A Soul-Stirring Collection of Plays by Bernard Davis Jr. Shines Bright: “Lilies Among The Thorns” Illuminates the Power of Resilience Through Theater

Be ready to be inspired, challenged, and moved. The respected playwright and creative visionary Bernard Davis Jr. has released “Lilies Among the Thorns: An Ode to Resilience and Light Amid Darkness,” his most ambitious and evocative work to date. It is a potent collection of five original theatrical dramatizations that celebrate the unbreakable spirit of those who rise above life’s harshest realities.

“Lilies Among the Thorns” is truly a theatrical production, covered in unfiltered truth, outstanding prose, and genuine emotion, rather than merely a book. Through the weaving of stories that vary between hope and despair, truth and illusion, grief and transformation, Bernard immerses readers in personal human experiences.

“Much like lilies among the thorns,” Bernard writes, “fantasy and reality are not compatible… Some people make fantasy their lifelong reality and thereby exist in a false reality, living the life of a lily among the thorns.”

These words set the tone for a collection that refuses to flinch in the face of suffering, instead offering dramatic portraits of individuals wrestling with identity, loss, trauma, love, and redemption. Each of the five plays in the collection is a standalone piece, yet together they form a symphony of survival an ode to the human capacity to shine, even when surrounded by the sharp edges of life.

At a time when people are yearning for healing and authenticity, Lilies Among the Thorns comes out. In a day where filtered truths and carefully manicured realities are common, Davis’s writing cuts through the clutter and challenges readers to face their own darkness and discover their inner light.

This book is perfect for anyone who enjoys theater, is looking for a deeper message, or just needs a story about how resilient it is to thrive in the face of hardship.

“Lilies Among The Thorns: An ode to resilience and light amid darkness. A Collection of Five Original Theatrical Dramatizations” is now available at www.amazon.com

About the Author
Bernard Davis Jr. was born in Concord, North Carolina. He is the first-born child of Bernard Sr. and Alice Jane Hardison-Davis. He is the eldest brother of eight siblings : Hurley, Patricia, Larry, Olivia, Denise, Berlinda, Carolyn and Ryan.

Bernard Junior’s family background is mixed with that of poverty, parental discord and separation. Bernard’s father (the son of a North Carolina dirt farmer) was a man of humble means who was born and grew up the tenth of thirteen siblings. Bernard’s father was both a loving and responsible man who served his country honorably during WWII and who, for the better part of his life worked as a Custodian.

Bernard Junior’s mother, who lost both of her biological parents before the age of four, later dropped out of public school and grew up struggling to do the best she could with the cards she had been dealt. Perhaps that is why Bernard’s poetry is both rich with human compassion and steeped in relatable honesty. Perhaps that is why Bernard’s stage plays are more about the overall African American life situation than about the anticipated, climax of an expected storyline plot.

Bernard Junior graduated from Logan Public High School of Concord, NC in June of 1958. After high school he worked as a professional musician playing percussions in two different Rock Bands. Bernard is also a seven-year active military service veteran and a 1969 graduate of the New York Institute of Modern Photography in New York City. His first experience as a creative writer began in 1957 when he was seventeen years of age and a junior in High School. It was then that he and his fellow literature classmates were given an assignment to create and write a five-hundred-word short story. Bernard chose to write about the scary yet comical events he encountered upon taking his first girlfriend to see a Frankenstein movie. He was asked by the teacher to read his story aloud before the class. The class loved Bernard’s story so much; they began to call him by the pen name he had used as author of the short story, “Jacque Reynard.” It would be 10 long years following his first writing experience that Bernard Junior would try his hand at writing again.

In late 1967 Bernard wrote his first full-length poem. Then in 1978, he wrote and published “Gentle Breeze” a small sampler of his original poetry. In 1976, he also began writing theatrical vignettes. It was during the year 2009 that he wrote and published a full volume of his original poetry entitled A Sad Song Don’t Care Whose Heart It Breaks. The following year he wrote and published a five-hundred-page history book entitled Portraits of the Black experience in Concord-Cabarrus, North Carolina 1817-2025. Lilies Among Thorns is Bernard Junior’s first published volume of theatrical dramatizations.

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