REVIEW: The Visit at USC Theatre and Dance

THE VISIT

USC Department of Theatre and Dance

April 5 - 12

This writing is woefully late for a number of reasons; none of them particularly good, and for that we do apologize. However, the excellent work by everyone involved deserves an acknowledgement.

USC Theatre and Dance closed out the season with Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s The Visit, and what a production it was. The piece was first produced in 1956 in Zürich, Switzerland, and was adapted for British audiences in a production directed by Peter Brook and starring Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontaine. After touring Britain in 1957 – 58, the play was taken to Broadway. Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn starred in a film adaption in 1964, and Kander and Ebb (along with a book by Terrance McNally) flipped it into a musical starring Chita Rivera in 2001. In 2020, Tony Kushner’s  new English language adaptation was produced in London.

The story takes place in the “somewhere in Europe” village of Güllen, a village which has not fallen on hard times, but under them. A miserable, poverty-stricken, dingy little hamlet. The one bright spot is the impending visit of Claire Sachanassian, the wealthiest woman in the world. Claire grew up in Güllen, and the townspeople are hopeful and desperate that she will provide them with much needed financial assistance. The scene opens with villagers, desperate to make a good impression, frantically preparing for Ms. Zachanassian’s arrival. And arrive, she does.

As a young girl, Claire fell in love with Anton Schill, who has grown up to be a model Güllenite – a successful shop keeper with a devoted wife and children, and on his way to becoming the next Bürgermeister. Alas, young Claire finds herself  with a brӧtchen in the oven. Her beloved Anton abandons her, denies his paternity, and turns the townspeople against her. She is run out of town in shame. Claire will gift the town and each of its citizens a grand fortune, in exchange for the life of the man who abandoned her. Anton’s life is about to go to hell in a ham biscuit.

Revenge is a dish best served cold…

Rachel Vanek, a Sophomore (repeat – A SOPHMORE) nailed the role of Claire. She moves like a glacier across the stage – all icy, brittle perfection. I have no doubt that if you touched her, you’d get frostbite. Cruella Deville notwithstanding, there is a shimmer of that very young woman who was shamed by the people of Güllen so very long ago, and Claire begins to win us over. Vanek’s Claire is the Ice Princess personified. (She does not “Let it Go”). I look forward to seeing this young performer in other productions.

Olan Domer plays Anton Schill to smarmy excellence. If you met him in a bar, you’d keep your cocktail covered. His expression when he realizes that he is the fee for Güllens future  prosperity is priceless. Domer played the equally smarmy Karl Lindner in USC’s production of A Raisin in the Sun earlier this year.

There truly isn’t a weak link in this cast. Maggie Davisson as Bobby, Claire’s assistant, Dominic DeLong-Rodgers as the Bürgermeister, Cameron Eubanks, the village doctor, Didem Ruhi, the priest, Elaine Werren as Fraü Schill, and Elizabeth Wheless as the teacher were all very well-cast. Along with the rest of the ensemble, many of whom were double and triple cast, the story builds in intensity and suspense. I must mention Koby Hall and Rafe Hardin, who play the two blind men. Not only are they hysterically funny (until we learn how they came to be blind), but they are also blind and on stilts.

Lindsay Wilkinson’s costume design is amazing. Working with Kristy Hall, she develops a costume plot which is a bit art-deco, a bit Weimar Republic, a bit Picasso, and a smattering of A Clockwork Orange…. It was fascinating to watch the costumes change  as the characters  wearing them changed. Her use of patterns and color brought another dimension to the production.

The stage at Drayton Hall is massive, and the set/lighting/sound designers (Ashley Jensen, Lorna, Young, Danielle Wilson) filled it completely. The use of beautifully painted scrims allowed the set to change completely with a light cue. The sound was very well done. The train station serves as a focal point, and the sounds and the smokestacks turned me into a gleeful five-year old kid again. (I must confess I so wanted Claire to burst into “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” when she stepped out onto the balcony.)

The Visit is not only a story of revenge, but also a warning tale about avarice, integrity, loyalty, and the effects of soul-searing capitalism. Director Craig Miller, a USC alum, brought all of this together in an entertaining, provocative production. The only negative to this show is the all too short length of its run.

USC’s Department of Theatre and Dance has long been a contributor to some of the very best of Columbia theatre. Its students and faculty share their talents with theatres throughout the city. Many of them have gone on to teach, perform, and share their gifts on stages and in schools across the country.

Announcing Fall Lines Vol. X Winners and Launch Date

May 19th 2:30 pm Richland Library

The Jasper Project is delighted to announce the winners of our Fall Lines Volume X poetry and prose prizes, our newest prize for a South Carolina writer of color, and the date of the Fall Lines Volume X book launch and reading.

Please join Jasper on Sunday May 19th at 2:30 pm in the auditorium of Richland Library as we welcome the 10th volume of Fall Lines – a literary convergence to the world. Previously announced accepted contributors are invited to read from their published work and copies of Fall Lines will be available for further distribution throughout the state. Contributors and guests are invited to attend.

Congratulations to the following prize winners.

Alyssa Stewart, winner of the Combahee River Prize for a SC Writer of Color for her poem “a black boy dreams of water” sponsored by the SC Academy of Authors.

Liz Newall, winner of the Broad River Prize for Prose for her short fiction “Red Hill Fans” sponsored by the Richland Library Friends and Foundation.

Brian Slusher, winner of the Saluda River Prize for Poetry for his poem “Improv 101” also sponsored by the Richland Library Friends and Foundation.

This year’s judges were Jennifer Bartell Boykin, poet laureate for the city of Columbia, SC (Combahee River  Prize), Ed Madden, Fall Lines co-editor and former poet laureate for the city of Columbia SC (Saluda River Prize), and Cindi Boiter, co-editor of Fall Lines and Jasper Magazine (Broad River Prize).

In writing about “a black boy dreams of water” by Alyssa Stewart, Boykin says, “It is not a coincidence that the winner of the Combahee River Prize is a poem overflowing with water. Water can be healing. Water can be dangerous. But what is water to a Black boy? What is the role of water in the Black psyche? In “a black boy dreams of water” Alyssa Stewart explores these questions and more. She pens a well-crafted poem in which the Black boy experiences water in a pool, in a pond, a river, a broken fire hydrant and infuses them with memories of the Atlantic Ocean and the Middle Passage. Boykin continues, “There is joy in the water that ‘has the power / to make his auntie’s hair curl’ and danger in water that can ‘turn hardened men into narcs.’ This poem deals with the legacy of water and Blackness, the not knowing how to swim (‘we do not go in’) and water as a path to freedom. It’s a call and response that beckons us to dream with this Black boy and to dream of/in water.”

Ed Madden, who is the Jasper Project’s literary editor, having selected poetry contributors to Fall Lines since our begging, writes about adjudicating the Saluda River Prize for Poetry. “While I love the meditative language of Randy Spencer’s "Reading Ann's Poem..." and the unemotional attention to the things we do in Worthy Evans’ "Blues Song...," and the humor of Debra Daniel’s "Studies in Reproduction"—all that to say this is a tough decision—I decided on Brian Slusher’s "Improv 101" as the winner of the Saluda River Prize for Poetry this year. While there is so much to love in all of the finalist poems, this poem has such a playfulness that almost-but-not-quite distracts from its serious lessons, every instruction for improv comedy also resonating with so many other possibilities. Say yes and....  Why don't we just let it go?” Madden continues, “The wild pacing of the poem suggests the wild pacing of improv--as if to suggest that poetry itself is a kind of improvisation. (And isn't it?) And that last double simile is so so delightful.”  

