman show, again, all that it encompasses really highlights, the reality of her humanity.

And what I mean by that is that she was a real person.

This is not just a character.

She lived.

She served the community.

She impacted lives, and she left her imprint.

And I am inspired.

So it is an honor.

But I am inspired because she did all of this during a time in the South, during Jim Crow laws, during the time when women had no rights.

And she accomplished all of this with, you know, her challenges were almost insurmountable, yet she prevailed.

So who am I, right?

Yeah.

What excuse do we not?

I'm curious about how how the play does explore these these themes in terms of social and political realities.

You were just talking about in Fort Myers during her lifetime, and how you tackle sort of those enormous barriers without letting those obstacles overshadow her accomplishments.

Was that something you were conscientious of in the writing process or in the acting process?

Yeah we do.

It is in there.

But what we don't do is harp.

On it.

We, we, we talk more about her accomplishments in spite of so those obstacles and those things that she had to fight against.

We definitely, give voice to those.

But they, they aren't the, the the so yeah.

Of the show.

What what is the star of the show is how she was able to overcome.

There's a lot of affirmation, in the piece.

So that when people leave, they leave feeling like.

Yeah, like it's going to be hard.

Life can be challenging.

But, if she could do it, I can do it.

What do we know about Doctor Ella Mae Piper's personality beyond her public accomplishments?

Because you have to embody that.

Yeah.

Right.

And there's.

Which is a challenge because, you know, we most of the people who knew her personally are no longer alive.

There are no known recordings of her voice, but there's a lot of oral history and written history about who she was and how giving she was.

And I did read something, and I don't know if it was from it was either from Mina, Edison's sister.

I do believe it was for mine, Edison's sister.

And she talked about how elegant, Doctor Piper and Anna heard were because they would come to get their hair down done to the beauty parlor when they would come to visit.

Mina.

So she talked about how elegant she was.

And so I'm kind of latching on to that elegance, you know, even as we're in here and we're looking at this painting or a photo of her, you know, her head tilt and her her stature, and I just I imagine her, just that warm, kind, engaging, caring, compassionate, but elegance that she, she carried.

So.

But I think she was also bold.

That's what.

I was thinking.

I bold.

This hat.

That's a bold statement.

Yeah.

You know, If.

You're a black woman in 1915, it.

You have to be bold.

You take up space.

But it's also.

Scary.

To take.

Up space.

Yeah.

You have to be bold.

One of the things that, I think we don't really necessarily address.

But one of the things that just I was again, inspired by was the fact that she was a businesswoman and she was married and everything had to go through her husband.

And she was like, no, I built this.

And so she petitioned to the courts to be her own woman, and they gave it to her.

Of course, her and her husband divorced soon after.

So she definitely was bold.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Sonya, I'm wondering just what it's like for you to to play this role, given I just see so many parallels.

I mean, even before you started the the Bridging the Gap Center for the Arts, you were creating opportunities for black artists to get a chance to go on stage and not just be the maid in a story about white people and to tell black stories.

And, I mean, and this isn't just playing someone who was a real person.

There's always an added pressure when you're doing that.

But this has got to be a kind of a heavy honor.

Oh, yes.

Definitely, definitely a heavy honor because, you know, for lack of a better phrase, doctor Ella Piper is a citywide treasure, you know?

Yes.

And a community treasure, especially in the Dunbar community.

So there's definitely a kind of a weight there, to be on this stage and to play her.

But, like, you know, today I was having a moment with all of the different things that are going on.

And, you know, in my, in my life and was, again, just reminded of all that Doctor Piper, faced the challenges.

And as we were talking about before, the fact that she, she acknowledged them, but she didn't allow them to stop her from doing what she needed to get done for the community.

And that's kind of where I'm finding myself, you know, despite all of the challenges that there are, that this isn't just about me.

It is about providing these opportunities and meeting, a need that others may not see.

Right.

But that's okay.

They don't need to see it, I see it.

And so, yeah, there's a that's that is that's very heavy.

And it is an honor.

Yeah, yeah.

And I, I would just say that and I told her this before, I would not have anyone else to do this.

She's a not only a phenomenal actor, but all of what she does, she does for the community, and, she embodies, all of what Ella Mae stood for.

And not just that, you know, as I, we I told her we found out backstage before we went on the news.

Her mom played Ella Mae.

Yes, she did tell.

Tell us.

About that.

So, Doctor Piper said had annual teas, and I think it was kind of like a fundraiser.

And so my mom for five years would dress up as Doctor Ella Piper or whenever they needed her to come out to an event, she would dress up and she would come and she would be Doctor Ella Piper.

When they renamed the street, she was there.

There's a picture of her at the ribbon cutting.

Doctor Ella Mae Piper way.

And I did not know this.

When we asked her to to to do this part.

I had no idea.

Yeah, it was not until we actually, right before we were about to go on Gulf Shore News that I. Made.

That we had.

This.

Discovery, and she was like, my mom.

I was like, what?

Yeah.

And when I talked to my mom about it, she.

She felt the weight and the honor of playing Doctor Piper for those events, too, because she was a beneficiary of her ministry and it was a ministry, I have to say that.

So she felt the way of being able to.

And she said this was such an honor for me.

So she's excited that I'm going to be doing this as well.

Your mom might have come to this show.

Oh she is.

There's nothing else.

You can say.

Hi.

She's going to.

Be there.

All right.

For.

Both of you have is there anything kind of surprising that you have learned about Doctor Piper throughout any phase of this process?

Just.

I mean, even just today, in preparation for talking to you, I learned some things that, you know, I thought I knew what there was to know, and I did.

Well.

She talking about her boldness.

Yeah.

Okay.

So, Doctor Piper, she was married.

She got divorced early on.

And when she was in her 60s, she remarried to a 30 year old man.

He was in the military, and he was out at the base that's here by Buckingham.

That airbase?

Yes.

Oh, wow.

So, Yeah.

And that was a little scandal?

Sure.

And you know, something I read said that she put on her marriage certificate, that she was 54.

She was not.

But like.

Both, you know.

Unfortunately, their marriage didn't last for very long.

But, Yeah, doctor Ellen Mae know.

Go ahead.

Ellen.

That's way better than mine.

Yeah.

That's some tea.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

Well, that is all the time we have for today's show, but I want to thank my guests.

I've been speaking with Florida Repertory Theater education director and co playwright of the one woman show, Walking in Her Shoes The Life and Legacy of Doctor Allameh Piper.

And I've also been speaking with founding director of the Bridging the Gap Center for the Arts, Sonia McCarter, who will take on the role of Doctor Piper and the premiere performance of this new play.

Taking place during the 50th anniversary year of the Doctor Piper Center for Social Services.

And this will be a special single performance staged reading of the play tomorrow evening at 7 p.m.

at Florida Repertory Theater, just down the street from where we're recording today's episode at alums dinner at the Luminary Hotel.

And the restaurant offers a welcome twist on the classic southern diner, with thoughtful nods to Doctor Piper's story throughout the space.

And they're open daily from 6 a.m.

to 2 p.m.. But for more information on the play or to secure your tickets, visit Florida Rep or call the box office.

239 - 332 - 4488 Monique Caldwell Sonya McCarter, thanks so much for taking the.

Time.

And if you missed any of today's show, you can always hear episodes in their entirety on our website WGCU.ORG/GCL Or subscribe to our podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.

For now, thanks for listening.

I'm John Davis.

This is WGCU FM Fort Myers 90.1 WMKO Marco Island, 91.7 FM NPR for Southwest Florida.