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/

In the Room Where It Happens

In the Room Where it Happens!

But I wasn't there and that's okay. Having conveyed my own opinions I felt confident I would still be heard among the assembly of TOSOS board members, our costume designer, Ben Phillip; sound designer, Morry Campbell, and director Mark Finley.

But there is always a delicate balance, especially with a mix such as ours.  Being a queer company I think TOSOS-The Other Side of Silence-has put a premium on paying attention to who participates in their projects--on both sides of the table.  At the same time as a mostly volunteer group, really focused on getting the work up on its feet we're always grabbing the bar as it swings our way in mid air.

As a writer of colour I've worked almost exclusively with queer theatre groups: TOSOS and New Conservatory Theatre Center (SF) so I take a lot for granted.  Not that they will always have accomplished the most socially conscious thing possible.  But most important to me: if I raise an issue about ethnicity or gender we can have a productive discussion and see some action rather than simply feel the breeze from nodding heads.

I think most of us act out of our own ignorance--people of colour and queers included.  But since non-POC tend to hold the reins most of the time their ignorance is most evident and damaging.  We only need to look at statistics about how few POC show up in regional theatre productions on either side of the table--acting or administration. I don't want to repeat the sad stories and stats.  Just read a little bit:

https://www.americantheatre.org/2014/09/19/artists-of-color-stand-up-against-discrimination-in-the-field/

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/AAPAC-Releases-Report-Analyzing-Ethnic-Representation-on-NYC-Stages-20190304

I'm especially thinking about this because this play about Alberta Hunter, Leaving the Blues, (even more than the play about James Baldwin, Waiting for Giovanni) is about colour/racism and sexism.

At one point Alberta admits to a young friend what a reviewer said about her: "She sings well despite her 'dusky' appearance." And this is an attitude that Alberta lived with all her life.  She was not a sleek, fair skinned Lena Horne.  Nor did she turn her life or business over to men-white or black.  Exercising her professional power left her open to being called a 'tough bitch.'  If she'd been a male the phrase would have been a 'self-made man.'

Perception of colour and power is a theme through out the play: how Alberta has survived the negativity about her colour; what it means to work with other women who have fairer skin so automatically assumed to be more beautiful and have more opportunities offered them.  Also the play looks at  how colour and class interrupt Alberta's relationship with her lover. And what the perception of colour means the two young male dancers on the circuit with Alberta.  Then there's her guiding spirit who performed during his professional career in black face.  

Skin colour is never neutral for anyone in this country....that's probably true around the world if we examine closely.  And few of us recover totally from how we were (mis)treated because of skin tones.  My own mother never thought I was fair skinned enough while some kids in my neighborhood taunted me with 'yellowface!' 

But dismissing colour (You know that worn out phrase: I don't see colour") is a disaster not progressive.  In the old days of television make up artists and lighting designers refused to see that people with darker skin or varying skin tones needed different make up and lighting.  People of colour often showed up as greenish or sucked in the light so fiercely our features were unintelligible!  To be real--technically, socially and spiritually--we have to acknowledge the variations and the emotions that go along with colour; it gives us a better sense of everyone's reality not just our own.  And a chance to honestly appreciate who people are.

Next time we look at the actors who are putting on their make up, stepping into the lights and telling us a story we can all celebrate whatever our colour!

***

Post Auditions NYC!

Auditioning for a role in a play is an exhausting and terrifying experience.  And that's just for the director, writer and staff sitting behind the table watching!  

I have such immense respect for the artists who make their careers by standing up in front of mostly strangers and performing--often lines of dialogue they've had 10 minutes to read through or tap dancing to a tune in their heads, or singing a song they hope will not be one the director has hated all of their life!

After two days of auditions we (director, Mark Finley and I) sat with the other staff of TOSOS to discuss who we'd seen and what the likely prospects were.  We were all blown away by the talented people we seen...way more than one might expect considering it was a show with music and very little money!  But we had choices...real choices so we were excited and thoughtful at the same time.

I had to get back to Oakland so didn't attend the final call backs on the next day.  However we'd all kicked around our opinions long enough so Mark got a real hearing about each possible choice.

Michael, the president of the board of TOSOS and I have our meetings about this process over cocktails and chicken wings.  And now we await the white smoke arising from the chimney to see what the final decisions are.  

The show goes up at The Flea in TriBeCa on January 15th no matter what!

Alberta Hunter

Leaving the Blues

I used to have a separate blog for each show but decided that was taking up too much air space...or whatever the hell the space is that these blog things hang out in.  So I'm launching GomezDramaDuchess which will cover all the theatre stuff I do.  I didn't want to be DramaQueen, I don't think I quite deserve that title although I do have my days!  And I've always wanted to be called Duchess since my father was called Duke.  So I've bestowed the title on myself!  It seems appropriate in this space where I get to share w/folks the love of drama that I have and the work I want to do.  Which brings me back to "Leaving the Blues."

