big tings a gwan

it happening.

fragments, pieces, motivations, inspirations coming together.

we seeing hearing feeling this gutta beautiful we in, creating it as we living it, our lives and our characters', scary and enervating and exhausting and glad. so much work being done, so much wuk to do...

props creeping in, costumes in varying stages of assembly, posters+ads getting make, pole reach in rehearsal space, soundtrack almost completely in place, choreography getting nailed down and cleaned up, unnecessaries getting trimmed...we have a show, now is to tighten and sharpen, now is about moving the journey along.

walk good.

and we want drama?

well, we get.

we cyah say we doh have drama.

photographer ring night before las' week's scheduled photoshoot to say, death in the family, he cyah shoot us wednesday. he cyah do nutting for a whole week so we reschedule for the following wednesday (this week) which mean we behind with creating tickets and promotional material, plus now i missing because this week i in coco dance festival and tech+dress monday-wednesday and perform thursday-sunday, thus can only make griot for the 1st half of sunday's rehearsal before coco calltime.

then costume designer say, las' minute without enough pre-photoshoot notice, she cyah make at all, and following that news, photographer ringback+say he still dealing with family stuff and cyah shoot this week neither.

i might not be in the gutta with griot right now but still hadda be about griot+gutta: scrambling to think of a way to make it work without pre-production photoshoot (to no avail) then finding another photographer, figuring out how to source costumes for photos+run, debating a character we thought we were cutting from the piece, managing other little behind-the-scenes drama to maximise productivity, learning lines+accent backstage@coco; plus we behind rehearsal schedule because of everybody's conflicts- besides me in coco this week+rehearsals-past, we have/had sox juggling next top model and anime caribe, disa+nickolai's gyazette rehearsals+gigs, abeo's other gigs, marvin juggling school+job, and camille+danielle with school and random tings...

still, detailing continues apace, characters growing (and new ones coming into existence), lines coming easier, movement becoming muscle memory, we know what our set will look like, costuming is happening, in spite of...

the gutta is becoming, beautifully...

and no-curfew is a few more hours each day to make/art/wuk...

walk good.

public pussy project

tonight we started wukkin the gutta girls' public pussy project choreography; thus far i been wukkin movement for transitions and group scenes, tonight was the 1st time we get down+dirty. and it was goood...

carpetburn, skinned knees+shoulders+elbows, stretched groins, and a rehearsal video to prove it! (doh mind the chaotic opening moments, i was djing and still critiquing+choreographing in my head while tryna get me+phone in position, but i reach before disa, sox+abeo start, so enjoy...)

walk good.

and now, a word with our playwright...

here's how writer nina angela mercer describes gutta beautiful:
"GUTTA BEAUTIFUL is a multi media, interactive stage play which takes place in the contemporary urban hyper-reality of the nation’s capitol, and tells the tragic and comical love story of Lola, born to Mama Say (an ancestral spirit and guide who lives by the power of food and its preparation), and Papa G (an energetic, cosmic force, who is both trickster and surrogate father to the “word” and its myriad deeds). After her birth into womanhood, Lola meets Mike, a lyricist and seeker inside life’s circumstances, while hanging out on the block with her best girlfriends, Suga Sweet and Orchid.
Together, Lola and Mike dare to make it beyond mere survival in the bitter sweet landscape of Gutta Beautiful, a contemporary urban obstacle course where choices often find them confronting the haunting history of enslavement and imperialism embodied by the alluring and ever-changing Aunty Sam, as well as Aunty Sam’s contemporary masks – the harsh realities of the drug trade economy, violence, and the capitalist demand for consistent cash flow. For Lola and Mike, their home, Gutta Beautiful, becomes a political battle-ground where the most common and innocent choice to fall in love and raise a family is a revolutionary act with no easy path to victory. Though Mama Say and Papa G provide some ancestral guidance, it is ultimately a battle Lola and Mike must wage with the power of their own imperfect wills.
GUTTA BEAUTIFUL does not offer easy answers. There are no mythic heroes here. Instead, it provides a raw and honest depiction of our ordinary and spectacular lives, and the most gutta and beautiful circumstances we all choose to live. Lola finds herself in this journey, and so does Mike. They, along with Suga Sweet and Orchid, are our mirror reflections, asking us to discover our gorgeous imperfections toward a potential shared space of discovery and transformation."

and here's what she says about it in a truly insightful interview for in the people's hands with ebony noelle golden- the gutta is beautiful: aesthetics, politics, the pocket and the pole. seriously, read the interview, totally worthwhile, play regardless...

meanwhile, back@rehearsals, we done rough-blocking the show, now moving into detailing with camille. i wukkin out choreography+soundtrack, tryna bring it fast enough to help the cast on this ride, plus personal homework: making sure i can easy-switch accents from american to british and back as "aunty sam".

hectic, but progress being made, and photoshoot nex' week will build our momentum plus provide imagery for us to play with, so stay tuned...

walk good.

rehearsals underway...

so, we rehearsing nina angela mercer's gutta beautiful a couple weeks now and i been intending to blog the process, but not directing this time making it kinna hard to say...this time i'm not the one with the vision to fulfill, so doh know how much further we hadda reach and cyah really say how big picture tings progressing; i playing "aunty sam" and shaping movement and soundtrack with rawkus' help and warrenman as consultant on the latter, although rawkus eh know that yet, he go find out when he touch down.

