To Cut a Barber’s Hands

To Cut a Barber’s Hands: Prison, Poetry, Performance and Sexy Chocolate

Imagine all the things people do with their hands: hold a phone, type a text, eat, make love – then imagine what life would be like without hands. This idea begins Anthony Spaulding’s one-man show, To Cut a Barber’s Hands. Poet, writer, director, musician, singer, and performer, Spaulding is a multi-talented man of vision and promise.  To Cut a Barber’s Hands is Spaulding’s one-man show about his release from prison, which occurred, according to the February 4, 2022 records of  The People of the State of Illinois Versus Anthony Spaulding in May of 2022, and how he felt he was being forced back into the streets rather than being supported in his sincere desire to be a contributing member of society by working as a barber. 

Spaulding’s entertaining tale incorporates drama, comedy, romance, and rap in his struggle to obtain his barber’s license. It is a compelling story of faith, hope, and one man’s persistence in the face of overwhelming odds. The show opened at a storefront church at C24/7 Father’s Hands Ministries at 1543 West Howard Street in Chicago on December 16th to a sold-out and enthusiastic crowd. He now has a series of performances of his one-man show that will be performed at The Second City Blackout Cabaret on Sunday, July 14th, 21st, and 28th at 8:30 PM. He is doing his best to create a whirlwind of change regarding incarcerated individuals and to help prevent others from making the same mistakes he did that derailed his life for 27 years.

It happened on a balmy August evening in 1994, when two half naked young people by the names of Malinda Gavin and Ray Bowen, were in a parked car when a group of young men strolled past them. One of the young men suggested that they “f-ck with” the young people inside. After an armed robbery attempt, the shots that ended the lives of the couple came from the gun held by 16 year old Anthony Spaulding, according to the July 17, 2020 court records of  The People of the State of Illinois versus Anthony Spaulding. The end of their lives was the beginning of this story of 27 years of  incarceration, hard work, and redemption.

“I take full responsibility for my actions. I am a guilty man of the crimes I was convicted of. I committed a murder, and I am guilty of it. I grew up in the hundreds. I fell into the culture of violence. I didn’t have to, but the glitz, some would say the clout of coming up in that ecosystem was just breeding violence. Some say I fell victim to it, but I would say I chose it.”

said Spaulding during an interview with WZRD Chicago, 88.3 FM on November 24, 2023. 

In a culture where men aren’t allowed to honestly be themselves and grapple with the ramifications of post-traumatic stress disorder, the violence of toxic masculinity trickles down to generations of young men who grow up in these types of environments.  The importance of being able to express oneself and to have a healthy outlet for these types of emotions was emphasized by Spaulding’s WZRD interview as he explained,

“When I was locked up, I was writing.  I’ve been writing for a long time, every day I would recite poetry, come up with a song, a rap, I was always writing plays, and doing screenplays. I worked with Dr. Margaret Burroughs, she was my mentor. I worked with her for years, you know? We would perform every Tuesday, we would perform something new, every week! I gained a lot of my performance skills over the course of two decades.”

Later, he approached the Goodman Theatre, where other mentors emerged. The manager of Community Programs and the Special Projects Manager at the Goodman Theatre, Liam Collier, had the presence of mind to realize that Spaulding had a gift not only for writing, but for performance to share with the community, and added Spaulding to the Intergens Ensemble (the intergenerational ensemble of artists who collaborate on creating performances for the theater). Prophetically, Collier arranged for Spaulding to attend a performance of Lynn Nottage’s Clydes at the Goodman Theatre. Attending this performance was transformational, and nurtured Spaulding’s faith in his own abilities as a writer and performer. 

“I saw Clydes with the writing and the rapping, and I thought, ‘Oh man! I could do that!” Spaulding exclaimed with enthusiasm.  

Ms. Willa J. Taylor, (who recently retired as the Walter Director of Education and Community Engagement from the Goodman Theatre where she worked from 2006-2023) encouraged Spaulding to step out of his comfort zone and shine his light. She believed that his story had value, and her faith in his story about the hardships of becoming a barber inspired him to write the play in just under two weeks. He shared it with her, and she gave him the names of people who would help him produce the show, however, he decided to go his own way with it. 

“People just started coming out of the woodwork to help me produce this play. They really believed in my work!” Spaulding proclaimed, gratefully.  To Cut a Barber’s Hands is the result, a one man show which is billed as being about justice, love, faith and second chances. 

“This is not only my story, (but the story of others who are released from prison)… they tell guys they can come home and get their license from the State of Illinois. You have to have 1500 hours and pass the State Board Exam. When I came home, it was the exact opposite. The State (of Illinois) put me in a position where they told me I could get my license, but it was months and months and months – it was like they stymied me. I thought, okay, whatever you need me to do, I will do. So I went back to school, and took the classes they wanted me to take.”  

According to Spaulding, he did everything the State of Illinois wanted him to do, he worked to get numerous certificates of community work, cutting hair for veterans, in hospitals, and in nursing homes. He did charity work and back to school cuts, too. 

“I was a kid when I committed my crime! I’m just doing the best that I can now, and be able to provide for myself and my family. I mean, what else do you want with somebody coming home?… It felt like they were trying to force me… ‘Well, okay, we’re going to send you back to the streets. You’re not going to do this (He makes a gesture of scissors cutting hair). You are going to do this! (he makes the shape of a gun with the thumb and forefinger of his right hand).’”

Through it all, he remained adamant about doing something positive and productive with his life.

“I felt like I was blessed to come home. Some people would probably say I shouldn’t even be home, but I consider it a blessing, and I wasn’t about to let the people who had supported me down. You know, my family, the lawyers who had supported me and helped me. All the fellows who are in there and incarcerated right now! You know …if I don’t make it, how are they supposed to make it? I look at myself as a trailblazer for a lot of them…We can change things, and we can make other people understand that we can be an asset to society.”

Spaulding can also write and perform. His work is poetry performance at its finest. His singing of a song by a fictitious singer known as Sexy Chocolate is smooth and melodic as KJon’s On the Ocean, which he and other inmates listened to ardently when they were locked up. According to a July 10th interview by Erin Allen in WBEZ’s Rundown, Spaulding discovered artistic inspiration while he was incarcerated. He also lost his parents. The world he left was very different from the one he returned to, but Spaulding doesn’t dwell on his loss. “I always do my best to promote positivity! Make the best of a bad situation!” exclaims Spaulding. To find out more about his work follow him through social media accounts listed through his link tree account at Aplus Innovations LLC.Don’t miss out on this opportunity to see his rising star. To get tickets to see his show, go to https://www.secondcity.com.