Stage Banter: The Arena Stage Blog

The little known Harriet

by Janine Sobeck

Last night we completed the current season of the Downstairs New Play Reading Series with a reading of Lydia Diamond's Harriet Jacobs. 

Now, I'm going to be honest.  I'm a history buff- especially American history.  But the first time I had heard of Harriet Jacobs was when I read Lydia's play a little over a year ago.  However, the story intrigued me enough that when Lydia suggested this work for the series, the first words out of my mouth were, "Oh, the girl that hid in the box.  That's a crazy story."

And a crazy story it is.  Based on her autobiographical tale "Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl," Harriet recounts her life as a house slave, the obsession and sexual advances of her master, and her desperate flight to freedom.  However, Harriet's tale takes an unexpected twist.  Harriet was, at that time, the mother to two children (fathered by a white lawyer).  Unwilling to leave them behind, but unable to make the journey with them, Harriet made the ultimate sacrifice.  With the knowledge that her children would be bought by their father and raised by her grandmother, Harriet "moved into"a tiny crawlspace above the porch of her grandmothers house.  There, in a space that was nine feet long, seven feet wide with sloping ceiling that didn't allow her to turn over, Harriet remained for SEVEN YEARS, watching her children grow through a peephole.  Finally, in 1842, she made the journey north.

In the discussion after the reading, I was curious.  Was I the only one ignorant of this fantastic tale?  So I asked.  And only two other people in the audience raised their hands saying that they had heard of Harriet Jacobs before encountering this play.

I find that somewhat overwhelming. Lydia mentioned during the day the somewhat ironic fact that we are a society where everyone (rightly) knows the story of Anne Frank, and her time in hiding to escape the Nazis.  I recently had the chance to travel to Amsterdam and was able to go into the house and the secret annex, and let me tell you, seeing the small space that the family lived in, and knowing the conditions they endured made the story all the more poignant.  And yet, in the theatre yesterday, we were telling a similar story of courage, oppression and sacrifice of a young woman (she was only 22 when she went into the space) whose writing gives us incredible insight into a world that most of us find unimaginable.  And, yet, this story - which comes straight out of our country's own history - is relatively unknown.  

After the experience we had with the work, and feeling the power that Harriet's story has, all I can say is: I hope that changes.

Playwright Lydia Diamond part of Downstairs Series

By Ronee Penoi Senior Producing Fellow

It's a fuzzy place where plays are born. The beauty and challenge is that it can be a process of stops or starts, inspiration or obstacles, typing furiously or staring at a blank screen. I'm excited to be line-producing a project of our Downstairs series, because there, playwrights can work through wherever they are in that fuzzy process to get to the next step – and can pick their actor/director/etc. partners on that journey.

We’ve already had two recent readings as part of this series, Seamus Sullivan’s adventurous Harlan at the Rockpile, and Psalmayene 24’s epic Journey to the Door of No Return: A Hip-Hop Odyssey. This upcoming Monday night, we hoped to present our DC audiences a reading of Tazewell Thompson’s new play Mary T. & Lizzy K., a play that touches on the little-understood relationship between Mary Todd Lincoln and her seamstress and confidante, the freed slave Elizabeth Keckley. But, as the writing process is unpredictable, and exciting changes are happening in the writing of the play, it appears that now isn’t the right time to take that next step.

However, its fortunate timing that playwright Lydia Diamond is interested in an opportunity to look more closely at her new play Harriet Jacobs. Lydia's play Stick Fly will be part of the second half of Arena's Restaged Festival in Crystal City, and we're very excited to have her here on Monday to work on Harriet Jacobs. 

Lydia's play Harriet Jacobs is based on a true story. In her book "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," Harriet Jacobs describes with brutal honesty the hardships she endures under slavery, including the extraordinary choices she makes to be near her children. To survive, she escapes into her imagination and through writing, discovers hope for a better life. Accompanied by the rich musical traditions of slave spirituals, Lydia Diamond's Harriet Jacobs is an inspiring look at a young woman’s fascinating journey from slavery to freedom.

Those that love poetic theatrical language and imagery will fall in love with Lydia’s voice in this piece, and American history buffs will no doubt be engrossed by this tale based on a true story.

A little plug: The Downstairs series reading of Harriet Jacobs is this Monday, June 29^th at 7PM at our Crystal City theater and is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. You can RSVP with the sales office by phone at 202.488.3300, or in-person at the box office in Crystal City.

I hope you’ll join me on Monday to watch how Harriet Jacobs evolves, and experience part of the exciting, unpredictable process of developing a new play.

An Intern's Journey to the Downstairs

by Meghan McCormick, HR/Finance Intern

Last night I had the privilege of attending my first downstairs play reading, Psalmeyene24's Journey to the Door of No Return: A Hip Hop Odyssey, with a group of my fellow interns. It was unlike any play reading I have ever seen before. In this modern urban odyssey, music is a character and the movement that flows out of it informed the entire style of the piece. In a few moments scattered through the show, the audience was given a true glimpse into what the piece will become. It was strongest at the points where it allowed sound and movement to communicate desire. The choreographed dance between the seductress, Love Lee and the protagonist, Baraka, gave the audience more insight than any of the explicit verbal passes she makes at Baraka. Towards the end of the play, Baraka goes through a transformative dance that was not performed in this production. Instead the stage directions were read and from the description of the movement, I was left with an intense longing to see them performed. I look forward to a full production of this piece so that I can experience Baraka’s transformation in the way that is truest to his character, music and dance.

After the reading ended, there was a post-show discussion with the playwright and dramaturg on the project. Psalmeyene24 took in the audience reaction, not saying much, but scribbling down many notes on the responses to his pointed questions. The first question was about themes and more than ten different ones were supplied, making it clear to the audience and the playwright that this play is very a personal experience. Each person who has the privilege of seeing it will take from it their own message.