For Boiter, it was an honor, though also a challenge, to read and adjudicate this volume’s prose submissions. “As a prose and creative non-fiction writer myself, I find that I always learn something from reading the widely varied contributions to Fall Lines. In Suzanne Kamata’s ‘Community Building,’ for example, I vicariously learned about the awkward enthusiasm of actively participating in a culture foreign to one’s own. As a person who had once felt so out of touch with the portion of my peer group that valued conformity, Evelyn Berry’s “The Home Party” reminded me of the darker days of my early thirties and the frustration and shame of trying to fit in among people for whom I had no admiration and little respect. I think many readers will commiserate with the satisfying sense of personal growth I felt, and Berry’s main character begins to feel, at having extracted oneself from the kind of dangerous women Berry writes about and ensconced oneself in a community of forward-thinking artists and progressives. But it was in Liz Newall’s ‘Red Hill Fans’ that I was most carried away by the storytelling and the plot twists that have always inspired me both as a writer and a reader. For that reason, and more, I selected Newell’s ‘Red Hill Fans’ as the winner of the Broad River Prize for Prose.” 

The Jasper Project wants to thank Richland Library, Lee Snelgrove, One Columbia for Arts and Culture, Xavier Blake, the South Carolina Academy of Authors, Wilmot Irving, Mary Beth Evans, Ed Madden, and Jennifer Bartell Boykin.

Congratulations to Liz Newell, Alyssa Stewart, Brian Slusher, and all the accepted contributors to this historic issue of Fall Lines – a literary convergence.

 Mark your calendars!

Sunday May 19th 2:30 pm

Richland Library

1431 Assembly Street, Columbia, SC

Mirci’s 52 Windows Artist Feature – Daniel Flores

52 Windows – An Evening of Art is the annual art auction and gala hosted by Columbia’s own Mental Illness Recovery Center, Inc. (Mirci). Jasper has been proud to share the wonderous work that both Mirci and the artists invited to participate in the gala have done, and we are excited to share with our readers the great artists featured this year. The gala is from 6 – 9 p.m. on May 9, 2024, at 701 Whaley. This week, we’re talking about another featured 52 Windows artist, Daniel Flores.

Daniel Flores is a trans artist and community organizer. He was born in Mexico and has lived in South Carolina for the past 21 years. As a DACA recipient and son of two immigrant parents, he generally focuses his art and organizing on Latinx/immigrant and LGBTQ+ issues; often mixing the two in a style called Artivism. His artistic career began at age 17 with his short film, 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, which was inspired by his experience as a trans man. This film was screened at the 2016 Indie Grits Film Festival. In 2017, he designed La Jotería, a queer spin on la Lotería, which was featured in 𝘙𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘻𝘤𝘭𝘢. Other works include realizing the first Queer Latinx float at South Carolina Pride 2018, where he had the privilege of serving as Grand Marshal of the Parade; Las Casitas, an installation honoring children and trans Latinx women who were murdered by ICE; and most recently, Pequeños Alebrijes, a mural in which he collaborated with 18 immigrant, ESOL elementary school students. Currently, he is working on a new Artivism piece that will bring to light transphobia, along with many other issues facing our communities.

Interested in attending the 52 Windows Gala? Tickets are available through the MIRCI website. Early bird pricing for individual and couple tickets is enacted through April 17.

Poetry of the People – Ashley Crout

This week's poet of the people is Ashley Crout. I met Ashley a few months ago and since then I have heard her do readings and had lunch with her and another friend. It is like we have known each other for years. 

You can hear her this Wednesday at Mind Gravy. 04/10 - 7 pm Cool Beans.

Bio

Ashley Crout was born in Charleston, SC, and graduated from Bard College and the MFA program at Hunter College. She is the recipient of a poetry grant from The Astraea Foundation, has received awards from The Academy of American Poets and the Poetry Foundation and is a four-time Pushcart Prize nominee. Her work has been published in Michigan Quarterly Review, New Orleans Review, Atticus Review and Dodging the Rain, among others. She lives in Greenville, SC, with her hound, Stella.

CLOSED ADOPTION

All I knew of my birth mother then
was the fierce red color of her hair
that burned away any usual humanness,
her build still slight with youth
and her love of the horses she rode
across the mind of my childhood.
I filled my room with horse figurines
so that we would have something shared
between us when she came one day
to find me. But sometimes what is missing,
does not know how to return. You find
yourself seeking the safety of certain devotion
such as the loyalty of vaguely human horses
like the ones in westerns who know how
to head home if ever they are separated
from their cowboy in the course of the story.
I cannot end this with even a brief singular nod
of acknowledgement. I saw her once
decades too late, the woman who carried my life
until it could be separated from hers.
I recognized her the way I know myself
in the mirror. She moved as I moved. Her face
was trapped in my face. I would not let her out.
I had never resembled anyone. You would think
it would have connected us. I was once
brand new in the world. I needed her then
is what I said during our single intersection.
She had no language for how she heard this,
did not respond. I considered being devastated,
then I decided to take my life back.
I pictured all my horses restless in the barn,
alerting me to a dangerous presence, a coming
storm indifferent to my safety, my survival,
the interdependent structures of my house.
You’ve grown old, I might say. I will outlive you.

SONNET IN A TIME OF CONTAGION

A slant rain deadens the night-dark highway.
There’s something I’m trying to leave behind.
In some yesterday, a new disease came.
You now must hold yourself still in stopped time,
 
stand at a remove from the living world—
seen but unheard, your voice hushed by distance.
Skin on skin touch forbidden, that’s the curse.
You could be coated with it. That’s the dance.
 
You could look like yourself but carry it,
sicken someone, accidental murder.
You could hate it but find you’ve married it.
This has happened before. It grows further.
 
I mean your death could stand right next to you
and you wouldn’t know it. You wouldn’t move.

WOMAN WHO SAID $37 MILLION JACKPOT WIN HAD RUINED HER LIFE FOUND DEAD IN HER HOME

And so it seems you cannot buy your way out of lonely.
 
How many years did she string her
luckiest numbers together looking
to match the winning sequence
before the unlikely day that she did.
 
She had not meant an avalanche of dollars
but the people she believed they would draw
towards her. She had never before been special
to anyone. She had outlived an entire line
of women who aged unwitnessed, unmentioned
by any voice in any room.
 
Some tragedies are about what does not happen.
 
Maybe she sat in her usual house, and the money
overwhelmed her with its possibles, its faces
of former rulers as immovable as the dead become.
Maybe she waited for the townsfolk to begin
to swarm their singular greeding hive mind
at her property’s edge. She dreamed of crowds
that at once would know her, at once would love her
if only they all drew together imitating an embrace.
 
There is no account of the how it had,
as she is said to have said, left her life a ruin.
Maybe it could never have been enough
for the madness of hands sticky with want
that surrounded her mother’s mother’s house
and outstretched their temporary mouths
revealing the entire top rows of their teeth.
 
Maybe all those who beamed at her briefly,
just polite enough to make their faces grateful,
bought garish gleaming boats and sailed away.
Maybe she felt smaller then as if seen
from a distance until she was almost an absence
like the failure of light outside her windows.
Even her body left her alone in her sleep.
 
