The Blue Door to History

The Blue Door to History

-Kwan Booth

Lineage can be a tricky thing. The need to understand where you come from sometimes contradicts the desire to fit in and be a part of the larger world. This can be especially true for black people, with our complicated relationship with this country. Some choose to ignore the legacy of slavery and sharecropping while others wear the shared experience like a badge of honor, making sure you never forget.

“I’m proud to be descended of slaves” says Tonya Barfield, writer of “The Blue Door,” a new play at the Berkeley Rep which deals with history and family, and one’s acceptance or denial of them.

The play, directed by respected actor and Oakland resident Delroy Lindo, follows Lewis (David Fonteno), a middle aged African American mathematician and philosophy professor, though a night of visions, flashbacks and revelations.

Filed under: Reviews, Theater , "The Blue Door"

Hurston’s “Spunk” Still Sings

Spunk Still Sings: Hurston’s blues tales shape performance

By Kwan Booth

Fiction writer and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston was one of the most celebrated and controversial black cultural figures of the 20th century. Her feminist stance and dedication to traditional black dialect and mythology won her praise and condemnation up until her death in 1960. In “Spunk, Three Tales by Zora Neale Hurston” which runs through June 3 at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Hurston’s gift for language and ability to evoke a scene shine through.

The play, named after Hurston’s 1925 short story, is a stage adaptation of three additional stories- “Sweat”, “Story in Harlem Slang”, and “The Gilded Six Bits” which play out in the deep south and Harlem streets after the turn of the century. Through a series of character changes, running commentary and bawdy tunes, the cast of Kim Nalley, C. Kelly Wright, Donald Lacy Jr., Hosea L. Simmons Jr., and Reginald White conjure up the blues feeling found in Hurston’s best work.

Filed under: Reviews, Theater

Passing Strange

 

Passing Strangely Through Blackness

-Kwan Booth

For the last couple of weeks, downtown Berkeley has had a serious Negro Problem, and it’s name is Stew. Since mid October, Stew has been appearing in the play, “Passing Strange”, a coming of age travelogue that follows a young man’s search for self, art and “The Real” from Los Angeles through the wild streets of Amsterdam and Germany.
This is the first play written by the single monickered Stew, founder of the critically acclaimed LA pop rock band “The Negro Problem”. It’s mainly a search for identity as the main character, known only as “The Youth”, played by Daniel Breaker, follows in the expatriate footsteps of “King James Baldwin and Queen Josephine Baker”, two black Americans famous for their journeys to Europe in search of artistic freedom.

Filed under: Reviews, Theater , "Passing Strange" "Stew and the Negro Problem"