That’s the premise of graduate student Jason Gregory’s TV pilot Waking Up White. Gregory’s story follows a black family that wakes up one day to find they are now white. They then have 30 days to decide if they would rather return to their cultural roots or stick with the skin that they are in now.

“It’s a show based on cultural identity and what is at risk of being lost. We deal a lot with gentrification [in the show] and the issue of gentrification also deals with the loss of cultural identity,” Gregory says.

Gregory started developing the idea in 2016 as his thesis film for the Master of Fine Arts in emerging media program. Several professors suggested he turn the idea into a TV show instead and after three days of dedicated work he delivered the script for the pilot.

When the time came to start filming, Gregory put out a crew call and was surprised that so many people were interested in being a part of the project. Ultimately, 40 �鶹ӳ����ý students offered their time and assistance to take the story from a script to filming a full production in Eatonville, a historic black community, within a week.

“I was really humbled and honored by the amount of people that came out,” Gregory says. “A lot of people said we couldn’t film a pilot in seven days, but we got it done.”

“It’s a show based on cultural identity and what is at risk of being lost.” – Jason Gregory, �鶹ӳ����ý student

The first screening for the pilot will air during the 30th annual Zora! Festival on Jan. 28 at the Eatonville Town Hall (307 East Kennedy Blvd.) Three showings will be 11 a.m. to noon; 12:45 to 1:45 p.m.; and 2:15 to 3:15 p.m.

This year’s festival is the 30^thanniversary of the multi-day, multi-disciplinary event held to celebrate the life and work of author and former Eatonville resident Zora Neale Hurston. It will be held Jan. 26 to Feb. 3 and include public talks, museum exhibitions, theatrical productions and more.

Here, Gregory shares more about Waking Up White:

How did you come up with the idea for Waking Up White?
I was watching TV one night and an African-American woman was on TV and she was responding to a news reporter’s question about an African-American who had just recently been shot and killed, and she said: “This wouldn’t have happened if we were white.” And I just started thinking about that and realized there’s a lot of power in that word “If.” From there I just started creating the outline for this story.

The project is filmed entirely in Eatonville. Why did you choose this location?
There are a couple great things about Eatonville. They are their own municipality. They have their own mayor, police force, they’re pretty much self-governed. And we were looking for a town to partner with. We loved the rich history and culture that they have. For the show, we actually created our own fictitious town called Wellsville, so we borrowed from some of Eatonville’s history. We named our town Wellsville because of Dr. [William Monroe] Wells, who was one of the first African-American doctors in Parramore (another historic African-American community.) And then we took the “ville” from Eatonville.

What was the most challenging part of creating this project?
Just trying to make sure that everyone had the time because everyone worked for free, from the crew to the cast. We just had to really work around people’s schedules to make sure we could get it done, and we did. A lot of people said that we couldn’t shoot a pilot in seven days and we got it done.

What are some of your biggest influences?
One of my biggest influences is Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. I eat, sleep and breathe that film, so there are a lot of influences from Spike Lee [in the show.] I joke around and tell people when I was a kid everyone would say, “I want to be like Mike,” because of the Gatorade commercials with Michael Jordan. I would say, “I want to be like Spike.”

I have also been majorly influenced by Reginald Hudlin, who directed Boomerangand Marshall, [as well as] Ava DuVernay and Martin Scorsese.

Do you have any tips for other students who are attempting similar projects?
Find a mentor very quickly. A mentor that has been through what you’re attempting to go through so they can show you not only the successes, but also the failures. Become a student not only of film, but also project management and planning so you can plan accordingly. I planned so much that I even studied weather patterns over the past years on the dates we were filming just to be prepared. I made sure that if we needed to, we could shift from an exterior scene to an interior scene in case it started raining.

What are you most proud of within this project?
My proudest moment was working with a team dedicated to making quality projects, who are also motivated in advancing the Central Florida film market. We have great crews and actors here and I was honored to have them working on Waking Up White. It was a true community project. From the crew and actors to �鶹ӳ����ý and Eatonville. I’m extremely proud of what we accomplished.

What does it mean to you that the public is going to finally see this?
It means a lot. I think everyone wants to leave some type of mark on society. We have a society that is built on the word “if.” ������I were this, maybe I would have that. We really wanted to see if the grass is really greener on the other side and are there really opportunities out there that we are excluded from. And I’m hoping that this project will create an opportunity for dialogue so that we can get to a point to where we can identify more of what we have in common than just our differences.

The adaptation was written by �鶹ӳ����ý Theatre professor Be Boyd. Hurston’s play Spunk itself is an adaptation of a short story of the same name that she wrote for The New Negro during the “Harlem Renaissance” of the 1920s. The short story depicts a love triangle between Jim, his wife Evalina, and Spunk Banks, “a giant of a brown-skinned man” in the back country of early 20th century Florida.

Boyd enveloped Hurston’s original words into a larger story of a fictitious meeting between the Harlem Literati, wherein the writers are deciding which literary works will be included in their literary magazine Fire!! As the discussion ensues, Zora’s storytelling of Spunk becomes the highlight of the evening, and the story springs to life for the theatre patrons.

