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Keith Josef Adkins Tells Central Park History In The People Before The Park

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In March, Keith Josef Adkins was one of four finalists at the 11th Annual Spring Reading Series during the 2015 Premiere Stages Play Festival hosted by Kean University. He left the event as the winner – with his play, The People Before the Park, to return to the university’s Zella Fry Theatre as part of New Jersey Theatre Alliance’s Stages Festival. Directed by John J. Wooten, the play premiered Sept. 3, and will run through Sept. 20.

The park referred to in Adkins’ play is New York’s Central Park – recognized as one of the most visited parks in the United States. Before being expanded to the 843 acres of urban cultural paradise, it was home to free African Americans as well as residents of English and Irish descent. It is those people that prompted Adkins to develop this story.

Commissioned by Epic Theatre Ensemble in New York to write a play of his choice, Adkins initially worked with U.S. and Global History students to learn about the true events inspired by the play and to explore their heritage. After further research beyond Epic’s 2013-2014 season, Adkins created the full-length piece.

The play – which was selected from more than 400 festival submissions – opened to sold-out houses. Adkins posted to his Facebook: “I’m still writing, of course, for any future reiterations of the play… but right now I remain gleed-up… Keep living each other up so we can change the world through story.”

The synopsis of the story goes:

1857. New York City. A hard-work man and his son live in a respectful African-American community called Seneca Village. However, their solitude and safe haven are threatened when the City decides to remove the community from their homes to create the world-renowned Central Park.

Today, we call it gentrification. In 1857, it was eminent domain that evicted 1,600 residents from the land. The five-acre Seneca Village, founded by free Blacks in 1825, and other areas were demolished to accommodate the design of the park. In an NPR interview about the play, Cynthia Copeland – a lead researched of the site with the Institute for the Exploration of Seneca Village History – said a smear campaign was created to justify forcing out the residents. “They literally called them tramps, squatters, thieves, lowlifes. They referred to Seneca Village as ‘Nigger Village.'”

The play follows 42-year-old Stephen Van Cleef, who makes a living as an oysterman, and his 22-year-old son Jonas ready to leave his home and pursue his dream as an artist. Van Cleef hopes his wife, thought to have been stolen into slavery 20 years earlier, will return and refuses to leave even when his neighbors accept displacement offers. When given five days to vacate, Van Cleef chooses to stand up and fight the city.

The cast includes: W. Tré Davis (Off-Broadway’s Hamlet, Zooman and The Sign); Bridget Gabbe (Netflix’s “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”); Billy Eugene Jones (The Trip to Bountiful, The Mountaintop, Passing Strange); Shane Taylor; Andy Truschinski (The Heidi Chronicles, War Horse); and Michelle Wilson (A Raisin in the Sun).

Adkins co-founded The New Black Fest, a theatre organization dedicated to new and provocative playwriting, music and discussion from the African Diaspora. The organization served as curator of Facing Our Truth:  Ten Minute Plays on Trayvon, Race and Privilege (now published with Samuel French) and HANDS UP: 6 Playwrights, 6 Testaments. During March, his play The Disappointment premiered in the United States and Cape Town, South Africa as part of Book Wings South Africa – a cross-continental theatre collaboration to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison.

For detailed performance information visit HERE. Submission for the 2016 Premiere Stages Play Festival will be from Oct. 1, 2015 through Jan. 3, 2016.

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A Must See

We Were There: Sojourners & Her Portmanteau

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Playwright, educator, opera singer, and Queen, Mfoniso Udofia has two plays running at New York Theatre Workshop. *pause* TWO PLAYS. In the SAME season!?!? *ends congratulatory gasp* Sojourners and Her Portmanteau are performed in repertory, as two chapters of Udofia’s sweeping, nine-part saga, The Ufot Cycle.  Admittedly, before researching each show, I didn’t know the definition of either word; and in the spirit of keeping it consistent with the honesty, I didn’t like either play. I loved them.

Sojourners

Minimalism seems to be the name of the game these days.  I sat down to a completely black stage, sans a multimedia display lodged on the ceiling at a 45-degree angle.  Clutching my all white program and bobbing my head to the ‘70s pop rock pre-show music, I prepared my heart for the story of Sojourners, well at least that was the plan.  The stage begins to rotate and we meet Abasiama (Chinasa Ogbuagu) and Ukpong (Hubert Point-Du Jour), Nigerian expatriates sojourning in Houston, Texas with the plan to start a family, earn their degrees, and go back to Nigeria until life happens.