Part of being an intern at Arena Stage is exposure to new works and the opportunities to engage with the next generation of American artists. This reading excites the possibilities of a new type of theater that incorporates all forms of human expression. I look forward to witnessing its artistic growth and to seeing what next week’s downstairs reading of a new play will bring. 

A "Journey" like No Other

by Amrita Mangus, Allen Lee Hughes Dramaturgy Fellow

It's hard to believe that today is the final day of rehearsal for Psalmeyene24's Journey to the Door of No Return: A Hip Hop Odyssey. Mirroring the play's central storyline of a young man embarking on an odyssey-inspired journey in search of knowledge and discovery, we've encountered a pretty monumental "journey" in the rehearsal room as we workshopped the first Hip Hop piece in the Downstairs series.

During the first day of rehearsal, we read the play out loud without incorporating any of the music or movement and quickly realized that both elements are essential characters in the piece that help the narrative move forward. We then broke up our rehearsals for the next few days so that we could spend more time with the music and the movement, taking the rap songs and analyzing the meaning, meter, and beats and determining whether the movement represents a certain dance style or helps define a location. Having very little experience with hip hop music and dance, I was fascinated by the impact of these elements on the entire piece once we started to put everything together. One moment that particularly struck me was during a recitation of Public Enemy's "Don't Believe the Hype" by the main character, Baraka, after he's accused of stealing by his manager at the Gap. The actor first rapped the song with the same meter and music as the original song, but then realized that it didn't quite fit what he wanted to say. Our director, Kamilah Forbes, then proposed rapping the song with the focus on his intention and motivation, allowing him to spend more time with certain words and  re-imagine it in the context of the play. The results blew my mind, completely. It deepened the meaning of that moment and made the entire theatrical experience far more exciting.

That's just one of the fantastic moments that you can catch tonight at the staged reading, starting at 7:00 p.m. in the Crystal City Theater. Admission is free, so check it out! Watch the story, the music, and the movement come together, then stay for the talkback with the playwright and tell us what you think. The journey doesn't end until the final ingredient, the audience, is incorporated into the mix.

Hip Hopping the Downstairs

by Janine Sobeck

Today we make Downstairs history.  In about a half hour I'm going to go down to the theatre to watch the first read through of Psalmeyene24's Journey to the Door of No Return: A Hip Hop Odyessy (the new title to the previously announced Slavery: The ReMix).  As far as my knowledge goes this will be the first time we've done a Hip Hop piece in the Downstairs New Play Reading Series, and we're all a little curious to see how this format is going to support the development of Psalm's work - especially since its directed by Kamiliah Forbes, Artistic Director of the annual Hip Hop Theatre festival.

We'll keep you updated this week with tidbits from the rehearsal room, and you are all invited to come and experience the end results of this week of work with the staged reading that will happen this Monday (the 22nd) at 7:00 in the Crystal City theatre.  Admission is free, so bring a friend and come on this hip hop odyssey with us.  It's bound to be an adventure.

Harlan at the Rockpile... An Afghan Epic

by Jamie Gahlon

On Monday, May 18th at 7pm, Arena will present, as part of the Downstairs New Play Reading Series, a reading of Seamus Sullivan's epic Harlan at the Rockpile.  I have been lucky enough to see this play evolve over the past year or so, and have the privilege of line producing and stage managing the reading.  Seamus and I were classmates at Georgetown, where he began writing Harlan at the Rockpile as part of a playwriting class under the tutelage of Karen Zacarias (author of Arena's own Legacy of Light which opens this week). During our time at school, I remember asking Seamus about weekend plans and getting a standard response of  "Well, I'm doing Afghanistan research, rewrites, working on the play, etc."  Having watched this play transform and grow it's oh so clear that his diligence and passion for the historical and socio-political context of this story has more than paid off.  Harlan at the Rockpile examines the parallels between 1830's Afghanistan with the current realities through the lives of Josiah Harlan, the first American to enter Afghanistan and his fictional modern counterpart, Harlan O'Neill.  Part of Harlan O'Neill's adventures in Afghanistan revolve around his encounters with a popular Afghan sport called Buzkashi (booze-kashy), which is an important piece of the contemporary narrative.  To get a glimpse into just what Buzkashi is, check out this video from CNN

 

Georgetown presented a reading of Harlan at the Rockpile, made up of a largely student and alumni cast, as part of the Kennedy Center's Page to Stage Festival earlier this year, and after the reading Seamus expressed an interest in further development.  He had already changed a good deal of the contemporary portion of the play, and done some pairing down, but he wanted to find a way to tell his story more effectively- with less jumping around through time and place, and find a way to make the piece even leaner and less expository. 

 

We have been working under the 29 hour staged reading guidelines, which has provided us 3 days of 5 hour rehearsals.  We had our first rehearsal last Wednesday, May 8th and it was pretty incredible to hear our delightfully age-appropriate cast read the full play aloud.  After the reading we had a discussion where everyone gave their reactions, asked Seamus questions, and spoke about what they got from the play.  Seamus went away from rehearsal with some pretty specific ideas for re-writes, and sure enough when we all reunited for the second rehearsal on Monday, the script was a full 19 pages shorter!  On Monday we re-read the full play and worked on some specific scene dynamics, and discussed the changes and their effects on the arc and strength of the narrative.  I am very excited to see what further modifications will come into play when we meet again next Monday for our final rehearsal.

 

For those of you who have an interest in Afghanistan today or simply enjoy an epic story, this fresh of the press play is for you!  See you there!