The Paper Bag Test

Alberta Hunter worked hard and long to grow her reputation.  She was a prodigious songwriter and that included writing Bessie Smith's first big hit, "Downhearted Blues."  

My grandmother Lydia was slightly younger than Alberta but told great stories about the vaudeville circuit and confirmed the issues of skin colour that were always thrown at Alberta.  Lydia played the piano, sang and maintained her love of music and the theatre although she did not perform as she got older.  We saw many shows and plays together and seeing Alberta Hunter together at the Cookery was one of the best memories of my life.

Doing research for the play it was heartbreaking to read how such a significantly talented person such as Alberta was, as they say, "damned with faint praise."  Critics-black and white-who said she could sing 'despite her dusky appearance' set a certain standard for women of colour.  And the less colour the better.

My grandmother who was part Ioway and Wampanoag Indian said she was often the darkest woman on the chorus line.  African American women dancers had to be light and bright even when dancing on the 'Negro' theatre circuit.  When the June Taylor Dancers of Jackie Gleason fame finally hired a woman of colour she was as light as the white dancers so she wouldn't be noticed (and break the symmetry of the line they said).  The Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall are now figuring out they are in the 21st Century! 

https://nypost.com/2019/04/27/the-rockettes-race-to-reverse-long-history-of-excluding-black-women/?utm_source=url_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons

The dominant culture's obsession with homogeneity remains true today.  When you look at films the skin tone of the African American male can be as varied as it is in nature.  However, casting directors for films, photo shoots and television still see the beauty in African American women only when they can pass the 'paper bag test,' meaning their skin tone is lighter than a supermarket brown paper bag!

"Leaving the Blues," my play about Alberta Hunter, explores this sad and insulting perspective that has damaged so many of us.  Read Toni Morrison's 'The Bluest Eye' or 'Negroland' a memoir by Margo Jefferson or 'Don't Play in the Sun' by Marita Golden or a long list of books, mostly by African American women, who have observed and/or suffered from this ignorance.  And it is not just African Americans-almost everywhere you go--from China to Cuba--you can see the subtle and not so subtle colourism.

Celebrating the full spectrum of our existence has been my life's joy whether it's skin colour, sexuality, gender, or diverse cultures.  Don't waste time on a narrow view of what's beautiful when you can have the world.

"Leaving the Blues opens at The Flea produced by TOSOS.

Seats available January 15-February 8th www.tososnyc.org

Through the Ether

                           

                             Benjamine Mapp                                               Cooper Sutton

As a writer for more than 30 years it’s still a mystery to me sometimes how ideas form in my head. I’d known since the 1980s when I took my grandmother, to see Alberta Hunter  at the Cookery in Manhattan I'd write something about her. I wanted to capture her infectious enthusiasm, depict her endurance, style and her secret life. Or almost secret life.

But what actually came first was a vision of the Calabash Cousins as a Vaudeville tap dance duo. They were born on the page almost fully formed and I don’t want to say more and give away too much.  The story of these two young men from Louisiana who figure out how to weather the storms of racism and heterosexism and keep their heads (literally)and their sense of humour is at the heart of the play.

They form a kind of parallel story to Alberta's and are a youthful example of what a joy you get from using your talent and embracing love. If you don't take either for granted you can have more fulfillment than you imagine even when times are tough-which is the definition of Vaudeville in the '20s and 30s.

It's said that lightening doesn't strike twice in the same place.  I have little or no scientific knowledge so I've no idea if that's at all true!  But I do know that it is striking twice for me with "Leaving the Blues!"  We had a tremendous cast in the NCTC production a couple years ago.  Each character was fully and skillfully embodied--none more so than the Calabash Cousins who are a tricky duo to capture.

So this lightening strike brings us even more light, heat and excitement with Benjamin Mapp as Cal and Cooper Sutton as Calvino.  Their charm and determination are key to the story and to their portrayals.  And their tap dancing is so extraordinary we had to add more dance routines to the script. After I started writing the play I learned that the calabash is possibly humankind's oldest music instrument and often associated with magic and it sometimes implies something secret. A perfect name for these two.

As I said I've no idea from whence the idea for this duo came...out of the ether? Emerged from the TARDIS? Former life memory? 

Whatever! Come on down to The Flea and dispel your post-holiday doldrums with the terpsichorean delights of "Leaving the Blues"  

 https://www.tososnyc.org/