“As a playwright, I wanted to celebrate the magnificent storytelling of Zora Neale Hurston,” said Boyd. “I also wanted to honor the other major influences of the movement who were in Zora’s company, many of whom were her friends: Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Wallace Thurman, Helene Johnson, Gwendolyn Bennett, and Richard Nugent. These voices shaped my experience as an African-American artist and gave me the courage to explore my heritage from all perspectives.”

Maurice Mallard, a first-year musical-theatre student, plays the title role of Spunk. “Spunk is a spectacular play that tells an amazing story of love and determination. It highlights the importance of unity in the community as well as social issues facing African-Americans, such as the over-appreciation of fairer skinned African Americans and the thought that money is worth more than the life of a black man. In the show we also see the community together all the time and engaging with each other. Now most people don’t even know their next door neighbor, but in this town the community is like a family.”

Acting student Amanda Tavarez plays the role of Evalina. “It has been such a fun experience getting to work on a piece that was also adapted by our director Be Boyd, and getting to bring to life these characters as both she and Zora envisioned them. It was challenging going on this journey with my character, Evalina, trying to find her voice, her freedom, and especially her happiness.”

This production contains gunshots, consumption of alcohol, and mature themes. If it were a movie, it would be rated PG-13. The community is invited to an opening-night reception in the lobby immediately following the performance on Jan. 21. Stay after the performance on Thursday, Jan. 28 for a post-show discussion with Boyd and �鶹ӳ����ý Big Read organizer Keri Watson. �鶹ӳ����ý’s Big Read of Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God kicks off Jan. 14 at the �鶹ӳ����ý Art Gallery.

For more information and to reserve free tickets, go to http://www.theatre.ucf.edu or call 407-823-1500

Production at a glance:

Spunk and the Harlem Literati

An adaptation by Be Boyd, based on the play Spunk by Zora Neale Hurston
Directed by Be Boyd

Jan. 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30 at 8 p.m.

Jan. 24, 31 at 2 p.m .

A collaboration with the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, presenter of the ������Dz�������

$20 standard, $10 with �鶹ӳ����ý ID

Main Stage, 4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando

407-823-1500

Grant recipients around the country pick their own books to feature. To celebrate the 125th anniversary of author Zora Neale Hurston’s birth, beginning in January the college will partner with the Seminole County Public Library to host six weeks of events focusing on her book “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” Events will include an art exhibit, lectures, film screenings, theatrical performances and other programs.

Keri Watson, an assistant professor in the School of Visual Arts & Design, wrote the NEA matching grant for a total of $30,000 to support the project.

“Because of our location and the anniversary, it’s a good tie-in for the community,” said Watson.

Hurston was born in 1891 in Notasulga, Ala., but her family moved to Eatonville when she was a child. She later lived a brief time in Sanford, where she wrote her first book, “Jonah’s Gourd Vine,” published in 1934.

Of her four novels and more than 50 short stories, plays and essays, her best known work was the 1937 “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” The author, folklorist and anthropologist died in 1960.

Watson said the �鶹ӳ����ý project will be complementary to the annual Zora! Festival in Eatonville on Jan. 23-31, which also is also celebrating the author’s 125th birthday in January.

Only three other grants were given in Florida for different books to be featured in The Big Read – Broward Public Library Foundation in Fort Lauderdale, Miami Dade College, and Volusia County Public Library. Participants pick one of 35 featured novels for their programs.

Kicking off the Hurston series will be a reception and art exhibit in the �鶹ӳ����ý Art Gallery featuring the work of Boston conceptual artist Eric Gottesman and the students and faculty of the �鶹ӳ����ý School of Visual Arts and Design and their colleagues at Rollins College. The exhibit, “The Encounter: Baalu Girma and Zora Neale Hurston,” will be Jan. 11-Feb. 18 and present a fictional encounter between the two writers. Girma was an Ethiopian novelist and journalist who died in 1984.

“Though the two writers overlapped in time, but not in place, Gottesman was inspired to create a work of art that would imagine a meeting between these two important African diaspora public intellectuals,” said gallery director Yulia Tikhonova.

A reception at the gallery to kickoff the series will be 6-8 p.m. Jan. 14.

The other events in the free series are:

Events are still being added to The Big Read. For the up-do-date schedule, check back at http://bigread.cah.ucf.edu/.

Watson said she plans to apply for another grant next year for The Big Read with a different book.

Brown’s life, death and legacy are the focus of a new touring exhibit at the Orlando Sanford International Airport that runs through June 30.

Learn more about the exhibit and �鶹ӳ����ý’s role at �鶹ӳ����ý Newsroom.

There is also an exhibit in the library titled Welcome To Our Memories: Cultural Phenomenons, curated by Maye St. Julian.

These programs are part of the many events in Eatonville and other venues in Orange County being presented as a part of the 21st Annual ZORA! Festival that marks the 50th anniversary of Hurston’s death.

The discussion is free and open to the public, and will take place at 7:30-9:00 PM Tuesday January 26, 2010 in room 223 at the �鶹ӳ����ý Main Library, Orlando Campus. The panel is sponsored by the Zora Neale Hurston Institute for Documentary Studies, the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc. (P.E.C.), the College of Arts and Humanities, and the Department of Anthropology.