i directed griot's staged reading of this piece 2years ago, before this blog existed, and love the script...actually, for posterity, quick timetravel to griot's 1st exposure of gutta [reposted from sweet trini's urban folktales]: of theatre, white women and gutters:

found ourselves a whitegirl for our staged reading of gutta beautiful, so we orn like boil corn. i'm thrilled with the cast and starting to get excited about saturday, cornerbar 4pm:
gutta beautiful tells the searing story of lola, a young black woman who finds herself at a crossroads in love and life after discovering her own role in her man’s choice to surrender to popular culture and the drug trade economy. lola’s journey, as well as michael’s and her girlfriends' suga sweet and orchid transcend time, exploring the history of love and life for people of colour.
"the play represents both the imaginary and fantastic landscape of our collective psyche and the hard-core physical reality of our daily lives,” says playwright, nina a. mercer.
cast: isoke edwards-najeeullah, tracey lucas, tonya evans, mandisa granderson, muhammad muwakil, nickolai salcedo, sophie wight.
parental guidance strongly suggested; mature content.

about the author: born and raised in washington, d.c. and now residing in new york, nina angela mercer is a playwright, essayist, fiction writer and visual artist. her play, gutta beautiful has been produced at d.c.'s warehouse theatre (2005), and for d.c.'s first capital fringe festival at the woolly mammoth theatre (2006). she received her m.f.a. from american university and studied transnational feminist literature of the 20th century in the english doctoral program at the university of maryland. she has taught at american university, university of maryland, and howard university, and is also the founder and artistic director of ocean ana rising, inc., a non-profit arts incubator and outreach project. nina is the proud mother of two daughters.

that was probably where i shoulda start anyway, so i'ma leave you with a very fitting image disa found plus a fuzzy phone-photo of me+danielle wukkin, and pelt off to rehearsal with the promise that juicy details sooncome...


cast+crew thus far: mandisa granderson, danielle lewis, abeo jackson, isoke edwards-najeeullah, marvin dowridge, nickolai salcedo, elisha efua bartels, camille quamina, wendy primus, paulette alfred, sekou charles.

griot productions' gutta beautiful runs the last weekend in november and 1st weekend in december @ little carib theatre.

walk good.

auditions!

gRiOt PrOdUcTiOnS

AUDITIONS for GUTTA BEAUTIFUL


Tuesday 3rd May, 2011 4PM


The Black Box
Department of Creative and Festival Arts, UWI
Agostini Street, St Augustine

Open call for ACTORS and DANCERS: please bring HEADSHOT+RESUME. Come dressed to move comfortably; scripts will be provided for group readings and scene work; please arrive for 4pm prepared to spend time working with director and other performers in group audition.

seeking:

Lola aka Lil Mama LoLo: A woman of the kitchen and the corner. She ponders how she got left holding the bag, journeying inward to figure it all out. Her alias is Lil Mama Gypsy.

Mama Say: Lola’s ancestral mother and guide. She is more spirit than human. But one must never forget, she had to live to die and pass over into the spirit realm. Thus, she embodies both spirit and human characteristics. She gives birth to Lola spiritually, and she speaks to Lola inside her head. At times, she is accessible to all players in the Gutta. She is the whisper of unconditional love inside our heads.

Papa G: A spirit force with the energy of a trickster. He is also the catalyst for communication between earth/the Gutta and the One force (God/Oludamare/Allah/Nsambi, etc). He is often lewd and crass, and adds a ferocious laugh to the bitter sweet moments in the Gutta. He always carries dice, a time-piece on a chain, and a cane. He wears a top hat and sunglasses with one lens in and one lens out. He is the combination of the carnival barker, the MC at the cabaret, and the ethereal blues man at the cross-roads of our minds.

Michael King Lee Jefferson III aka The Right Reverend BooDaddy: As Mike, he is Lola’s boo, lover, husband, soul mate, and arch enemy. He is a hustler of circumstance and an aspiring lyricist with much to say about the world. His alias is The Right Reverend Boo Daddy; he gives the sermon in the hyper reality of Gutta Beautiful.

Orchid aka Alice in Wonderdick: Lola’s friend and confidant. She is a recently divorced realist educated in the art of playa-isms, trying to reverse the mac and still have good time. Her alias is Alice in Wonderdick.

Suga Sweet aka School Teacher Pussy: Lola’s friend and confidant. She is very well read, articulate, sexy and conscious (a new school Pan Africanist). She loves to take care of the brothers in the name of the revolution. She is courageous to a fault. Her alias is School Teacher Pussy.

The Rhythm Angel: The DJ; he hypes the crowd at The Public Pussy Project and The Divine Tabernacle.

The Ring Girl/Aunty Sam: She carries signs in the Gutta as The Ring Girl. As Aunty Sam, she is a force representing the various faces/voices of imperialism - the capitalist market, and its nefarious corporate monopolies, as well as its foundational under-belly economy and culture of illegal substances and violence, racism, classism, sexism, and control. She is a force of fear, aggression, a haunting history, and a desperate greed.

The Source: All percussion