Playwright Nathaniel Fanning, a 1967 graduate of Washington Central High School, returned to Washington-Wilkes from Hillside, N.J., last week to help celebrate the 97th birthday of his mother, Fannie Fanning of Washington, on August 25.

He was joined by his siblings, Sue Bradley, Rozia Baisey, Katherine Jones, Dorothea Davis, Emma Beatty, Willie Joe Fanning, Raymond Fanning, and Barbara Bacon for the occasion.

Nathaniel Fanning is currently working with Woodie King Jr., the founder and director of New York's New Federal Theatre. Plans are to stage Fanning's play, "Nothing But the Blood" (the Nat Turner story.)

The New Federal Theatre was founded in 1970 by Woodie King Jr. to provide emerging playwrights, minority actors, directors, and designers, with a venue at which to present their work. Fanning says that playwrights Ron Milner, Ed Bullins, J.E. Franklin, and Ntozake Shange are just a few of the talented writers whose works have been performed at the theatre.

Some of the actors who have performed there include Denzel Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Debbie Allen, Phylicia Rashad, Morgan Freeman, and Robert Downey Jr.