Authorities found her days too late – unable
to separate what once she was, a physical house
abandoned, from the thin sheet she’d drawn to her
as one does when desperate for the necessity
of touch. Maybe, in her wealth of grief, she submitted
to sleep so fully, its shutdown of conscious
calculated wants, that it kept her body in such
a stillness that it never moved again. Maybe
she lost all knowledge of how to lift herself out
 
again into the gold sun, the sight of its glare
like coins placed on the eyes of the dead.

LAND DWELLLERS

When you are inhabited by a geography, its waters –
the animal scent of the marsh, the brine-soak
of the ocean – rise into your mouth. You swallow.
 
You are never not swallowing. Its land hums under
your feet. You cannot place the song. Its land loosens
into silt. The rust red dust sinks, is sinking, until it settles
 
on the flat of your diaphragm. To breathe, you have to
lift entire cities as if holding an offering up to God, excavate
your body from the roots of the family that named you.
 
You never had their thick drawl in your mouth, how it
stretches every word backwards into a story that glories
the past. Your mother and your mother’s mother could
 
have been someone but they only sat watching the world.
Slatted rocking chairs cast them forward then back
then back. The slowed sound of their language lingers,
 
like the crushed lavender scent at their necks, long
after it means whatever it meant. Your chest is resonant
with human voice. You are both the house and the one
 
locked out, your flushed face cooling against the windows.
One day you will run. One day you will run back
for the same reasons that you left. You are populated
 
both with those whose sins are unforgivable and those
who prophet a God to them. Every one of them, every last
one of them, is yours. Every goddamn one of them is you.

Preview: 15 Years After Its Premiere, Francis Marion Produces Jon Tuttle’s The Sweet Abyss on Occasion of His Retirement

Dr. Jon Tuttle is a lover of drama—and not just hearing what his wife’s best friend’s sister told her mom yesterday. The about-to-be-retired professor (34 years!) of Modern and American Drama, Playwriting, and the literature of the Vietnam War at Francis Marion University (FMU) has penned a plethora of plays. It is a bibliography so impressive it has earned him the title of Playwright-in-Residence at Columbia’s Trustus Theatre.

His plays, published and produced across the nation, include The Hammerstone, Drift, Holy Ghost, The Palace of the Moorish Kings, and Boy About Ten. The Sweet Abyss, first written over a decade ago, is getting a fresh revival at Francis Marion University’s Hyman Fine Arts Center April 15-16.

The Sweet Abyss follows a single woman, Cassandra, whose closest relationship is with her beloved cat, Izzy. Unfortunately, as all things do, Izzy passes—in his mom’s arms—causing a rift in Cass’ life that she is not sure how to remedy. Through devastation and humor alike, the play presents “a rumination on morality and personal journey through sorrow and back, ultimately, to a newly negotiated comfort.”

Premiering in 2009 at Trustus, the play is coming up on its 15th anniversary, and this 2024 version has Dawn Larsen, Francis Marion professor of drama, at the helm as director.

“Dawn likes to bring her own interpretation to a script, as all directors should, and not shackle herself to stage directions, and I appreciate that,” Tuttle shares. “I was very encouraged by the read-through, I must say, because at a crucial moment—the euthanizing of a cat—everybody was weeping. I took that as an indication that everyone had been through that experience and was reliving it, and that’s a very important component to the play.”

Cats are particularly important to the faculty, staff, and students at Francis Marion. The campus is, simply, rife with cats, and while some places may eschew this, the community here has embraced it. The campus has a handful of cat shelters and a shed-turned-bungalow, professors/staff who take cats in for neutering, and student workers who are paid to feed them. Naturally then, it is FMU students and faculty—namely Tuttle’s friends Keith Best and Doug Gray—who serve as cast in this cat-centered play.

“This is a closely-knit, very collegial faculty, and this production is just more evidence of that,” Tuttle says. “I’m very touched that my colleagues would lend their talents to my play—to my career—in this way, and send me off on such a good note.” 

More intimately, though, is the original inspiration for the play, which was the loss of Tuttle’s own cat, also named Izzy, who passed in his arms after a battle with diabetes. Shortly after, his cat Gato would pass as well. The grief that these back-to-back losses caused were overwhelming and surprising. Though he had experienced loss before and knew these losses would be difficult, he did not anticipate how all-encompassing the loss of his cats would be.

The original cast of The Sweet Abyss, starring Elena Martínez-Vidal as Cassandra

“I think the reason these losses hit me so hard was that there were times in my life when certain relationships were temporary or transitory or problematic, but not those with my cats,” he reflects. “They knew so much about me and followed me around and seemed to feel it important that they be near me as often as they could. These are very deep friendships, I’m saying, and I relied on them as much as they relied on me to take care of them.”  

Tuttle and Cass become aligned figures, who try to overcome their grief and paralysis, but much like Cass, soon into writing Tuttle learned that he “could not solve death.” As he revised the play in its early forms, he stopped trying to find answers, finding meaning instead in the stillness, the mere existence of living with grief.

“In the end the play had to be about something else—in this case the need to fill those empty spaces with the things that are right in front of us, to recognize the blessings around us and to appreciate what Thornton Wilder meant when he said, ‘there is only life,’” Tuttle emphasizes. 

This perpetuating reality is evident even as the play has shifted through time, which Tuttle emphasizes has not changed the play’s topic—time cannot touch the feelings of such loss. He recalls the Trustus premiere, when friends and patrons alike came up to share stories of their lost pets, and this sense of community brought him a great sense of joy. When Muddy Ford Press published The Trustus Collection (2019), he realized The Sweet Abyss stood out as a of favorite in his oeuvre—it stands up to and through time, in part because of how intertwined it is with Tuttle’s own identity and life.

“For a long time I kind of felt embarrassed about writing a play about my dead damn cats but now I’m proud of it and glad that it reminds me of them and of that time in my life and that it will happen again, because I’ll never not have cats,” he shares. “I need that uncomplex companionship, and so I think does everyone else.”

This sitting in loss, the ways it is mundane and absurd, and being forced to look at it for what it is, even without easy answers—or any answers at all—is key to the play and its story. We have all been Cass, and will be again, where our losses permeate through our skin and into our everyday lives. And perhaps we should not try to run away from the pain as much as it aches, for the ache is a reminder of the life once threaded through our own.

“The last image in the play—a light narrowing and narrowing on what is in effect a reliquary—is my way of emphasizing the permanence of what is lost. How many times have we read things like ‘nothing ever really dies.’ That notion recurs everywhere. I believe that notion,” Tuttle stresses. “To this day those cats and other pets I’ve lost remain very much in my consciousness and help me navigate difficult times.”

More details for how to witness The Sweet Abyss are available at Francis Marion’s website. It will be performed at the Hyman Fine Arts Center on FMU’s campus (4822 E. Heyward Drive, Florence, SC) on April 15th and 16th. The performance is free and open to the public. Note that, while the poster has the dates 11-13, the correct dates are the 15-16.

This production is a nod to the legacy of Dr. Tuttle as he steps down from his role at a university where he has so often and for so long been a shining beacon for students.

Oh, and, yes, this production features a live cat.

