Art is often created as a way to provide us with learning opportunities which can help us understand cultural injustices that are difficult to fathom. Whether audiences are forced to watch dysfunctional family members intent on tearing each other to shreds (King Lear, August: Osage County) or confront painful truths (The Normal Heart, The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?), live theatre has the ability to jolt people out of their comfort zones simply because they are a captive audience. It's a facet of the power of freedom of speech and expression that many people take for granted.
In a time when black lives are supposed to matter, two plays currently being performed on Bay area stages challenge audiences with poetry, violence, slavery, and strained relationships in ways that most people probably didn't anticipate when they purchased their tickets.
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The American Conservatory Theater is currently presenting Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts I, II, III) in a co-production with the Yale Repertory Theatre. A controversial piece set during the American Civil War, the play was originally developed at The Public Theatre in New York, where it premiered in 2014. Not only did Suzan-Lori Parks receive the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History and the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, her historical fiction was a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Directed by Liz Diamond in ways that intrigue, entertain, befuddle, and bedevil the audience, the roots of Parks's play can easily be traced back to Ancient Greek literature. As Diamond explains:"There’s a struggle still going on. In every human being. Is it that focus on freedom that gives this play its haunting resonance today? The question is alive in all of us, and achingly so: what does it cost to be free? That paradox (why in the world should freedom cost anything?) is at the heart of the play. With our country so deeply divided by racism, xenophobia, and grotesque economic and social inequality, it feels more important than ever to stage Suzan-Lori Parks’s great play. Throughout her artistic life, Suzan-Lori has tried to practice freedom. That commitment is alive in this play, and in all her work. We need all of her unflinchingly honest and humane plays on our stages to show what it costs in America to 'own your own self.'"
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| James Udom (Hero) in a scene from Father Comes Home From The Wars, Parts I, II, III (Photo by: Joan Marcus) |
“Through telling and retelling their story, the figures onstage are passing on to us an epic we are still playing out. The Odyssey is telling the story of the return of a hero and, of course, this play is, too. Riffing on the Homeric epic, the Bhagavad Gita, Greek tragedy, and the American tall tale, ingeniously mixing lyric poetry with 21st century and Civil War–era vernacular, and weaving it all together with song, Suzan-Lori has constructed a deeply moving and subversively funny story about the struggle of an enslaved African American man to free himself, to recognize, understand, and ultimately to practice freedom."
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| Tom Pecinka (Smith) and Dan Hiatt (The Colonel) in a scene from Father Comes Home From The Wars, Parts I, II, III (Photo by: Joan Marcus) |
What makes the timing of this production so interesting for Bay area audiences is the fact that it falls neatly in line with three other epic tales (Berkeley Repertory Theatre's impressive production of Angels in America, the San Francisco Opera's revival of its thrilling 2011 production of Richard Wagner's 19-hour Der Ring des Nibelungen and, come September, the California Shakespeare Theater's revival of Marcus Gardley's powerful black odyssey).
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| Eboni Flowers (Penny) and James Udom (Hero) in a scene from Father Comes Home From The Wars, Parts I, II, III (Photo by: Joan Marcus) |
While there are some obvious hints at the Odyssey in FCHFTW (Hero has named his dog "Odyssey," Penny is a modern version of Penelope, and the man who looks after Penny while Hero is gone is named Homer), the playwright prefers to downplay comparisons to Homer's famous epic. “The Odyssey is in our drinking water, so you get bits and pieces and shards and shrapnel of a lot of things in Father Comes Home from the Wars," notes Parks. "People latch on to that and think I’m doing a retelling of the Odyssey, but that’s not where I’m coming from.”
With costumes by Sarah Nietfeld, lighting by Yi Zhao, choreography by Randy Duncan, and sound design and music direction by Frederick Kennedy, the drama unfolds on Riccardo Hernández's handsome set. The play begins as a group of slaves on Boss-Master's plantation in West Texas (Chivas Michael, Rotimi Agbabiaka, and Britney Frazier) start making bets on whether or not Hero (James Udom) will risk his life by serving as the valet for Boss-Master, a/k/a/ The Colonel (Dan Hiatt) when he leaves to join the War of Northern Aggression or stay safe at home with his wife, Penny (Eboni Flowers). Hero has always looked up to The Oldest Old Man (Steven Anthony Jones) as a father figure and trusted his loyal dog, Odyssey, to bring him good luck. But with his dog gone missing, Hero's having difficulty making up his mind. The fact that The Colonel has offered to free Hero after they return from the war may offer a powerful incentive, but the old man reneged on a similar promise in the past.
