Toni Morrison Remembered in Nyack

By Juliana Roth

Longtime Nyack resident and Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison will be remembered at the Nyack Center with a screening of the documentary “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am” by Rivertown Film on December 11th at 8 pm. Viewers will gather to watch the film just around the corner from Memorial Park where Morrison dedicated a bench to the memory of abolitionist Cynthia Hesdra, just one of the many memorials to slavery in America funded through the Morrsion Society’s Bench by the Road project. Locals gathered at the bench after the author’s death this August at the age of 88, signaling the powerful impact of her literary imagination on the local community.

Premiering earlier this year at Sundance, the documentary follows Morrison from her childhood into her college years at Howard where she spent some time performing on the stage before taking a job that would lead her to a career as the first black female senior fiction editor at Penguin Random House. This is where Morrison edited some of the most revolutionary voices in literature from Toni Cade Bambara to Angela Davis to Gayl Jones, some of whom appear in the film alongside interviews with the writer herself. Morrison trusted Rivertown Film board member, the late Jonathan Demme, to adapt one of her novels, Beloved, into a film starring Oprah Winfrey, who makes an appearance in the documentary.

In one of the most moving parts of the film, Morrison speaks about the intimacy of her relationship with her characters, describing how they’d occasionally emerge as ghostly presences along the banks of her Hudson River home. Hazy shots of the river appear throughout the film between archival footage and interviews. The lapping water becomes one of the many pieces that make up the narrative of Morrison’s journey as a writer, professor, editor, and head of family. She describes sitting out on her dock as where she had her first experience of true happiness.

Morrison also shares a story of how she didn’t truly call herself a writer until after her third novel. To know that a literary icon whose command of language can summon ghosts and carry readers through some of the most vividly painful experiences of being human -- that she once did not see herself for the fullness of her talent, might be a hopeful lesson to viewers. The narrative of the film, along with the tides rolling in, carry the viewer into the emergence of Toni Morrsion as the public knows her, the journey she took to speak the full weight of “I am a writer.” The knowledge of her struggle makes it all the more satisfying to see the writer celebrate her life and her work. Along with the fullness of her literary and academic achievements, Morrison enjoyed parties and fine clothes and rich foods, and was known to even champion the work of some local writers.

There will be a post-screening discussion moderated by Bill Batson with Dr. Craig Stutman, Joshua Leach, and Dr. Tracy Ann Williams, chair and members (respectively) of the Toni Morrison Society’s Bench By the Road Project. Community Partners of this screening include Nyack Library, Nyack NAACP, Nyack Center, and Nyack Sketch Log. The program begins at 8pm at the Nyack Center (S. Broadway at Depew Avenue in Nyack). Doors open at 7:30pm. Tickets are $8/Rivertown Film Members, Seniors and Students, and $12/Non-Members. Members of the Nyack NAACP will receive the Rivertown Film member discount on tickets. Tickets can be purchased online at rivertownfilm.org or by calling (800) 838-3006, or at the door.

Purchasing tickets in advance is recommended for this program.