Black Nerd Mafia Presents All My Friends are Dope – An Immersive Interactive Art Experience

“All my friends are dope, you could pull a name out of a hat and whatever name you pulled would be amazing”

This brag about members of Black Nerd Mafia’s artist collective, The Cool Table, from founder and Jasper Project board member, Kwasi Brown, last year was the inspiration for their upcoming event: All My Friends are Dope – An Immersive Interactive Art Experience. Returning for a second year on Saturday, April 6th at the Ernest A. Finney Cultural Arts Center, the experience features a variety of art disciplines. The event starts at 5pm and features a panel conversation, poets, visual artists, and live music. The lineup includes Tam the Vibe, Eezy Olah, Kenya T, Airborne Audio, Cre the Creative, Wannapoundjuu, Niyah Dreams, Moonkat Daddi, Kuma The Ambassador, Yyusri, Dooozy, AC3 Sage, Bugsy Calhoun, Roc Bottom Studios, Dogon Krigga, Jakeem Da Dream, Dr. Napoleon Wells, Deidra Morrison Wells, and TBRH Co-Heaux. There will also be food trucks and vendors as well.

Check out the video below from last year’s event and learn more about Black Nerd Mafia in the Fall 2023 Issue of Jasper Magazine.

Facebook Event

Poetry of the People - Jennifer Bartell Boykin

This week's Poet of the People is Jennfer Bartell Boykin. I first met Jennifer when she was a student at the University of South Carolina and she has graced the mic of poetry events I host in the Midlands. She is busy advocating for poetry throughout our community and I encourage you to hear her if you have an opportunity.; she is an insightful and delightful poet and serves us the Poet Laureate of Columbia, SC. - you won't be disappointed.

Bio:
Jennifer Bartell Boykin is from Bluefield, a Black community in Johnsonville, South Carolina. She is the Poet Laureate of Columbia, South Carolina, writes poetry and nonfiction and teaches in Columbia, SC. http://www.jenniferbartellpoet.com/
She has a new book, 'Traveling Mercy.'

Your Grandfather’s Collard Green Patch

I watch the boys play
at a tailgate of his truck.
Or I should say only one
is kneeling in the dirt.
Three black boys. Two black men.
In a field between Lynchburg
and Bishopville. Where the cotton
has already been picked, piled, and hauled
off. Their grandfather’s collard greens
stand proud in the background.
The one kneeling is listening
to the dirt, learning how to make
it yield. And it is the granddad’s
voice that whispers back into his
ear. The collard greens standing
proudly in the background, their price
already haggled. They will be New Year’s
greens with the field peas and black eyed-peas,
our chance for good luck even though
Omicron is looming, and Delta has yet to leave.
But still the grandfather smiles and the grandsons
laugh, because this overcast Wednesday
is one more day.

Waiting: Starbucks on Piney Grove

for Mary Kathryn Coleman

 Feels like I’ve been here before but
it is the first time. I’m trying to be
within myself. I’m looking out of the
window at the yellow and black design
of Waffle House. I am sipping my coffee
drink, that is more than just coffee;
my coffee game is notoriously weak.
My father drank Sanka. Instant
coffee. That’s decaffeinated. And that
is my coffee blood line. I’m trying
to get some writing done. I’m trying
not to look at the three teenagers
together, but not, each on their phones,
a convex mirror to the outside world.
This is how to hang with your friends
and not. In this world we have managed
to build for ourselves. To be trapped in
the orbit of our own small illuminated
planet. The baristas are baristering.
People come in and out,
some to pick up their mobile orders,
others to get orders to go. The only
other person in here is a guy on his laptop.
Is this his office? A woman comes in with
her daughter. I am waiting for my friend
who I haven’t seen in months, who has
had a baby since last I saw her, who has
bought a house. The guy on his laptop
is packing up. He is moving on too, but
here I will remain, to wait for my friend.
To see her and smile, and laugh
because it’s been too long because of life,
but because of COVID too. Thanksgiving
is tomorrow, and most days I am grateful
for the simple breath that keeps this body
upright from day to day. Thanksgiving
is a Day of Mourning. But I am going to go
to somebody’s house and eat some macaroni
and cheese. It better be good. I digress.
There’s wonder in the wait. The Always Open,
the hotels and restaurants that surround this place,
the interstate just in the distance.

 Home

for Monifa Lemons

 Santee, you see is where you meet me,
with arms like poetry flung wide
and a smile
that could love and cut
at the same time. 

When you think of South Carolina,
you think of home and where
the ancestors walked and where,
if you are real quiet and still,
you can hear the Spanish moss
whispering your name. 

Santee, you see, is where us tribe be,
but us tribe be in the air and everywhere
and infinity times two. At Santee we got
poetry and poetry got us.

Muh knee is fa’ praying
and Monifa praying that
BLACK LIVES MATTER
BLACK POETS MATTER
SC is ours. They can’t have it.

Santee, you see, is where you met me,
but not where you left me.
We walk this dirt road to find
The Watering Hole, to find the sweet water
that sustains us in these bitter times.
And the dirt road welcomes you back,
remembers your footprints, and the prayers
you sent. The dust underneath your feet
exhales: Welcome Home.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

for Blless

They’re back in their spawn
Oh, damn. Here we go again. I’m trying
to level this fucking Kar.

What you doing? I’m ‘bout to eat soup
my wife made for me.
I need to level up my gun. It’s dumb

slow: this call of duty
of working all day, creating truth from beats,
and melodies from the vision of a future 

that will never come. Maybe I win today. Damn.
He is garbage. Finding peace
at being who you are gets tiring and over-

rated as most games are. Win.
Defeat. Coalition. Begin. You, being
the one that fell again. The one who got up.

This Road I Take

Whether it slithers like the satan-
like snake or lies flat like a sheet
on a freshly made bed, we must
travel either way. Peace, be
like a sword. Traveling mercy,
follow me wherever I may go.
Joy, don’t forget me at night
either; I need you then too.
Grief, my life partner, don’t
be as cruel in the end as you
were in the beginning. Whether
it be forked or diverging in a woods,
I know not. I must travel it,
I must come to know
each bog and bump on this road.
Though it is not smooth
the whole way, I made it.
And I had so many along the way
to give me cool drinks of water.

Sonya Diimmler and more to feature at 52 Windows – An Evening of Art by Mirci

52 Windows – An Evening of Art is the annual art auction and gala hosted by Columbia’s own Mental Illness Recovery Center, Inc. (Mirci). Jasper has been proud to share the wonderous work that both Mirci and the artists invited to participate in the gala have done, and we are excited to share with our readers the great artists featured this year. The gala is from 6 – 9 p.m. on May 9, 2024, at 701 Whaley. One featured artist in this year’s lineup is Sonya Diimmler.

Sonya Diimmler is known or her dramatic use of color in her contemporary landscapes and bold abstracts. The largely self taught artist was featured at Columbia Metropolitan Airport in 2021 and has had several shows at Rob Shaw Gallery in West Columbia and High Noon in Ballentine. Last October Sonya was the featured artist for USC’s School of Music’s edgy Southern Exposure concert. Currently a dynamic collection of Sonya’s abstracts is on display at the new Soulhaus Gallery in Columbia’s trendy Vista district.

Sonya’s Artist Statement: “Painting is –regardless of subject– an emotional and physical response to the world. My process is an alla prima pouring out of paint and silenced emotions. Their escape onto the canvas informs my style, my voice. Whether painting colorfully exaggerated landscapes or abstracts, it is the energy of mark making – the full body engagement of line and gesture, that makes art making so exciting, so satisfying, providing some sort of elusive existential balm, a fusion of self and the cosmos. For this reason, I prefer to paint large and loose without regard for the details of realism.” 

