Da Kink in My Hair is a play by Trey Anthony, which debuted at the Toronto Fringe Festival in 2001. Marion J. Caffey was the director and chorographer of this produced at the NAC, which premiered on October 21st. I choose to see it opening night, as I find that is when an actor really shows their guts. It is the first time they hit that stage, and thus is the time to show boldness. Marion J. Caffey's production of Da Kink in My Hair captured all the horror of a world that black women face on a daily, well still managing to keep enough lightness to be enjoyable.
Da kink in My hair follows the life of Novelette, the Caribbean Canadian owner of Letty's, a Toronto hair salon. This particular play functioned like story theatre. The central theme
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From comedic timing to stage presence, Phillips is clearly a seasoned actress who knows this role well.
Tamara Brown also fully embraced her role. Her performance of Patsy felt like the most topical point in the play. Her grief felt so real that I hope that white Americans come see this play. It might shed some light on the complex racism that black people face. If there is a reason to tell people to go see this play, it is this monologue alone. Tamara does an emotional performance that should be seen by everyone, whether the audience is black or white.
By far the strongest performers were Lennette Randall, Brenda Phillips and Allison Edwards-Crewe. A special shout to the addition of Suzy as a character, which I will talk more of later.
Lennette Randall was an interesting performer, losing her mind on stage was a pleasure on stage as Sherelle. Her loneliness could be felt by anyone in the audience, the lighting helped raise her up as well. They had her in a spot light, and the spot light got gradually smaller. I wont spoil the ending of her monologue, but I felt it was powerful enough to make an impact but not dwelled on. It was a tasteful way to show that aspect of
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The daughter of a prejudiced Southern father, Suzy played by Rae-Anna Maitland tells the story of her mixed race child and the racism her son and her face. While many of my fellow classmates argue that this didn’t have a place here I felt that this was one of the most relevant monologues, and my only problem with it is that it wasn’t told from the perspective of the child. There are many children of mixed race who need representation and to feel like they belong. Other than the fact that this monologue wasn’t from the perspective of the child, a least they got a shout out, which sometimes is all some people can hope
It shows that there is no difference between white and colored people, but it’s so hard for people to get past the physical features to realize that we are all equal. Ethel was right when she said two colored men would help two white women, and those white men knew she was right. Those men knew Ethel had a point and now they had no choice but to help her and her friend. When Ethel was in the hospital, she had two doctors who mistreated her leg injury. Her wound was severely infected because the two doctors never helped her, and her leg could have been amputated.
The strikingly accurate portrayal of the life of an African American family in the 1950’s did a great job of keeping the interest up. The director’s mise-en-scene gave the film a believability that is rarely achieved. They did this through the well staged apartment that the film takes place in for the majority of the screen time. The cramped and cluttered home sets the stage for the actors in the film to truly live into their characters. The actors did a brilliant job of portraying the wide breadth of emotions in this film. Their engaging personalities kept the film alive and vibrant the
Have you realized how much the world plays a lot in racial background? Not everyone is the same, but isn 't that what makes all of us special? There are several movies that helped me to realize how important race is but the Imitation of Life spoke to me the most. Lora is a single white Broadway mother who met Annie and her daughter at a festival. Annie becomes the maid and a care taker of Lora’s daughter Suzie. Both mothers deal with motherhood and different ways. Lora wants to be famous and ruins her relationship with her daughter. Sarah Jane struggle with being black. Overall the purpose of Imitation of Life is to inform the differences between being black and white in America. When I think of motherhood the first thing that comes to my
Sandy not only learned through the conversations of the adults around him the importance of skin color, he witnessed a number of events that cemented the notion. Sandy’s somewhat wild Aunt, Har...
Some existing Literature on Natural Hair The existing literature on ethnic and racial studies among African-Americans has focused on issues pertaining to beauty and body politics especially on natural hair. Spellers and Moffitt assert that the body politics that one assumes, guides how one relates to a particular political ideology in a particular society. Black natural hair is considered as a way by which the true identity of African women can be understood (Jacobs-Huey). It is a symbol of power among black women; it influences how people are treated by others.
In both Cora unashamed and Home racial discrimination can be seen, but through a different viewpoint
I attended the Broadway show entitled "Hairspray." The show was performed at Neil Simon Theatre in New York City. The setting of the play took place in Baltimore in 1962. At the beginning of the play, we are led to believe that the main idea is about a teenage girl who is struggling to become popular and famous. The main character Tracy Turnblad, who is played by Shannon Durig, is a young, overweight, teenage girl.
