AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – One local playwright is continuing her mission of spreading the message of love and forgiveness as she presents another presentation of her theatrical hit, CloZet Confession.

WJBF sits down with writer, producer, and director Renza Yarbrough-Bing as she talks about the importance of this powerful stage play.

Can you tell us a little more about your play, CloZet Confession?

CloZet Confession is a production with the message of love, forgiveness, and healing. So, it sheds light on different things that are taking place right now in the community. The “meat and potatoes” of it all is that there is a family that has swept things under the rug for a very long time, and the family matriarch comes to find out that there are several families in the community that have had things swept under the rug. Now, it’s time for them to face the issues.

Now, your title is spelled uniquely. The “closet” is spelled with a “z” instead of an “s”. Can you explain why you decided to do that?

I did that because there is so much drama in it so the “s” just wasn’t going to cut it. We had to the “z” because it’s a whole lot of drama that has been unzipped. (Laughs)

This is not the first time you’ve done this production. How long have you been doing Clozet Confession?

Actually, we did the first run of CloZet Confession in 2014. Then, we came back in ’17, and we ran non-stop. Then, Covid hit. So, we went ’17, ’18, and ’19, and then, CoVid hit so we were shut down. When we came back last year [2022] in April, we actually went to Louisville, Kentucky. So, we’ve been in Atlanta several times and Augusta a couple of times. We have so many people wanting us to bring it back to Augusta, so we had to bring it back.

What has been the overall reception of CloZet Confession?

What keeps me wanting to bring CloZet Confession back is when I receive emails, phone calls and messages through social media with people saying, “This production saved my life,” or “I was on the brinks of committing suicide,” or “I haven’t spoken to a family member in years,” or “I was discriminating against people, and when I saw this production, it kind of made me see things differently.” That for me… anything that is bringing joy or happiness to people is my drive for bringing CloZet Confession back. And for me, every time the production is done, it’s new. So, until we hit all 50 states, even though I have a whole file cabinet full of productions, CloZet Confession is making a difference, and until it reaches all 50 states, we will be doing CloZet Confession.

Now, you have a special guest here with us. Can you introduce us to your guest?

My guest is Regina Harrison-Moore, and she is the person heading up our meet and greet that we will be having after our production. This will take place at the 600 building on Broad Street, and all the cast members and the host will be there. We have gospel singer Jermaine Dolly, gospel singer Deana Rahming… we have a lot of well-known people that are going to be in the production, and Regina will be the one making sure that everything takes place.

Regina: First of all, I am elated to be a part of this magnificent play. My portion is the easy part, which is the meet and greet and being in charge of the food and product vendors. I want to thank Mr. Thomas Clark for donating the fish; everyone loves fried fish! We’re having fried fish, fried pork chops, shrimp and grits… so, we want everyone to bring money out and support the vendors. We have local vendors that we always want to support. So, again, bring money out and come out, and we’re going to have a lot of fun, great food, and fellowship. So, come out and support this magnificent play.

Renza: And I want to shout out Shawn Thomas. He will be providing us with transportation. So, I’m telling everyone to leave their cars where they are if you don’t want to walk. We will have a constant vehicle coming around that will pick people up and drop them off. Also, it will be sanitized in between.

How can people see Clozet Confession?

It will take place March 4th at 4:30 P.M. at the Imperial Theater on Broad Street. You can get your tickets at imperialtheatre.com or you can go down to the box office.

Final question: why should people come and see this play?

If you want to be moved and if you love performances, that’s going to be the first thing because everybody in the production is coming from different cities and states, but they give everything that they have in the production. There is great singing. It’s a touching production that will sink in your soul, and it’s going to stay there a while.