Interested in attending the 52 Windows Gala? Tickets are available through the Mirci website website. Early bird pricing for individual and couple tickets is enacted through April 17.

Review: NiA Theatre Company’s Production of Pass Over Hosts Powerful and Haunting Performances

Antoinette Nwandu’s Pass Over, inspired by Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, originally premiered in 2017. The production, turned into a film by Spike Lee, follows two black men in a liminal space, both outside of time and stuck within it. It is a play where everything and nothing happens, that both absorbs your projections onto it and drapes you in its meaning.

NiA Theatre Company’s production of Pass Over opened last weekend and aptly utilizes the space of the University of South Carolina’s black box at the Booker T. Washington building. Known as the Lab Theatre, the intimate space adds to the claustrophobia of the play. The set design, done by Cedric Umoja-Day, provides a backdrop that roots the characters to the unnamed city they’re stuck in. The newspaper headlines read as if from another time, but the scraps of cloth and scattered belongings create an image of an alley that could be around the corner today. Spatially, it becomes a tether that constantly pulls the actors back in, contributing to the lack of freedom physically and thematically.

The costume designing by Taylor Thompson (who also did props) amplifies this. Moses and Kitch’s looks are understated and allow their performances to shine. Kitch’s outfit appears fairly contemporary and could be from any year in the past few decades, while Moses’ could be from anytime in the past century. The outfit on Rob McCue’s Mister, as well as his picnic basket, emphasizes him as a man of a different time, which adds to the audience’s unease even when he is not speaking.

What most keenly emphasizes the tense nature of the play, however, is the tremendous acting by the small cast of three. McCue as Mister is able to serve nuance in his eerie toxic positivity that walks the line between genuine and malicious. His police officer (“Ossifer”) is everything it should be – awful and manipulative. Mario Haynes as Kitch is funny, innocent, naïve – and yet his coming of age is served in moments of quiet that steal your breath. He is fully in control of actions loud and soft. He is, in short, the heart of the play. The leading role here, Moses, played by Darion McCloud (who also served as the Assistant Director), is the standout of the production. He is simply magnetic, electric, and it is hard to take your eyes off him. His joy, his anger, his confidence, his fear, his power, his loss – it is all palpable. He is the driving force of the show. There is no doubt this is anyone but Moses: this is all he has ever been, all he will be, and this is enough, even when it isn’t.

All these decisions, nuanced and loud alike, are led by Lonetta Thompson as director; at the helm, she steers this ship expertly. Having her cast move across the space, sitting even in the alcoves and stairs adjacent to the audience pulls the audience into it, collapsing boundaries and expanding the liminality’s borders. We cannot refuse our participation, our culpability. The decision to keep the play farcical with constant movement and exaggerated actions helps contrast with the emotional aspects of the play, making the moments of shock and loss sit even heavier.

This is a story where archetype and individuality are always in contest, and crafting it takes time and care, which is seen throughout. There were a couple stumbles, though minor. The lighting (led by Teddy Palmer) was great, used evenly in the first half and used to focus on certain characters as well as denote the passage of time in the second. At times, though, especially in the second half, the lighting shifts in a way that could be paralleling the breakdown of the play’s structure, but does not have quite enough intentionality to be clear. The sound design (led by Madeline Lewis) was solid, but all sounds were at a similar level. The faraway gunshots and the on-scene gunshots sounded identical, and the speech was louder than the gunshots. These are very minute slips in a fantastic production that rarely takes the audience out of the story.

In the end, this is a play where simplicity is everything, and working to amplify what is there without complicating it is a fine line. This team walks this line expertly, an act that cannot be so tidy without a stellar stage manager, a role filled by Colleen Kelly. Pass Over has an excellent book, but this particular production steeps you in it, making these two black men’s entrapment haunt patrons long after they leave the theatre.

If Columbia patrons can see it this final weekend before it leaves, they should. Tickets are available online.

THE JASPER PROJECT PARTNERS WITH THE SC PHILHARMONIC ON THE ART OF SYMPHONY

“Eyes closed, I listened to the piece and was surprised by the immediate imagery I experienced …” - Eileen Blyth

The Jasper Project is delighted to announce a collaborative project with the South Carolina Philharmonic – THE ART OF SYMPHONY.  

When Chad Henderson, marketing director for the South Carolina Philharmonic, first posited the idea for the Art of Symphony project to Jasper, they were immediately intrigued. As Henderson explained, the SC Philharmonic had scheduled an upcoming concert on April 27, 2024, at the Koger Center for the Arts, around which the SC Phil hoped to engage with local visual artists. The concert would feature: Karen Tanaka’s Rose Absolute, Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op.33, and Shostakovich’s Symphony Number 5 in D Minor, Op. 47 and be conducted by Morihiko Nakahara featuring guest artist Sterling Elliott on cello. Henderson proposed that the music be divided into 14 singular sections and the Jasper Project invite and work with 14 of the Midlands’ finest visual artists, who would each respond to a unique piece of music artistically.

The newly created art will be projected on screens during the live performance of each of the 14 sections of music, as well as presented as an arts exhibition in Jasper’s Nook Gallery on the grand tier level of the Koger Center for the Arts.

The Art of Symphony Art Exhibition will open on Thursday evening, April 18, 2024, with a reception that is open to the public from 5:30 – 7 pm. The Art of Symphony Symphonic Convergence of Music & Visual Art will take place on Saturday, April 27th with the concert at 7:30 pm and a Meet the Artist Reception in the Nook Gallery at 6 pm. 

In keeping with the Jasper Project’s founding priority of cultivating multidisciplinary collaboration, Jasper will also publish a book of the featured art, entitled The Art of Symphony, which will be available for purchase at both events. 

The 14 visual artists participating in the project include Fred Townsend, Wilma King, Lori Isom- Starnes, Eileen Blyth, Stephen Chesley, Thomas Washington, K. Wayne Thornley, Alejandro Garcia-Lemos, Anthony Lewis, Lindsay Radford Wiggins, Michael Krajewski, Keith Tolen, Regina Langston, and Laura Garner Hine. Garcia-Lemos created an animated short in response to his designated section of music which will be shown on monitors in the Koger Center lobby before the concert, during intermission, and at The Art of Symphony Art Exhibition opening on April 18th. 

Eileen Blyth, who created Overheard Overhead in response to the first movement of the Shostakovich Symphony No. 5, said, “Eyes closed, I listened to the piece and was surprised by the immediate imagery I experienced. I was eye level before a roof top. Bird-like objects dipped and soared. Buildings stretched tall and then wide, up and down, back and forth. Objects moved in harmony. I saw the Maestro in my painting directing the symphony of shapes, lines, and color.”

Wilma King, who painted in response to the third movement of the Shostakovich said, “This project, much like a symphony itself, goes deep into the hearts, minds, talents, and expressions of myriad artists, culminating the various parts and facets into this paramount event.”

For more information visit JasperProject.org or SCPhilharmonic.com.

