Hartford Stage
www.hartfordstage.org
Gee's Bend
January 14 through February 14, 2010
By Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder
Directed by Hana S. Sharif
For information, please call
Hartford Stage Box Office at 860-527-5151
Reviewed by Donna Bailey-Thompson
 To walk in another person's shoes is impossible. Books and movies help but
nothing comes as close as a live performance.
Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder's well-crafted play, Gee's Bend, gets us about as
close as we'll get to knowing how it feels to be hated for our skin color or
how much hope was placed in Martin Luther King's dreams coming true; or of
being black, eking out a hard scrabble existence in one of the poorest
places in our country - the deep south of Alabama.
Midway through the first act, the juxtaposition of the play's themes are
crystalized by a free-standing gleaming white water fountain. Propped
against it is a white sign that states in bold black lettering, Whites Only.
If you're black and thirsty, tough. If Macon (Teagle F. Bougere) the black
husband of a thirsty, feisty wife, Sadie (Kimberly Hebert Gregory)
reinforces the Whites Only sign by forbidding her to drink from the fountain
and she drinks anyway, not only has his wife's disrespectfulness diminished
his already low self-worth, his fear of physical recriminations against him
for not controlling his wife and the subsequent punishment of her for
ignoring the sign, are escalated. Their verbal tug of war feeds into the
growing tension. Sadie defies the Jim Crow rules and drinks from the
fountain. Her sister, Nella (Tamela Aldridge) has just enough gumption to
ask, "What'd it taste like?" A triumphant Sadie beams. "Like a piece of
heaven!"
Eventually, Sadie's enthusiastic support of Dr. King's rallies almost gets
her killed. She is determined to somehow get to Selma, about 30 miles
distant, even if she has to defy Macon. He warns Sadie not to go. "If you
walk out that door, don't you come back!" She puts no stock in his threat.
As she leaves, she quietly says over her shoulder, "There's cornbread
warming in the stove." When she returns, badly beaten, he refuses to unlock
the door.
There's an elephant in the play that eventually becomes known throughout the
country - the quilts that are handmade by Sadie, her mother Alice (Miche
Braden) and hundreds of other poor women. Any available pieces of cloth were
pieced together, sewn by hand, to be used as blankets. As they frayed, they
remained strong enough to serve as carriers of wood for the stove. When the
quilts are discovered by sophisticated eyes, the more primitive and exotic
the designs, the more worn and faded, the higher collectors value them.
Gee's Bend more than lives up to its billing as a "Gospel Musical Drama."
The soft singing of the women imparts a gentleness to the land. The
modulated beating of a drum, at times emulating a heart's rhythm, underlies
many scenes. Director Hana S. Sharif's emphasis from natural to stylized are
done smoothly, naturally. The actors become people we've known forever and
care about.
The scenic design by Scott Bradley is fascinating: The stream that
represents the Alabama River is real; varied geometric designs suggesting
quilts are lowered and raised between scenes; a deathbed becomes a grave.
Linda Cho's costume designs keep pace with the calendar, fittingly a year or
two behind the latest fashion. The lighting design by Lap Chi Chu enhances
whatever the mood may be at the moment.
Gee's Bend is part love story, part violent history, and ultimately
triumphant, both individually and collectively.
Gee's Bend
Reviewed by B. K. Grant
While walking into the theater, my attention was instantly drawn to the
beautiful set: the backdrop, a huge suspended quilt, abstract in design,
with various patterns and shades of blue and green that complemented the
stage floor created in compatible coloring, all subtly drawn together by a
winding river -- fantastic! This visual stimulation set the mood for the
experience that followed.
Gee's Bend, all 35 square miles of it, is an actual small town on the
Alabama River. Our introduction to this southern Alabama town is in 1939 at
Sadie's (Kimberly Hebert Gregory) baptism, a scene beautifully enhanced by
the softest percussion and angelic voices, giving insight into her spiritual
nature. Sadie is the main character in this chronology of historical
happenings, threading her way through life as it was, but motivated by an
inner drive to make life better. As a young girl she learned to read, clean
and sew, womanly qualities all of which, as her momma (Miche Braden)
supportively pointed out, will attract a man. Her sister Nella (Tamela
Aldridge) preferred to concentrate on catalog sales (no need for sewing) and
finding a rich husband. Nella did read some, but usually deferred to her
younger sister.
Sadie attracted the attention of Macon (Teagle F. Bougere), an "older man"
from church; a relationship bloomed and he vowed to build a grand house for
his new wife and future baby. As Macon presented Sadie with the key to their
new front door, she refused it, proclaiming her door will always be open,
never locked, so the world may come and go as need be. That refusal later
proved to be the 'key' to the end of their marriage and the beginning of a
life-changing experience for Sadie.
The story line flowed smoothly, depicting significant events in their lives:
Nella's obvious joy at reading her own name on her Voter Registration card;
patiently awaiting the arrival of Martin Luther King, Jr.; Sadie's
courageous sampling - "tastes like a li'l bit o' heaven" - from a "whites
only" drinking fountain, events worthy of championing their bravery and
determination. The role of the hand-sewn quilts seen throughout the
production grew from insignificant to monumental, culminating in an
unimaginable dream come true for Sadie and her family. The great set design
using minimal props, the soft lighting design with its few discrete spots,
the rhythmic music and vocals coupled with simple but dramatically effective
movement, and the costuming which changed subtly over the decades all
blended to accurately illustrate the message in this play by Elyzabeth
Gregory Wilder. There are tender, often hilarious reminders of all that was
wrong with the world during that strife-filled era. Gee's Bend is worth
seeing.
A suggestion: arrive early enough to browse through the program; it provides
a much appreciated review of nearly two centuries of history thus enabling
deeper relating to the characters.
More about Gee's Bend and the Quilts
For anyone curious about where in Alabama Gee's Bend is located, find
Boykin, its official name, about 30 miles southwest of Selma. Gee's Bend
refers to the large bend in the Alabama River where Joseph Gee, the area's
first white man settled.
http://auburn.edu/academic/other/geesbend/explore/catalog/slideshow/index.htm
http://www.quiltsofgeesbend.com/history/
http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/The-Quilts-of-Gees-Bend
http://www.fiberarts.com/article_archive/reviews/group/quiltsofgeesbend.asp
All rights reserved.
© The Arts, etc., Copyright
2009, 2010
|
|
