Women tackle substantial issues with mild success

Performance diverse, tied together by common theme

Friday's Women of Substance was diverse, but was held together by a common theme: the empowerment of African American women. The evening was composed of three multidisciplinary pieces, performed by three multi-talented women.

Kimberli Boyd, who served as an artist-in-residence at Oberlin last year, led the group, and her depth propelled the work. She was accompanied by Michelle Parkerson and Kwelismith.

Parkerson, a documentary film maker, has been known to ruffle feathers with her overtly political films. Kwelismith, whose solo performances are expressly educational, is also diverse; she can portray Harriet Tubman and then move onto a multidisciplinary performance incorporating slides, music and spoken/sung story telling.

The first piece, "White," was written and designed by Kwelismith. Simple and nicely done, the piece allowed the audience to become acquainted with the space and content of what was to come.

The stage contained only a white "room," consisting of one wall and a counter holding several traditional appliances - a toaster and a juicer. It was reminiscent of a Leave-It-To-Beaver time in history. A white wedding dress also hung from the grid above, dominating the performance space.

"White" was by far the least narrative of three pieces, making it hard to grasp. However, it was ultimately far more poignant in that it pushed the audience to interact with the performers.

The piece incorporated several phrases which were repeated throughout. Statements like, "We are gathered here together in holy matrimony to make this girl behave," and "My mother was American," juxtaposed well with the rest of the content of the performance.

Another repeated phrase, "White is history" clearly drove home the point of the piece while bringing together these seemingly disparate elements.

This piece, although bordering on heavy-handed, was actually funny. It was campy, and exaggerated many aspects of commercial America.

The show didn't come without its share of problems, however, namely the lighting, which was distracting at times. There were virtually no fades, making the shifts both in color and space jarring to watch. However, aside from this, the piece was effective.

"White's" power was more noticeable after comparing it to the final piece, "Loving Eunice," a narrative story of a woman's coming of age during the Harlem Renaissance.

"Loving Eunice" was by far the most cohesive piece in the show, and thus the most accessible. "White" showed how effective non-traditional theater can be, by showing it accompanied by non-traditional forms of theater. Being reminded of this allowed the audience to appreciate the narrative, and hence the meaning, of "Loving Eunice" much more.

This piece was also visually different from "White." Between short vignettes that combined to produce the narrative, Parkerson used film clips. By rotating the characters in the piece - each woman played each character in the performance - Parkerson kept the piece moving.

The same cannot be said for the second piece "Nana's Wedding Night." Although visually incredible, the story was not nearly as memorable.

It began with several women carrying candles into the performance space and lighting them. The light was a nice choice, but the rest of the piece didn't measure up.

Perhaps the problem is that "Nana's Wedding Night" fell between two more impressive pieces, or that it was nigh impossible to hear the majority of what Boyd said. Whatever it was the story was hard to understand and by the end - lost.

Although the ending image of Boyd throwing water over her body was striking, because she could not be heard, the power of this moment was lessened.

Ultimately, the meaning of the show seemed to lie in the design and placement of the pieces as much as what was actually said. Despite some isolated, poignant statements, one got just as much out of the stage picture and piece positioning as one could from the overall script. And aside from the awkward lighting transitions, individual moments on stage where stunning. The actresses, particularly Boyd, moved beautifully, lending an element of grace to the overall picture.

But the lack of sound quality as well as the length of the show made for an antsy audience. So while Women of Substance was indeed substantial, it will also be remembered as a show of great frustration and substantial length.