Jasper Partners with One Columbia & All Good Books to present 2024 ONE BOOK Project -- Book Announcement Celebration April 21st at Bierkeller

A few hints: the author lives, works, and writes in Columbia, the book’s theme centers around nature, environmental responsibility, and climate change, and there are characters in the book that transcend perceived racial, gender, sexual orientation, and even biological divisions to remind us that we are all citizens of this planet.

The public is invited to join the Jasper Project, One Columbia, and All Good Books, along with our host, Bierkeller Brewing Company on Sunday afternoon, April 21st from 3 – 5 pm for the announcement of our new book selection for Columbia’s 2024 ONE BOOK project!

As an Earth Day Eve event, the Bierkeller has invited representatives from local environmental organizations to be on hand to help us set the stage for the announcement of this year’s book selection.

A few hints: the author lives, works, and writes in Columbia, the book’s theme centers around nature, environmental responsibility, and climate change, and there are characters in the book that transcend perceived racial, gender, sexual orientation, and even biological divisions to remind us that we are all citizens of this planet.

Columbia city poet laureate Jennifer Bartell Boykin will read a poem dedicated to the city, and southeastern regional poetry event host Al Black has created a new poem inspired by the selected book. Dr. Melissa Stuckey, USC professor of History, will speak as will One Columbia’s Xavier Blake, All Good Book’s Jared Johnson, and the Jasper Project’s Cindi Boiter. There will be an interactive arts table for the children, environmental information booths, and various arts and crafts vendors will share their wares and talents with attendees. And, of course, beer, wine, and authentic German dishes will be available from the Bierkeller.

In addition to announcing the calendar of events for Columbia’s 2024 ONE BOOK  celebration, the pre-Earth Day event will also allow for the announcement of a Jasper Project – sponsored and ONE BOOK - inspired visual art, literary art, and singer-songwriter competition open to Midlands area artists with prizes and a 2024 ONE BOOK culminating party on September 22, 2024.

The ONE BOOK, One Community project began in the Seattle public library system in 1998 when Seattle librarians invited the community of greater Seattle to read and discuss the same book over the course of a summer. Columbia embraced the project first in 2011, and we enjoyed several years of exciting, thought-provoking programming centered around a singular book. One of our most exciting projects was in 2017 when the Columbia community read local author Carla Damron's novel The Stone Necklace, a detailed and ultimately uplifting story focusing on the power of community to combat poverty and homelessness and set in Columbia. Along with One Columbia for Arts and Culture and independent bookstore All Good Books, the Jasper Project has renewed the project focusing exclusively on books by SC authors.

While the title of the book remains embargoed until April 21st, media representatives may be made aware of the information upon request.

What will the selection for Columbia’s 2024 One Book be? Join us on April 21st from 3 – 5 pm at the Bierkeller, 600 Canal Street, Suite 1009 to find out!

For more information contact info@JasperProject.org

This week's Poet of the People is Kathleen Nalley!

This week's Poet of the People is Kathleen Nalley. I first met Kathleen at an event hosted by Kwami Dawes. Since then she has journeyed down to the Midlands several times to read at events I have hosted and I have had the privilege to read a time or two with her in the Upstate. She is a force of nature - a strong wind of sanity blowing from the foothills of South Carolina.

-Al Black

Kathleen Nalley is the author of the prose poetry collection, Gutterflower (winner of the Bryant-Lisembee Editor’s Prize), as well as the poetry chapbooks Nesting Doll (winner of the S.C. Poetry Initiative Prize) and American Sycamore. Her poetry and book reviews have appeared in New Flash Fiction Review, Slipstream, Limp Wrist, Rivet, Southern Humanities Review, The Bitter Southerner, StorySouth, and elsewhere, and her poetry has been anthologized in several collections. She received Jasper’s Saluda River Prize for Poetry in Fall Lines in 2016 and was heralded by the Richland Library as one of “10 SC Poets to Watch.” She’s participated in several community poetry projects in Columbia and Greenville, S.C.--most recently, in coordination with Greenville Poet Laureate Glenis Redmond for the Greenville Transit Poetry Project and for the Metropolitan Arts Council of Greenville’s Visual and Verse exhibit. Over the years, she has served as poetry editor of south85 literary journal, as an adjudicator for the Fine Arts Center of Greenville, as a judge for the SC State Library’s annual student poetry contest, and as a board member of the Emrys Foundation. She currently teaches literature and writing at Clemson University.

The Last Man on the Moon

Everyone knows Neil Armstrong: Staypuft moon walker, American posterboy, question to Jeopardy answer. The way Aldrin was all the buzz. Everyone loves firsts: first date, first love, first sex, first lunar walk. No one talks of lasts: marathon walker, buffalo corpse, minimum-wage worker, the sister not quick enough to the table, Eugene Cernan, who drove a lunar rover a mile, then knelt and traced his daughter’s initials—TDC— into dust. Cernan: the last man on the moon, the end of a legacy. The Omega. The Z. The period at the end of a sentence. The one whose name we don’t remember. The one who etched his daughter into the cosmos.

Black Dress

Although your mother cooked

pasta, lasagna, tiramisu,

you weren’t allowed to eat

more than three bites,

always a size two, to stay a size two,

always a halved grapefruit

on the counter, a bowl of peaches

rinsed of their syrup, fists

measuring perfect portions.

Boyfriends knew to deny you

milkshakes at the Starlite Drive-In,

where high school lovers swarmed

the parking lot, having only a few

hours before fathers would go looking.

You subsisted on Saltines

for weeks before senior prom;

the black dress your mother made

intentionally a size too small,

her tape measure lassoed

around your 21-inch waist.

Now, in the mirror, all you see

is what you never were,

fat and bulge and droop, the last

bobby-socked girl to be asked

to dance. Now, laugh lines

corner your mouth.

You don’t remember being

beautiful, the powder blue

eyeshadow, the brown scalloped

lace, your hi-rise and hospital job

in Charlotte, flirting with young plastic

surgeons who cut skin open,

lifted spleens to tables, painted

skin with scalpels.

Mid-life, you’ve got wonderfully

open carotids, jeans that fit,

secret cravings and scales

like gargoyles in every room

watching over the numbers,

those damn numbers that creep

into your sleep, wake you

in a panic, as if you’re walking

late to class naked, as if there’s

an algebra test you forgot to take.

Behind the louvers of your closet,

the perfect little black dress

in case someone dies.

 Judicial Hearing Ghazal

The girls school girls—were they were dressed to impress
the boys school boys at the weekend parties on your calendar?

Another beer down the hatch, another punch bowl to spike, another girl to access,
another notch on your belt, another to-do checked off of your calendar.

The boys lined up in trousers and ties, dressed for success—
a train of future executives and judges with no time on their calendars.

Punch-drunk, literally, those girls that you pressed
against you—funny, their names don’t appear on your calendar.

One says you forcibly groped, shifted her dress:
unmentionables unmentioned on your calendar.

Another says luckily she had emergency egress
before more harm could be done. She kept an emotional calendar.

The women who’ve come forward, their memories repressed
years, decades—did they keep calendars? (And how were they dressed?)

The parties, the drinks, the boys, their aggressions—details from all three coalesce,
details corroborated, at least, in part, by your calendar.

They’ve experienced PTSD for decades, traumatic duress
while you climbed the ladder, made appointments on your calendar.

A limited investigation, limited witnesses addressed
within a limited scope—the vote already fixed on the calendar.

