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The Overtime Theater is a San Antonio live drama theater that, for the last 19 years, has staged only original plays written in San Antonio.
Rob Barron is on the theater’s board of directors. He said that they only do plays that have never been performed anywhere else, and that are written by people from in and around San Antonio, and that goes for their next production.
“David Remschel is in Ingram, Texas, which is not far, and this is his second play that we've done. And we're excited to do this one,” Barron said.
That next production is about a World War II battle most people may not have heard of. Barron explained that it is based on the Battle of Bamber Bridge, next to a U.S. Army base in England.
“There were three pubs outside of the base in the town of Bamber Bridge, and none of the pubs were segregated because they were British pubs, and the British didn't segregate,” Barron said. “All of the soldiers, Black and white, could go to any of the pubs at any time, and the white soldiers were apparently not comfortable being in the same pubs with the Black soldiers.”
He said the white soldiers asked the Army do something. “Higher ups in the Army there sent an MP [military police] out to request that the pubs segregate. That they make two of the pubs ‘white only’ and one of the pubs ‘[Black] only,’ he said.
This did not suit the English sensibilities.
A decision was made on the base that if the pub owners wouldn’t honor their request, then the Army would enforce the segregation request, so they came back in force. The situation turned deadly when the MPs from the base came back to enforce the order.
“The battle that ensued was more the U.S. bringing its [race] problems to England than anything else,” Barron said.
Barron said this production shines a light on something that should never have happened, and one that deserves to be remembered.
“This one is very much staring directly into the eye of racism and saying, ‘Hey, we shouldn't ignore this. It's important to remember that this is the kind of things that we come from, and this is our history.’”
Now, the Overtime Theater is staging that play about the incident, The Battle of Bamber Bridge, from June 6 through June 21, including on Juneteenth.
“I think it's an important piece of art, and I'm really proud that we're telling the story,” he said.
Ticket information is available here.
