This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of seeing a performance of Black and Blue at Lee Auditorium at the Missouri History Museum. The play is an original play by Lee Patton Chiles and presented by Gitana Productions Inc. Gitana Productions Inc. is a non-profit arts and education organization that is dedicated to increasing cross-cultural awareness and collaboration in St. Louis through music, dance, drama, and community engagement. I am happy to say that Black and Blue achieved this mission beautifully.
Black and Blue is a play that
features a series of vignettes, monologues, and a progressive storyline with
some music and spoken word that recounts and exhibits present day micro-aggressions
and institutionalized racist structures in today’s society, while leading up to
and including the tragic death of Michael Brown Jr. and its aftermath. It has a run time of roughly 1 hour and 45
minutes, with a 10 minute intermission. The play is told through a variety of
black and white characters, including but not limited to young and older white
police officers, black and white mothers, and young black men. The cast was
superb and featured professional and community actors. Everyone in the cast did an excellent job of
exhibiting the everyday occurrences and feelings that are experienced by people
of these specific groups in St. Louis in today’s society. The vignettes included a range of scenarios
ranging from the stereotypes that white people have of young black men who wear
(and who don’t wear) hoodies, to unfair traffic ticketing, to police
brutality.
Lee
Patton Chiles did a wonderful job of taking on such controversial and important
subject matter as this in such a tense time in our society. It was said during the panel discussion that
followed the performance that she spent hours of time researching and
interviewing various people in St. Louis when writing this play and it
showed. Black and Blue showcased a wide variety of opinions and
perspectives had by St. Louisans related to racial issues, the Michael Brown Jr.
case, and the racial tension, protests, and riots that followed. It had to be a heavy challenge for Patton
Chiles to efficiently and evenly represent different members of society’s
opinions on these highly polarizing topics and events in a responsible and fair
way. I believe that she achieved this
task.
Actor
Michael Grieve did a great job in his portrayal of a young white police officer
who in some scenes showed his inner flaws and racial profiling, while in other
scenes showed the truth behind following orders of his superiors even when such
actions went against his own beliefs.
His character was a perfect microcosm of all of us, who are just trying
to do the right thing but at times, the lines between and right and wrong can
be blurred. His character along with
older policeman Officer Ross Riggs, played by the superb Garrett Bergfeld, both
showed the perspectives, vulnerability, and struggles had by officers who are all
human like the rest of us and are often given a bad rep based on other
not-so-well-intentioned policemen and policewomen. Other cast members did a wonderful job of
showing the turmoil and fear that many people of color have that their children
or themselves will one day face similar fates as that of Michael Brown Jr. and
Trayvon Martin, and sadly many others whose lives ended at the hand of a police
officer. The entire cast was fantastic,
and I’d be remised if I did not mention a few other notable actors including LA
Williams, Bryce Goodloe, Daniel Johnson, Jeanitta Perkins, Jamie Fritz, and
Katie Younge. It was refreshing to learn
during the post-show panel discussion that Katie Younge, who portrayed a young
TV News reporter is actually a broadcast journalism student at St. Louis
University. She, like the rest of the
cast members, will go far, for sure! The
play also featured spoken word and rap by actor, singer, and songwriter Dyce,
which added a refreshing and unexpected treat for audiences to enjoy.
I
have to say that the most satisfying thing that I took away from the play was
that at the end, the cast were all on stage in a similar fashion to that of the
opening of the play and spoke to the audience about how to fix the problems
addressed in the play, and gave suggestions on how to address the issue of race
in today’s society in order to keep these horrible incidences and
misunderstandings from occurring again.
This was the only hope that I had for the play before seeing it, that it
would not only address these issues, but that it would also create dialogue for
the viewers to consider on how to fix these problems. The post-performance panel discussion was also
just as necessary, in that it continued the conversation and gave the audience,
cast members, and panelists the opportunity to discuss their thoughts about the
play and its topics, and on our ideas on how to fix the problem of race in
today’s society. The panelists included
several cast members, Poet Laureatte Micheal Castro, and law enforcement member
April Casey, to name a few. The dialogue
proved to be a good one in that so many people wanted to speak on the subject
to the point where the discussion ran out of time. Several good suggestions were brought
including the ideas to have more diversity in the police force in all
communities, and to increase trust in police officers by reinstating community
policing in which policemen and women would have more involvement and
engagement with the communities that they serve as a means to increase police
and civilian relations.
One
of the last comments that was made before the end of the night was from a white
woman in the audience who said that although her neighborhood is integrated,
she realized after the events of the Michael Brown Jr. case that she had not
been as welcoming to her black neighbors as she might have been with her white
neighbors. She then told the audience
that at that point, she made the decision to make eye contact and say “hello”
and initiate conversations with every person, no matter what race, who she saw
when walking in her neighborhood.
Although it may not mean much to some or be considered a small gesture
in the “war against race” as it were, it is a big step in that we can all take
some part in our society no matter what the gesture is to help create unity in
our much ununified society. After all, as the actor Garrett Bergfeld
pointed out on his t-shirt that he was wearing, that simply displayed the
percentage “0.01%”, the difference between all humans of different races on
earth is 0.01%. That is it, and yet it
has created centuries of fighting, turmoil, angst, pain, and heartache by so
many. If this is the case, then we all
surely must have more in common than we all realize, especially for our
difference in skin color to only account for 0.01%. I implore you, please go see the play! You won’t regret it.
Black
and Blue will be featured in a 4-week FREE run throughout St. Louis:
Kranzberg
Arts Center
501
N. Grand near Fox Theater
Fri.
and Sat. May 29 and 30 - 7:30 PM
Sunday,
May 31- 3:00 PM Matinee
Reservations
required*
Greater
St. Marks Church
9950
Glen Owen, Ferguson 63136
Sunday,
June 7 at 3:00 PM
Reservations
required*
St.
Louis Community College at Florissant Valley
3400
Pershall Rd. 63135, Terry M. Fischer Theater
Fri.
and Sat. June 19 and 20 7:30 PM
Sunday,
June 21 3:00 PM
Reservations
required*
For
Questions email us at info@gitana-inc.org or call 314-721-6556.
Each
performance will be followed by Q/A.
Bookings:
After June 30, 2015 organizations and groups who desire to bring the show to
other communities may book the program. Call 314-721-6556.