Women know how it goes. #metoo. #whyIneverreported. We persist, nevertheless.
Take it on oath: November 5 circled in red,
                                                                          circled in red, circled in red
                                                                                                          on our calendars.

Life Sentence

In 2014, Oskar Gröning, 93-­‐year-­‐old former Nazi accountant, was charged with 300,000 counts of accessory to murder

For 60 years, you’ve sought absolution

in birds,

their wingtip and beak,

their freedom of flight.

You dumped 661 pounds

of seed in your yard,

shallow bowls overflowing,

just so you could pass the years

witnessing their formation: always a V,

nary a soldier not following suit.

Sixty years you’ve waited, contemplated

your garden, your lawn pocked

by all those small empty saucers.

What Man’s Hands Wrought

Long before there was fracking there was you unearthing the very earth digging trenches in soil spilling your chemical goo turning mud to muck leaving nutrients to dry fuck you nature heals herself in time even the most eroded can make anew grow pickups from seed littered the wind always knows what to do carry things away carry things where they will bloom wildflowers color the landscape permeate the air oh her honeysuckle hue she’s wild always wild always remade no matter the matter or intrusion or drilling or fracture believe her she will

Taking Root: The Artfields Collection at 701 CCA

Taking Root: The ArtFields Collection   

3/28/24   

6:00-8:00 

Taking Root: The ArtFields Collection is an exhibition presenting select pieces from the ArtFields Competition prize winners over the last 12 years. Figurative and representational work dominates the collection and the presentation shows the volume and expanse of southeastern talent. On view at 701 CCA March 28 through May 18th, this exhibition highlights the living, breathing proof of the power of art.  

Opening reception March 28, 6-8pm, in the Olympia Room, 2nd floor at 701 Whaley Street, Columbia, SC. 

*Cash Bar and light refreshments served. 

Featured Artist at Jasper's Sidewalk Gallery at the Meridian Building - Gretchen Evans Parker

Gretchen Evans Parker

Gretchen Evans Parker, CPSA/CPX - OTRL/ret., Is a retired pediatric/hippotherapist (horse) occupational therapist. She has embarked on a second career in fine art since retiring. The avant garde medium of colored pencil allows her to achieve great detail and realism in her paintings. In her wildest dreams, Gretchen could never imagine how well-received her art would be nor where it would take her.  

Her commissioned portraits hang in homes around the Midlands and North America. Her work has won many awards and honors including signature status in the Colored Pencil Society of America. She is also a juried member of the International Guild of Realism. Gretchen has written extensively on colored pencil artwork.

Her work has been featured in several publications locally, nationally, and internationally. In the evening, to relax from a day at the easel, Gretchen creates baskets from pine needles and found objects. They can take weeks/months to complete. Many become gifts or commissions.

- Kimber Carpenter

Josef Berliner’s “Black and Blues” Collection Now Featured in the Jasper Galleries’ Nook

Reception

Thursday March 21st

5:30 - 7 pm

The Nook at the Koger Center for the Arts

The Jasper Project is proud to welcome Josef Berliner as our new artist-in-residence in the Nook, our gallery location in the Koger Center for the Arts. The opening reception for his show coincides with March’s Third Thursday—the 21st—and goes from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.

Dedicated to making the world a more beautiful place “one canvas at a time,” Josef has held the drive to create art since he was a child. His artistic journey grew with every gifted sketchpad and drawing pencil, until he got to college where he double majored in Theatre and Studio Art.

Josef affixes the signature “Jobey” to his paintings; in Josef’s words, “Jobey is the more outgoing and confident alter ego. Behind the mask is a thoughtful, somewhat shy, and introspective artist.” His confidence as an artist shines through with each portrait in the exhibition, all focused on different Black women musicians who helped shape the blues and jazz scenes.

Josef has been recognized as a contributor to many charitable causes, always willing to give of himself as much as possible. He has been cited for his participation in organizations such as Bullets and Band-Aids, the USC Department of Dance Gala (in which he also serves as a board member), the Atlantic Institute, and was most recently honored as a featured artist for the Artists for Africa winter event.

He works predominantly in oil on canvas, with a keen eye for detail and the innate ability to look far deeper than the mere surface, all the while seeking for a level of perfection that, while perhaps unattainable, is indeed his ultimate and far-reaching goal.

REVIEW: Trustus Theatre's Blues for an Alabama Sky

If there was ever a question whether or not Katrina Garvin is the first lady of Columbia theatre, that question is put to rest in perpetuity with her performance in the role of Angel in Pearl Cleage’s 1995 play, Blues for An Alabama Sky, which opened on March 15th at Trustus Theatre.

Having seen Garvin perform for years now, we knew to expect excellent work from this multi-talented actor, but this particular part allows Garvin the latitude to flex all her chops, from the exuberant and sometimes drunken highs, to the still wistful, but resigned lows. While Blues for the Alabama Sky is not a musical, we do get a nice sampling of Garvin’s considerable vocal talent, which punches up the storyline, making the character of Angel, an out of work singer, even more authentic.

Blues for an Alabama Sky is set in 1930, during the waning days of the Harlem Renaissance, a period of time well after the Great Migration and World War I, but smack in the middle of the Great Depression when the multitudes of Black families and artists who had fled from the South to Harlem were feeling the pressure of unemployment, scarcity, and cultural exploitation by wealthy whites. The play takes place after Garvin’s Angel has just been fired from the famous Cotton Club, Harlem’s pantheon of racial exploitation where Black performing artists like Duke Ellington and Billie Holliday were predominantly featured, but Black audiences were not allowed to enjoy their shows.

As a drunken and hilarious Angel is escorted home by her friend and on-again off-again roommate, Guy, flawlessly played by Lamont Gleaton, a stranger encounters the two and offers to assist Guy in getting Angel safely home. Guy is a gay costume designer in Harlem, but he dreams of traveling to Paris to design wardrobe for the famous ex-pat entertainer, Josephine Baker. The stranger is Leland, also exceptionally well-played by Equity actor, Samuel James Pygatt, who is a conservative Alabama carpenter visiting Harlem after the death of his wife and baby in childbirth. Leland lingers a bit as Guy and Angel go upstairs to Guy’s apartment where next door neighbor and social worker, Delia, played by Courtney Sims helps Guy settle Angel down. Delia is an employee of famed birth control activist Margaret Sanger and hopes to help Sanger establish a family planning clinic in Harlem. The next day we also meet Sam, played by William Paul Brown, who is an obstetric physician at a Harlem hospital with a complicated moral compass and a penchant for partying with his friends.

Over the course of the next eight stage weeks we see Angel faced with a number of choices about who controls her future; herself, or the pre-designed culture in which she lives that stacks the deck against a Black woman in a white man’s world. In fact, every character in the play is faced with a similar choice to one degree or another. Will Guy continue to be hopeful of a better future? Will Leland be controlled by his conservative religious roots? Will Delia continue to work for reproductive freedom despite a senseless backlash of violence and destruction? And will Sam compromise his personal values for a friend?

Blues for an Alabama Sky is a study in conflict, represented by the straightforward resignation of the blues versus the progressive complexity of jazz. Traditionalism versus progressivism. Forbearance versus optimism. Guy and Delia versus Leland. And Angel, who vacillates between all positions but must decide her own fate, whether she wants to or not, with Sam left to suffer the consequences of his friend’s not-always-steady decisions.

