My Dream

Always ready for the next line

[Times photo: Stephen J. Coddington] At the Citrus County Courthouse, LeRoy Mitchell Jr. prepares himself for a performance as James Weldon Johnson, a native Floridian with a long list of accomplishments..

By DAVE SCHEIBER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 1, 2003

Tampa actor LeRoy Mitchell Jr. thrives on bringing to life a little-known African-American hero, James Weldon Johnson.

Most people never heard of James Weldon Johnson.

I confess, I never did until four years ago when I was approached by the Florida Humanities Council. They asked me if I would look at his life and create a historical character to present in shows around the state. And what a pleasure that has been for me.

It has become one of my great passions as an actor, bringing this amazing man to life. Every time I do, people come up to me after the show and say, "I didn't know. I didn't know."

So who was James Weldon Johnson? He was a Floridian, from Jacksonville, born in 1871 and died in 1938. But while he lived, he was a writer, a poet. He was the first African-American admitted to the Florida bar through oral examination, the first African-American secretary of the NAACP.

Here was an educator, a diplomat, a civil rights activist -- and I almost forgot, a tunesmith on Tin Pan Alley. And some of the other things he did are with us today: If you write a book of poetry and you get royalties, you can thank James Weldon Johnson, because he was a founding member of ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers).

I keep quite busy portraying James during the month of February. In the photo, I'm standing in the hallway of the Citrus County Courthouse, trying to block out everything anybody is saying. I'm just concentrating on the first couple of moments when I've got to grab the audience, or I'll never get them. What I do is pick the historical things he said and fashion them in a way to make the show interesting.

James is in continuous development with me. The James I did in Vero Beach last night was about his family. The one in Inverness, because of the wonderful courtroom setting, led to a longer story of how he was admitted to the Florida bar.

I love being an actor, but the main focus of my life for many years was the military. I'm a Floridian, born in Mount Dora in 1937. But my father was in the Army, and we traveled. I got most of my education in Seattle growing up, and then I joined the Army.

I entered as a private, attended officers training school, and for 20 years I did full tours in Germany, Vietnam, the Panama Canal Zone, South Korea and short stints in Bolivia and Honduras. Along the way, I received the Meritorious Service Medal, the Combat Infantry Badge and Special Forces Tab.

I was in Vietnam in 1966 and was shot twice, so I came back to the States in hospital status. That got me a Purple Heart, and when I recuperated, I learned Spanish and was posted in Panama.

It was during my second tour of Central America that I became involved with the stage. I had always loved to sing and was singing in the Army's chapel choir when someone asked if we could help out with a production of Ahmal and the Night Visitors.

I began to do other productions, and when I finally retired from the Army, I moved to Tampa. Not only did I graduate from the University of Tampa in 1977 and then get my master's degree there in business administration, I was involved in many plays. I did work for the Arts Council of Tampa, did some dinner theater roles and joined the Screen Actors Guild and Actors Equity.

Now I travel all over the state as an actor. I've done many, many shows. One of my favorites isDriving Miss Daisy. In fact, I'm on my way right now to a rehearsal in New Port Richey. The show runs at the Angel Cabaret through March.

But I've also done TV. I played an African diplomat in Sheena: Queen of the Jungle and appeared in shows like SeaQuest and Shelby Woo. I've done TV commercials as well. My dream is one day to direct. I'm 65, and I haven't ever done that. One day I hope to direct with the perfect cast. I'm thinking of a production of Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones.

I've always tried to prepare myself for what may lie ahead. It's something that James Weldon Johnson said and something I use in my closing remarks. People might look at me and say, "You're lucky. You had a military career" or 'You're lucky. You've worked in the arts."

But there's no luck involved. It was all part of preparing for the next challenge or the next role.

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