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| Steven Anthony Jones (The Oldest Old Man) and James Udom (Hero) in a scene from Father Comes Home From The Wars, Parts I, II, III (Photo by: Joan Marcus) |
After Hero leaves with The Colonel, they come upon a wounded Union captain from the First Kansas Colored Infantry who has been captured, bound, and left in a makeshift cage. With the sounds of cannons exploding all around, The Colonel goes off to find members of the Confederate Army, leaving Smith (Tom Pecinka) in Hero's care. Upon his return, The Colonel asks Smith how much money he thinks Hero would be worth if he were for sale. The most uncomfortable part of the evening takes place when The Colonel launches into a racist diatribe in which he gloats over the fact that he was born a white man. Powerfully delivered by Dan Hiatt, it's a superb piece of writing that leaves the audience cringing in their seats.
In the second act, time has passed. Penny has been living with Homer, a loyal lover who lost one of his feet several years ago when The Colonel instructed Hero to chop it off as punishment for having tried to run away from the plantation. When Hero finally returns from the battlefield, he confirms that The Colonel is dead but, before he can tell people in his community that they have been granted their freedom by President Lincoln in the Emancipation Proclamation, Hero informs Penny that he has taken a new name (Ulysses) and a new wife (Alberta), who will replace Penny in his bed.
In a brilliant feat of magical realism, Hero's dog returns and, in a deliciously rambunctious comedy turn, starts speaking truth to humans. When Penny's pregnancy (thanks to Homer) is revealed, Hero becomes extremely jealous, confronting his wife about her infidelity. At that point, Odyssey jumps into the argument, admonishing Hero for being unfaithful to Penny and noting that dogs are infinitely more faithful to their masters than most men are to their women.
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| Eboni Flowers (Penny), Gregory Wallace (Odyssey), and Julian Elijah Martinez (Homer) in a scene from Father Comes Home From The Wars, Parts I, II, III (Photo by: Joan Marcus) |
The production's exceptionally strong cast is led by James Udom, Julian Elijah Martinez, and Eboni Flowers with Gregory Wallace providing comic relief as Hero's scruffy dog. Dan Hiatt and Tom Pecinka shine in the scene on the battlefield.
Performances of Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) continue through May 20 at American Conservatory Theater (click here for tickets). Here's the trailer:
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Over in Berkeley, TheatreFIRST is presenting the world premiere of WAAFRIKA 123, a new play by Nick Hadikwa Mwaluko directed by Lisa Evans, who explains that "This piece is a dedication to family (blood and chosen), to the diaspora, to the griots carrying our stories forward, and to all black queer and trans ancestors who showed me that I could indeed exist."That simple statement offers sufficient warning that this is not a farce. The protagonist is a trans boi named Awino (Troy Rockett) who was born to a tribal chief (Damieon Brown) and his second wife in a fictional Kenyan village approximately 250 kilometers northwest of Nairobi. After Awino's mother died, the chief married two more women, Mama Otieno (Jeunée Simon) and Mama Opio (Jasmine Williams), who share his kraal with his first wife, Mama Mugabe (Awele).
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| Jasmine Williams (Mama Opio), Dameion Brown (Chief), and Jeunée Simon (Mama Otieno) in a scene from WAAFRIKA 123 (Photo: Cheshire Isaacs) |
Because the area surrounding the village has been suffering from a lengthy drought, the locals have become extremely superstitious about its origin. With no understanding of climate change, and plenty of gossip about the relationship between the white Peace Corps volunteer named Bobby (Anastasia Barron) and Awino, there has been a great deal of unrest in the village. People are especially concerned about the chief's nonconformist daughter who has been given a good education but insisted on shaving her head. Rejecting tribal customs, Awino has chosen to dress in male clothes refuses to have her genitalia circumcised, and tries to "pass" as a man. What the audience soon discovers is that Awino and Bobby are an extremely passionate, interracial queer couple struggling to carve out a safe space for themselves.