In Henry Lewis Gates’ article, The Debate Has Been Miscast from the Start, he reveals the advantages to having multiculturalism in the curriculum of America’s schools. He would argue that in order to create true diversity and understanding of cultural differences, the nation must provide its students with a wide array of opportunities to understand other cultures besides their own. Peggy McIntosh takes on a similar situation when she takes into consideration how she was taught diversity in schools as a child. She claims that dominance of the white race is unconsciously supported. She also describes how she did not receive the right kind of education that would teach her how to be aware of racism and how to be aware of her privileges as a white person. McIntosh desires change in the way that students are taught racism and the best way to accomplish this is for schools to incorporate multiculturalism into curriculum. If this is accomplished, future generations have the ability to be aware of cultural differences and they would be less likely to be perpetrators of color blind racism.
In the recent past year or two, a woman’s natural hair has become a big thing. Before, African American women, to be specific, were so disgusted by their hair. They would do anything in their power to change the “nappy” aspect of their hair to “beautiful”. They would use relaxers very so often and hot combs.
I could see how Harold Hill’s tactic changed from something along the lines of ‘to deceive’ to ‘to woo’ around the song “The sadder but wiser girl”. Marian Paroo’s tactic also changes from ‘to avoid’ to ‘to love’ around “My white Knight”. These actors also projected extremely well, as I could hear everything being said. They articulated well too, which I believe must be hard for them as every character had a southern accent. The actors easily incorporated their character’s goals into their acting and onstage
As far as acting, the performers were able to convey the feelings they needed to. However, some characters such as Ol' Cap'n played by Dick Lambert and Luttibelle played by April Curry, seemed more committed and engaging in their roles than others. A crucial factor in April Curry portraying her role so well was her vocal talent far exceeded that of any of the other major performers. She had an amazing voice that I was dazzled by from curtain up to down and left me craving for more. This almost compensated for my disappointment when it came to the ensemble singing to the soundtrack. Many performers were dependent on the cd and were not confident as to when to begin or stop singing, which dampered many moments of the performers. Another element of acting that I enjoyed was the exaggerated use of cooning throughout the duration of the performance that brought characters to life, and enabled certain moments to seem real.
Throughout the semester we have studied the black vernacular tradition and its attributes of competition, group interaction, the in- group, and pattern of call and response and we have learned to take those attributes and apply then to the complex subject of Black Hair. Black Hair is a complex subject not only because so little is known about it but because of the aesthetic, political, and interpersonal context through which Black hair can be studied and interpreted. Hair is honestly in just about every text and it is used to not only add insight to characters identity but to also give context to time. Many of the black vernacular tenets are seen throughout Margo Jefferson’s chapter in Negroland, in particular the first section called “The
This was a trying experience the child was enduring. Thus, changing the child to be cold and bitter mainly towards the father. She is experiencing an internal battle of hating her own father. Where as in “Blue Winds Dancing,” it describes a young Indian boy away in college that doesn’t know what group of people he identifies with. He is concerned he doesn’t fit in with the whites located in the big city or with his Indian heritage back home. He feels anxiety in the white civilization because he feels like an outcast and he can’t seem to bring himself to mimic their behavior. He feels he is constantly reminded by whites that his race is less than. He expresses the frustration by quoting the
When it came to the dialogue of the production and the understanding of it the performers again did an excellent job. Their gestures and vocal elements all aided in the production’s success and were all fittingly used by the characters. For example, when Lala was talking on the phone with Peachy she casually twirled the phone cord in her hand, leaned against the banister and childishly flirted with Peachy.
Don’t touch my hair: this should be a sentiment simple enough to understand. However, for many black women this establishment of boundaries can be broken repeatedly and without any regard for personal space. Solange Knowles’ song “Don’t Touch My Hair” and accompanying music video takes this declaration of self and creates an anthem for the empowerment of black women and dismissal of microagressions, white beauty standards, jealousy and appropriation. Her lyrics emphasize the emotional connection that black women have to their hair. But, beyond this pride is an act of self-love militant and radical against white standards of beauty; or is this self-love subscribing to the notion that black women’s hair is an object detached from their personhood- objectifying themselves to other’s gazes and not subverting them? In order to answer this question, theories from Helen