THE COLORS OF OUR LIVES
red, black & GREEN: a blues is art at its best and most purposeful; a visceral, engaging narrative that combines theatre, dance, music, spoken word and visual art created and expressed by and for “wonderful human beings” to ask what we are doing to protect and nurture our world and our humanity.
Marc Bamuthi Joseph, our central character and the creator/performer, offers a first-person spoken word narration of a man working to green the ghettos of America, taking us from uptown Chicago to the 3rd and 5th Wards of Houston, from there to Harlem, NY, finally arriving back home in West Oakland, CA. Supporting movement, text and song are performed by Composer Tommy Shepherd (aka Emcee Soulati), Traci Tolmaire, and Yaw.
The text is poetic, specific and emotionally-charged; coupled with the design and musical-physical elements of the piece, under the inspired direction of Michael John Garcés, it becomes transcendent.
The action takes place on and between the moving walls of Theaster Gates’s incredible set/installation. Mai-Lei Pecorari’s smartly simple costumes, Stacey Printz’s evocative choreography, and James Clotfelter’s lighting work together to support the many characters and locations of the piece. Documentary video by Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi and media design by David Szlasa grounds the production in a necessary reality.
This is an across-the-board magical experience. The wealth of ideas embodied so expertly in this collaboration — about the Black experience in America, our power to prevent the ecological decline of our world, and “the paradox of cultivating something you will never see” — make this blues an uplifting and empowering piece of theatre and truth. This is not a performance for an audience — it is a meeting of equals. red, black & GREEN: a blues is theatre created and shared as a socially responsive and responsible community offering. Should you choose to accept it, your life will be the richer.
photos by Steven Gunther
Marc Bamuth Joseph/The Living Word Project:
red, black & GREEN: a blues
REDCAT in Walt Disney Concert Hall
scheduled to end February 3, 2013
for tickets, call 213-237-2800
or visit http://www.redcat.org