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| Anastasia Barron (Bobby) and Troy Rockett (Awino) in a scene from WAAFRIKA 123 (Photo by: Cheshire Isaacs) |
Although Awino tries to act as gruff and masculine as possible while struggling to grasp an identity for which she has had no preparation, Bobby doesn't hesitate to discuss their sexual activities in florid detail. While Awino is devoted to and respectful of her ancestors, news reports on the radio point to increasing political tensions as suspicion mounts that the presence of a white American lesbian in the community may be responsible for the drought. For many villagers, the only solution is a ritual circumcision of the chief's unconventional daughter. As the playwright explains:
“Because of my personal experience and activism, I very much see the issue of female genital mutilation (FGM) through the lens of gender nonconformity. In order to end the practice, viewing the world exclusively as innately binary must be addressed. It is quite difficult for someone like me to offer a lens into a world that, though I am an African, is not entirely mine. My gaze is insufficient to decode or even dismantle the significance of so much in the ritual. That said, no amount of moral relativism can justify mutilation, especially when the subject -- little girls, the most vulnerable members of any society -- overwhelmingly scream against it throughout their lifetime.”
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| Troy Rockett as Awino in a scene from WAAFRIKA 123 (Photo by: Cheshire Isaacs) |
“FGM is made possible through a long history of binary views about how the world should function -- why girls must (normative) become women and to what ends. That responsibility, imposed and scripted, exposes the sinister global agenda behind gender constructs. FGM makes assumptions about the explosion of the gender binary that imply a social takeover, strict gender order, and the body as something to be trapped rather than liberated and freed. If androgyny is assumed to be a threat, violence (or at least a ritual engaged with violence) is probably one tactic to silence it. I want solutions to come from outside the box, and to take the intersectionality of the issue into account instead of viewing it through a traditional binary.”
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| Anastasia Barron (Bobby) and Troy Rockett (Awino) in a scene from WAAFRIKA 123 (Photo by: Cheshire Isaacs) |
With costumes by Regine Evans, lighting by Stephanie Anne Johnson, music and sound design by Kristoffer Barrera, and set and properties designed by Randy Wong-Westbrooke and Celeste Martore, WAAFRIKA 123 serves up a laundry list of sociopolitical and cultural challenges to its audience. As a couple, the two women have problems communicating, which reflect their cultural backgrounds. Having been active in a feminist group until her former lover (Mika) was incarcerated, Bobby bears an uncanny resemblance to Louis Ironson (from Angels in America) in that her verbosity is her biggest weakness. Whenever fear causes Awino to shut down emotionally (especially when the two women are in imminent danger), Bobby can't stop talking long enough to take urgent action. At one point, Awino becomes so frustrated that she lashes out at her lover, telling Bobby that she should stop trying to act like her white savior.
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| Jeunée Simon (Mama Otieno), Jasmine Williams (Mama Opio), and Awele (Mama Mugabe) in a scene from WAAFRIKA123 (Photo by: Cheshire Isaacs) |
Clocking in at nearly 2-1/2 hours, WAAFRIKA 123 is obviously in need of some trimming. With so many words, actions, and concepts that could trigger those in attendance, I found it interesting to see that the audience did not flinch when Bobby spoke explicitly about the physical details of lesbian sex or when the Chief's wives discussed a lifestyle based on polygamy. A symbolic portrayal of Awino's female circumcision.ritual was staged quite theatrically, but did not seem to meet any resistance.
However, with the play set in 1992, Bobby's feminist diatribes stood out like a sore thumb. I have no doubt that, as an overeducated white Peace Corps volunteer who comes from a wealthy family, her language and politics would be radically different from those in the Kenyan village surrounding her. Although patriarchy has long been a target of feminist theory, I doubt that some of the terminology Bobby uses to describe various gender identities ("cis," "trans," etc.) entered the lexicon until the early years of the 21st century. As a result, in some scenes it feels as if her prochronistic language is way ahead of the time in which the action takes place.
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| Awele (Mama Mugabe) and Dameion Brown (Chief) in a scene from WAAFRIKA 123 (Photo by: Cheshire Isaacs) |
Riveting performances by Troy Rockett and Anastasia Barron anchor the play, with Awele, Jasmine Williams, Jeunée Simon, and Dameion Brown lending strong support. Performances of WAAFRIKA 123 continue through June 2 at Live Oak Theatre (click here for tickets).
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