Charming and handsome, Ukpong becomes defined by his leather jacket, shoulder work and shimmy which match the fascination and yearning for freedom that illuminates his eyes every time he talks of peace, protest, and Prince–all shaping his view of 1970s America, and consequently, the American Dream.  But does leather compensate for grit? Is a movement or vibe really a panacea for disappointment, aimlessness, and a need to find yourself?  Abasiama enters the play pregnant, purposed, and outfitted in pieces of Nigerian garb, grounded in duty showing a stark contrast to Ukpong who floats in desire.  What’s lost in your household is found elsewhere, and this is when we start to see, and root for, Abasiama’s transformation from timid to tenacious.

Enter Moxie (Lakisha May), a colorful prostitute turned protector and friend.  There is a mutual respect despite great differences between her and Abasiama, with their love for one another creating moments that make you believe in the beauty of humanity.  Enter Disciple (Chinaza Uche), another warm and determined hearted immigrant who has come to the United States to study, rounding out the timely additions of love, support, and security when Abasiama needed them the most.

Through and through this is Abasiama’s story and she glows.  Her kindness, her sisterhood, her strength, her worthiness, and the realization of her American Dream, guide her decisions—which is the catalyst behind the entire Ufot Cycle.

Her Portmanteau

Her “portmanteau”, or red suitcase, makes a return as 30 years have passed.  Abasiama now has two daughters, one raised in America and the other who has come from Nigeria to reconnect with her family.

This is a good moment to mention that each story is informed by the other, but can certainly stand alone on substance, content, and the amazing direction of Ed Sylvanus Iskandar.  The staging is exciting and deliberate, while minimal, putting the full focus on the tension and growth to be expected of a family reunited after a substantial amount of time and distance.

Chinasa Ogbuagu returns to the stage, this time as the American-born daughter, Adiagha Ufot, Adepero Oduye as Iniabasi Ekpeyoung (Ukpong and Abasiama’s daughter), and Jenny Jules as the mother, Abasiama Ufot.

Seated on a couch in Adiagha’s small New York Apartment, no amount of preparation readies your mind and spirit to form the words to make up for 30 years of life, connection, and memories missed.  We’re taken on a ride of resentment, hurt, love, and forgiveness, as the portmanteau is literally unpacked.  We watch the teeter-tottering between offense and defense as one sister tries to assimilate into American culture, and the other attempts, albeit stubbornly, to fall in formation in honoring a family she shares blood with, but little time or tangible history.

It’s powerful to see a story of history and continuing a legacy despite lost time, faulty promises, and difficult choices explored with an all-woman cast as far too often the idea of legacy is framed in patriarchy.  Jules admirably takes Abasiama through the fire to heal, to feel, and to fix her family.  The narrative allows us to empathize and understand the struggle that comes with upholding family values versus cultivating a space to achieve personal dreams and happiness.

Her Portmanteau (and Sojourners) is written in a way that finds your soul, gently massaging it with humor, while leaving it with very real questions.  I’ve never felt a greater need to binge read nine stories and simultaneously study the story of my own family tree. I left changed. I left wrapped in the strength of my mom and my mom’s- mom’s sacrifice.  I left pensive and with seeds of future forgiveness planted.  I left changed.

For capturing our hearts with wit and with truth.  For putting Black women at the center of a poignant narrative.  For unapologetically telling a story you haven’t seen told and telling it in the way you want it to be told.

We thank you Mfoniso.  We thank you.

Have you seen the #duetplays? Sound off in the comments below![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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A Must See

Our Story in 2 Plays for 1 Price: Mfoniso Udofia’s Sojourners & Her Portmanteau

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Last winter, we reported on Sojourners by playwright Mfoniso Udofia, a new play about a Nigerian family who has come to America with the goal of earning a college education, starting a family, and returning to Nigeria. But not without the twists and turns that come along with every plan that seems straightforward.

Image result for Sojourners and Her Portmanteau

Thanks to New York Theatre Workshop, we get to relive this moment and continue the dialogue, decades later, with Her Portmanteau. Performed in repertory, these two chapters of Udofia’s sweeping, nine-part saga, The Ufot Cycle, chronicle the triumphs and losses of the tenacious matriarch of a Nigerian family.

Ed Sylvanus Iskandar directs the two-part story in association with The Playwrights Realm, who premiered Sojourners last winter in a limited engagement world premiere production. Her Portmanteau also received the 2016 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award grant.

The cast includes Jenny JulesLakisha Michelle MayAdepero OduyeChinasa OgbuaguHubert Point-Du Jour, and Chinaza Uche.

As if that wasn’t enough to get excited about, we have an exclusive deal for our Broadway Black readers!

Our Story in 2 Plays for 1 Price!

Yes. That’s two shows for one price! The discount code BWYBLACK will take 50% off tickets to ANY performance(s) if purchased by May 15th! 

Go ahead and grab your tickets. We have ours!

Sojourners and Her Portmanteau plays at NYTW until June 4th.

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Twitter: @BroadwayBlack

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