Sunday, November 27, 2016

dirty butterfly

Written by debbie tucker green (lower case at author's request).
Directed by Azar Kazemi
First premiered in The U.S.

Production Dramaturg: Jacob C. Shuler
Cast:
Genevieve VenJohnson (Amelia)
LeahRaidt (Jo)
Reginald Robinson Jr. (Jason)
Lighting design by Daniel Friedman
Scenic design by Milo Bue
Photo credit: Emily Williams
Photo Courtesy: The Blind Owl
November 3 through December 10, 2016
A Co-Production with The Blind Owl Company at Halcyon Theatre



Knowing nothing about the play and playwright I went to see dirty butterfly. Mesmerized by the whole production, by brilliant acting and directing, challenged by the content and captivated by the poetic language, the play revived some disturbing memories from the past, as I had been listening to repeated violent acts behind the walls. At mid-nights. Imagining the detailed acts of violence….Thinking about the possible reactions…what should I do?
When a play has the power to revive memories, challenge your past, present and future, it has done its job. 

dirty butterfly ceates three characters with their complex situations living in an inner city of London. In a note, Jacob C. Shuler explains: “three characters find themselves unwilling recipients of the effects of domestic abuse. While Jo bears the physical pain alone, Jason and Amelia accumulate a different set of symptoms as sound waves carry the violence through their thin apartment walls.”

 One would experience the experience of others through imagination, through sounds, images and words. That’s how the two characters Amelia and Jason experienced and reacted internally different while they listened to Jo being abused by her partner. We never saw Jo’s partner on the stage. We even never heard his voice.  All we heard was the overlapping dialogue of the three characters in broken and fragmented lines with frenzied, delirious tones, which brought to our mind some of Caryl Churchill’s plays. The poetic language with vague tendencies expressed different traumatic experiences of the characters which brought Theater of Cruelty to mind. In this form of theatre, shocking the audience by showing them the mere truth is an act of awareness. Simply because people think first with all of their senses and emotions.

As a black woman playwright debbie tucker green writes for those who feel…and feel tremendous affinity with the characters she creates for stage.  She emphasizes that she does not write for critics. But writes black characters and “writing black characters is part of her landscape.”

dirty butterfly is not a play only about and for blacks. It’s for all races.  But, it shouldn’t be performed before a passive audience. This is a play filled with conflicting surprises. It would sharpens our senses and acutely awakens us through actions and profound emotional experiences.  Its intense images can never be forgotten. 

With beautiful setting, inspiring lighting design, music and movements, this is a production everyone should dare to experience.


I would highly recommend this play and encourage those who are looking for insightful works of art to see it.

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Extraordinary Man: Trevor Noah

Trevor Noah in Fresh Air. A "MUST" listen program.

"As the child of a black mother and a white father in apartheid-era South Africa, Daily Show host Trevor Noah was the living, breathing evidence that a crime had been committed.
Under apartheid, interracial couples who had engaged in sexual relations could be punished with years-long prison sentences, and biracial children like Noah could be taken away from their parents. As a result, Noah spent much of his early life in hiding."



"I lived my life as a part-white, part-black but then sometimes Jewish kid, and I didn't understand because she didn't make me convert. ... When I turned 13, she threw me a bar mitzvah, but nobody came because nobody knew what the hell that was. I only had black friends — no one knows what the hell you're doing. So it was just me and my mom and she's celebrating and she's reading things to me in Hebrew. ...
That was the gift my mother gave me. I think that was part of her religious pursuits. My mother's always looking for answers, she's always searching for new information. I think she has a thirst or hunger that very few possess innately, so my mother never stagnated in a place where she said, "I have it all." ... She applied this to everything in our lives, and that was not staying in the space that you are supposed to be in, whether it be racially, whether it be in a community, whether it be gender norms, whatever it was. My mom said, "I am going to seek out more," and so I was constantly confused, which is sometimes a little bit disorienting, but I feel like it leads to a way more colorful life."


What You do Matters

What You do Matters.
A great documentary that would transforms your life.

"What You Do Matters re-imagines philanthropy. Spotlighting the generous spirit, passion and commitment of everyday Chicagoans, this one-hour documentary pivots from the widely held view that philanthropy is the grand generosity of a few to a new mindset–that philanthropy is the collective impact of the many.
Featuring the stories of those who make a difference in their communities, the program reveals how average citizens act, engage, and experience first-hand how giving–and receiving–matter."