Becky Holland
AMERICUS — Claudeen Peabody saunters into the room with a look on her face that would scare the Arizona Cardinals’ tight end, Leonard Pope, into wanting to become an Atlanta Falcon.
She also has that look. You know ‘the look.’ It is the one that your mama or grandmother would give you, and only a mother and grandmother could, that would not only make a grown man cry but make him suck his thumb again.
Peabody is everyone’s favorite and least favorite teacher. She is the one, as Americus native Malika Jones described, “that doesn’t take no mess off of anyone.”
And Jones should know, as she has been playing the role of Claudeen Peabody in the Atlanta production of “Ms. Peabody in the Classroom,” for a number of years.
“It all started because of my daughter. I enrolled her in Kristi Garrett Adderley’s Performing Arts Studio in 2007, and she gave me an opportunity to star in this new play she had developed about a funny, old-school teacher (Peabody) who has a mission to make a difference in the lives of her students.”
Jones, 34, is the daughter of Sally Lasiter of Americus, and granddaughter of Buther Walton, Millard Rush, Robert Pete Williams and the late Willie Lee “Boone” Walton. In fact, Jones’ grandfather Walton was a member of the African-American baseball team called the “Americus Clowns,” and Boone Park in Americus was named after him.
She graduated from Sumter County Comprehensive High School in 1993, and completed some course work at Georgia Southwestern State University, and is pursuing her degree from Devry Technical Institute. Jones is in the process of moving to Texas, the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and preparing to bring Ms. Claudeen Peabody to Americus before the move.
“Ms. Claudeen Peabody in the Classroom” will be at the historic Rylander Theatre on at 3 and 7 p.m. Saturday, June 27. Tickets are currently on sale at the Rylander and online at www.rylander.org or 931-0001. The price is $15/adults and $10/ages 17 and under.
And Jones is excited.
“When I grew up, I never even thought about having an opportunity to act; my dreams and aspirations were not to act, but to counsel inner-city children with problems.”
Acting, to Jones, “is a no brainer. I have had no formal training. It is just me being me.”
According to Jones, the character of Peabody came from “my producing partner, Kristi Garrett Adderley. She had a teacher named Mrs. Crockett, and she had a lot of Peabody’s ways.”
Thinking back on her own days as a student in the Sumter County school system, Jones laughed. “I think we have all had teachers who have had a high impact on our lives. You know the ones, the ones that never took any mess off of their students.”
Described by Jones as “unorthodox with an old style of teaching that can handle the youth of this generation,” Claudine Peabody reminded Jones of her own teachers. “I had teachers like Alice Green, the late Virginia Grice, Dr. Juanita Wilson, Juanita Jones, Vatis Williams and Mary Torbert ... all of them were passionate teachers who were not worried about being your friend but more so about making sure you what you needed to succeed in a tough world.
“They didn’t mind getting in your face, and although I didn’t like it at the time, later on in life, I realized that they only did it because they cared and wanted the best for us.
“Claudine Peabody is the same way; she definitely has her own style, but in the end, she is doing it because she cares. I know some of her students and their parents probably don’t think so.”
Everything starts with an education.
“Our purpose is to get the message out or try to get the message out about the importance of education. They have taken God out of school. You can’t pray to God, you can’t say God’s name in the Pledge of Allegiance. And you know, God is the one who can change all things. With Him all things are possible,” she said.
“My hope is that people leave the play with a sense of hope and encouragement and the knowledge that prayer changes everything: in our homes, schools, and definitely in our personal lives,” said Jones, whose aforementioned daughter is one of the cast members and is “an accomplished performer in her own right.”
“Peabody believes in the children and she wants them to believe in themselves,” Jones said.
