Okay there it was. My 16th show yesterday- The Parable of The Sower by Toshi Reagon, a new opera performed in concert based on Octavia Butler's novel of the same name. Octavia Butler: African American sci-fi writer, MacArthur Grant recipient, someone I should know better and will.
I can't really think of a better way to have closed out my festival circuit than with this piece. It was truly a concert version (no staging or dialogue) and it is an unfinished exploration at this point. But the vibe of the performance was so rare, not only for the festivals but also just for the whole of the performance world itself. It was a truly diverse crowd in age and race, which in and of itself is like: serious whoa. And the first thing Toshi said when she came out was something to the effect of, "Are you giving me theatre face? You better stop that right now because that's not what this is about." Another memorable (approximated) quote was right before the final number, "I see you there taking out your cellphone, trying to pretend like we didn't say something here tonight." Yeah man. We all know we are on warning when we do this or think this- but I was really glad to be called out. (and for the record I didn't check my phone, but I thought about it...THE LIGHTS WERE ON.)
The songs were beautiful, but the spirit and the energy in the room was really magical. Especially to close the festival. It was a hopeful energy, an honest energy. It spoke directly to the pains of our city and to the pains of our nation in a prescient way that was downright freaky, really. It was transportive and inspiring. And that's not lip service. It's not just me trying to find the right adjectives. It was transportive and it was inspiring, like a Ted Talk and vivid deep sleep dream all rolled up into one.
I am going to post again with a big "official" festival wrap up wherein I talk about my experience as a whole (and suddenly you will realize that while most of this has been nonsense, namedropping, and cheerleading--suddenly it will be all like, "MFA- WHAT!" for five minutes up in here, trust.) Oh and speaking of namedropping, my daddy- also known as Elizabeth Streb was there. And she had on great pants. (And know that when I say "my daddy", I mean it with all the love and reverence (and a great deal of the innuendo as well) as when I say, "my sweet sweet Scott Shepard"- which is A LOT.) But any way, all I'll say right now, in the fresh immediate glow of the last 2 weeks is that Parable of The Sower is what diversity in theatre looks like. Not only because it is a Black story, but because it is a musical that isn't a Musical, because it is a black story with an Asian director attached, because it has not 1, or 2, but 3 strong female voices crafting it's tale, because it is SCI FI, and lastly because of the type of performer that Toshi Reagon is: bare, honest, challenging, and lovable. These things are out there- my god- program them, find them, commission them: please. I saw a lot of "craft" over the last 2 weeks (which you know I love), and I saw some great stories, and I saw some great ideas, but I can safely say that I did not see anything like Parable of The Sower and I can't applaud Under The Radar enough for programming this. TAKE ME TO CHURCH MARK RUSSELL. AMEN.
(Too much?) Any way- also worth mentioning I think is that I saw the film Selma yesterday and I basically cried the whole time like a first-time hooker. God. But with these two pieces back to back, you can't help but feel like we're onto something, you know?
Any way. So even though the festivals have shuttered- you can't stop KATIE NAKA. I will be at Taylor Mac 1930's-1950's tomorrow night at NY Live Arts. And I will be at Soho Rep on Friday for Winners and Losers- which I have linked to a million times so far on the blog...and will do it again...but not now. I don't really know why.
And hey- I heard people were getting blowjobs onstage at American Realness? And nobody like...tweeted that at me? C'mon guys. We have to do better. We CAN do better with the letting me know about where I can pay good money to see live sex acts as "theatre". Oh well. Till next time.