In the 1980s I went to see singer/songwriter Alberta Hunter perform at the Cookery in the Village (NYC) about 5 times.  Once I took my grandmother, Lydia, who'd been a dancer around the same time that Hunter was in her heyday--1930's and 40's.  Lydia was the person who confirmed for me that Hunter, as the rumour had suggested, was a lesbian.  From that moment on I wanted to write something about her. She wrote Bessie Smith's first big hit.  She then wrote and recorded dozens of her own songs (which she held the rights to).  She had a reputation among blues musicians that she should be the one to premier a blues song because that would win it an audience first!

So I wanted to know what did it mean to survive as a woman, a Black woman and as a lesbian in those years?  What did it mean to be in control of your career and your music--not common for Black performers in general and women in particular?  And what was it that drove her as a performer; so strongly that she returned to singing after 20 years in so-called retirement which she spent being a nurse?

These questions lead me to writing "Leaving the Blues" a two act play that was commissioned by New Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco where it premiered in 2017.  The script was originally written with the actor Desiree Rogers in mind.  She'd played Lorraine in "Waiting for Giovanni" my earlier production.  I knew she had the moxie to capture both Hunter's tough, no-nonsense businesswoman persona as well as her vulnerability!

Desiree Rogers by Lois Tema

We had a rollicking time!  The entire cast melded with the idea of Alberta and her extraordinary life and the difficulties (like sexism, racism, lesbophobia, colourism) she had to confront as if they understood and were on her team.  I was extremely honoured to have that second amazing experience at New Conservatory Theatre Center.

Now I get to do it again with TOSOS-The Other Side of Silence.  After Mark Finley's emotionally wrenching and visually stunning mounting of "Waiting for Giovanni" at The Flea Theatre last summer he's wading back in to do "Leaving the Blues!"  I guess I wasn't too much of a nuisance...as some playwrights can be.  The company holds auditions in November and the play opens in January at The Flea. As I did with the last production I'll keep tossing out tidbits and pictures. 

I'll share some history here about Alberta Hunter and you can always find her music on YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLoPKQZRjOQ

So watch this space and soon I'll have some pictures of the new TOSOS cast members!  And the inside scoop on how the show is shaping up in New York City!

Cast & director of the TOSOS production of

Waiting for Giovanni

2018

Anyone who knows my spouse, Diane, knows she understands that a production stands or falls on how well its cast is fed.  So she kept the theatre stocked w/fruit, cookies and candy back stage. Yes, I did sneak back there to get peanut butter cups for myself.

Of course it helped that we had a wonderful director, Mark Finley, (2nd from the left) who wasn't afraid to strip the production down to its elemental ideas and images.  He privileged the words and actors over set pieces and my (notoriously long) stage directions.

The party we had for opening night was the opposite of minimalist. It featured a cornucopia  of soul food catered by Melba's on W114th Street www.melbasrestaurant.com which had the best chicken wings ever.  Ultimately the food must have been magical because the cast sure was!

This is my very first experience having a second production of one of my plays by a new company!  So at first it was a little difficult for me to re-imagine the characters with other actors in the roles.  The company at New Conservatory Theatre did such an amazing job and were patient as I cut and pasted the thing together. They helped to crystallize the meaning of the play for me.

Before the new production started I did have the amazing input of one of my icons, Martin Sherman (BENT)   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Sherman. who helped me re-imagine the ending.  He basically said when the play begins we see Baldwin in a struggle with the ghost of his father; you need to resolve that struggle for Baldwin's growth to be dramatized.  That totally changed the end of the play.  The TOSOS production gave me the opportunity to see that new ending for the first time and Mr. Sherman was absolutely right.  I'll hope I can remember that for the next and final play ("Unpacking in Provincetown") in this trilogy about African American artists in the first half of the 20th century. 

Some favourite moments: Me ( the ultimate atheist) on the search for just the right bible to be used on stage.  I was very specific about what it should look like and finally tracked one down at Strand Books. Or the audience member who wanted to talk to Robert, who played Jimmy's lover, Luc, in French since Robert's accent was so good. And seeing the joy on the face of James Baldwin's sister-in-law, Carole when gave me her blessing. Since her partner, David, Baldwin's brother, figures prominently in the piece, that could have been sticky! And of course the birthday party we had on Jimmy's birthday, August 2 where legendary performer, Andre De Shields   www.andredeshields.com came to celebrate with us!

Because they work in the hometown of James Baldwin the TOSOS cast brought a different energy and viewpoint for which I'll be eternally grateful.   So this is my chance to say more thank you to them for helping the play have a new and vibrant life.  Here's hoping I see Michael Striano, Neil Dawson, Joy Sudduth, Jonathan Dewberry, Jordan J. Adams, Robert Jeffery, and Ken Simon in other works of mine or just anything! 

Andre De Shields helps us celebrate Jimmy's birthday.

When the mystery is too great....

Robert Jeffery as Luc

In a period when a man's gayness was always shadowed by society's discomfort or hatred it can be difficult to unearth a true picture of historically what male lovers were like. (Equally true for lesbians too, of course.)  In this case discovering who Jimmy's lover was, what he might have been like and how they related was very difficult.  But in some ways that freed me, as a writer, to use more imagination to shape his character as it is embodied in this production by Robert Jeffery.

Robert has an all-American look (whatever the hell that is!) which he's able to adeptly transform so we feel the essence of the young, French painter I created to be Jimmy's lover and champion.  Robert attractively balances Luc's youth and French sophistication which makes Luc a worthy partner for Jimmy.  Luc has a great fondness for Le Petit Prince which, for him, embodies the depth as well as the ephemeral nature of love. "When the mystery is too great, one dare not disobey," he says when first meeting Jimmy.  Over the course of the play Luc learns what Jimmy must contend with in order to obey his heart and his conscience.

LUC

The United States is such a foolish place sometimes! We must stay away from there! 

Away from the anger and the fear.  So you can rest and not think of

these things.

                                         JIMMY

                              I can’t not think of these things, my dear Luc.

                                           LUC

Then the thinking goes much better here in a small village where they

speak French and make good cheese.

JIMMY

People back there should learn to speak French and make good cheese.

And drink it with good wine!  That might make freedom move along

much faster.

                                             LUC

They will move along whether you are there or here. And maybe here

you will not be so afraid.

JIMMY

                                   Afraid?

                                             LUC

Oui, mon cher.  You listen to too many voices.

                                           JIMMY

          One needs guides in the publishing jungle.

                                                       LUC

          Oui, like Lorraine, but not executioners.

                                                     JIMMY

          They worry, that’s all.  What this new novel will mean to the movement…

LUC

          Non.  They worry what will the book mean to them and their little lives.

                                                    JIMMY

But is this book a good idea?  Now? In the middle of all of these horrible attacks?

                                            LUC

The book is not good…it is brilliant like the star you are.

***

The Flea Theatre      theflea.org/        July 12-August 4 

See you there!

It's About Joy!

Joy Sudduth rehearsing her character "Lorraine"

When my friend, Harry Waters Jr. asked me to write something about James Baldwin I thought he meant a monologue for him.  He's a great actor (in the original "Angels in America") so I put together a monologue which he liked.  Then he said: "Where's the rest of it. I'm looking for a 3 act play."  I don't think anyone (other than Tony Kushner) could get away with a 3 act play but I went back to the computer and started to think about it.  As fate would have it the monologue--a letter about Emmett Till--ended up really belonging to Lorraine, Jimmy's friend and advocate.  Funny how that happens.  Joy, rightfully named, brings the urgency of the times and the faith needed to make Lorraine, even in her anguish, seem unstoppable!

LORRAINE

(Singing low as she enters carrying napkins and flatware) ‘Deep in my heart, I do 

believe, we shall overcome some day.’ 

The song seems somewhat incongruous with the act of setting a table

but believe me, to a woman, nothing is incongruous.  You and I sang

that song quite a bit, Jimmy.  We all used to sing then. As if the singing

might wipe the fear and bitterness off of people’s faces.  But, there you are. Three centuries of hatred need a little more than a four minute melody. 

You are on the road so much! I missed singing with you at the memorial…the anniversary of Emmett Till’s murder. 

Most of the Negroes…the Black people…in the little storefront were so choked with sorrow, Jimmy, they couldn’t get the words out.  I was choked with irony.  How closely tied are sex and blackness in this country?  A boy, no more than 15 years old, beaten mercilessly and killed---by grown white men---because he’s perceived to be a threat to white womanhood. 

It is 1956, for Gawd sake! How can I…or you…or Richard write a word

and hope it to have a single shred of meaning? It’s as if our dark skin is a

symbol of rampaging desire roaring in their ears! 

Whatever words Emmett Till may or may not have said to that white girl—that 

store clerk in Money, Mississippi—are irrelevant.  Emmett Till had no voice at all.  

His skin did all the talking. 

 Lights down on Lorraine

See you TheFlea Theater/NYC  www.theflea.org   W4G July 12-Aug 4 

produced by  www.tososnyc.org