Blues for an Alabama Sky is also a study in history with notable icons of Black history surfacing in the dialogue and lending even more authenticity to the fictionalized story. In addition to Guy’s preoccupation with Josephine Baker, the friends also attend a party thrown by artist Bruce Nugent in honor of writer Langston Hughes. Margaret Sanger was the founder of Planned Parenthood. Booker T. Washington was the founder of the Tuskegee Institute (University) where Sam went to school. Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. was the founder of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, the largest Protestant Church in the US at the time and the church that Delia attends, and his son, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. who began preaching at his father’s church in 1937 before becoming a member of Congress and advocate for Black voting rights, is teased as her potential suitor.

Opening Night for Blues for an Alabama Sky demonstrated an exceptionally solid cast, well-coached by veteran director Terrance Henderson. The use of alternative entrances to the stage brought the audience into the action from the beginning when Garvey’s Angel caused an appropriate but humorous stir as she made her way, with some intentional effort, to her place. And I’m just going to say it. Katrina Garvey looked beautiful in that black evening dress with bright red lipstick. As my viewing companion said, “She was adorable!”

Kudos to whoever did hair and makeup, as well as to costume designer Tashera Pravato, who dressed Garvin chicly, Sims orthodoxly per Delia’s character, Gleaton snappily with just the right amount of panache, Brown professionally but with a fabulous broad brimmed hat, and Pygatt like the country man come to Harlem that his character was.

Scenic and property design was handled by Ashley Jensen and G. Scott Wild, respectively, who created a textured and cozy period set that kept the audience exploring the details through the inordinately long pauses between acts. Lighting was designed by Mark Hurst and board operation was by William Kirven, with Trinessa Kirby assisting Henderson in direction, and stage management courtesy of Chastity Shell and Elizabeth Houck.

As can happen with live theatre, opening night suffered just a couple of flubs that were evident to the audience; an unavoidable lighting board crash, leading to one of those long pauses mentioned above, and a precocious doorknob. Making the best of the unfortunate doorknob situation, Lamont Gleaton improvised a solution, and he did so with a flourish, inspiring the audience to applaud the actor for both his ingenuity and his style!

This writer fell in love with all the characters with the exception of Pygatt’s Leland, whose job was not to make us love him. Henderson and his cast made us identify with the characters and care about them. The play, though almost 30 years old and set in 1930, holds up disappointingly well as American society still grapples with a woman’s right to control her own body, queerness, and racial equity. Some things are certainly better, but they are far from fixed!

Complementing the play in the Trustus lobby is an art exhibition by Columbia-based visual artist Thomas Washington. Washington’s mesmerizing art is also a study in contrast as it is both brooding but magical, dark but hopeful. And his price points for this show are more affordable than they should be. To see more of Washington’s work, visit his Jasper-sponsored exhibition, Love Quest, at the 701 Whaley Community Hallway Gallery or at Jasper’s Big Tiny Gallery at Richland Library through April 19th. Collect this artist’s work while you can afford it!

Blues for an Alabama Sky runs through March 30th on the Thigpen Main Stage at Trustus Theatre. For tickets, go to the Trustus website.

This Week's Featured Poet of the People with Al Black is Stephen Wing

This week's Poet of the People is Stephen Wing. In the environmental poetry scene, Stephen Wing is a force to reckoned with. I spent three days at the Off the Grid Festival outside Spartanburg, SC with him last Autumn and he has featured twice for events I organized in the Midlands area. He is authentic and writes from his strong belief in the sanctity of nature. We need more Stephen Wings. 

-       Al Black

Stephen Wing discovered the wilderness in the summer after ninth grade, and suddenly the world made sense. A deep connection to wild nature has been his spiritual center ever since. His work as a poet ranges from the personal to the pastoral to the fiercely political. Once each season he hosts the “EarthPoetry” workshop, exploring metro Atlanta's many protected greenspaces and nature preserves. His new book Wild Atlanta combines poems from 23 of these locations with stunning color photos by Luz Wright. He is the author of three previous books of poems and the Earth Poetry chapbook series. Visit him at StephenWing.com.

Lightning’s Compass

With every flash and flicker of the sky,
I glimpse another few steps
of the trail back to my tent,
this slow pilgrimage between the trees
without a flashlight—
fork to the left, jog to the right,
slippery downgrade, low-hanging branch—
like my life sometimes,
the chain of epiphanies lighting up my path
and the pitch-dark
between

Underfoot

Every time I walk down
into the hollow
through the winter woods
or up the mountain again,
I stop right here.
Standing on the packed earth
of an old logging road
where the creek slips quietly
through its rusty culvert
underfoot,
I’m not so much listening as feeling
a kind of tickling caress
through the soles of my shoes
and I recognize
a crossing of paths, a choice,
a way back
if I could only turn
and follow.

Ever Since Evolution              
     
              for Dawn Aura

Of all that’s ever
begun with an orgasm,
I think I like you
best:

Ever since the Big
Bang, ever since Genesis,
ever since the Milky Way gave birth
to a green-blue baby
called Earth—

All down the generations
of amorous plankton,
the dynasties of protozoa,
whole species that married and merged
into new species,
brewing up an atmosphere of
hospitable chemicals . . .

Down the golden ages
in the Garden, whole
civilizations of bacteria
that slowly grew into specialized
cells of one another,
building over millennia
the confederation of organs . . .

Ever since Evolution
conceived a tribe of naked mammals
begotten by the lineage
of Chimpanzee, I think
of all the protoplasm in the diaspora
of Creation, you
are my favorite animal

Grandmother’s Seeds

                  for Anna Maude, my grandmother

She’s out in her garden,
bending down to touch the soil.
She covers each seed as she
must have tucked me into bed, long
ago.  Her old hoe is worn
to a shining crescent, sifting
earth into dark flour.

She never knew the shelves
in her bathroom were lined with
the signs of the zodiac.
I never heard her mention the moon.
She sprinkled poison like
holy water and thanked the Lord
for filling her deep-freeze.

She sits at the lamp
over her morning devotions.
Outside in the dimness
the first seed stirs in the ground.
She folds her glasses, closes
her book on its bookmark and goes out
to turn on the hose.

The Naked Scientist

I am the naked scientist
singing as I set my specimens free
Joyfully I observe the positions of things
and nudge them off their courses,
gauge their direction and budge them
from their places

The green things around me lap my exhalations,
my fresh odors startle the ancient
solution of gases, I let my hand pass experimentally
down the mossy flank of a boulder
purring in the sun

I ache sometimes at sunrise
for the waking of the world to what it knows
Each day I gather data, and grieve
for the grieving of one or two or eleven people
I hadn’t counted before

And I look over my notes at sunset
comforted by this work of the Study of Woe,
calculating my Theory of Revelation
in the face of entropy and decay

I live to know this world as my grandmother
knew her Bible, but best of all
I love the pilgrimage
of the search—

(Shall I tell you my discovery?
It is all alive.
And the snowflakes are not
all one sex.)

Asphalt Nights

Looking back now, I often
regret that night in my delinquent youth
when I impulsively
borrowed a shovel and buried
my memories of childhood down by the creek
under a full moon.
How was I to know the entire floodplain
would be paved for parking
when they built the new mall?
Night after night now I dream I’m a lost child
roaming mile after mile
of fresh black asphalt under the floodlights
between the slumbering cars,
kicking my shadow ahead with every step,
stopping to listen
at every storm drain for the faint
trickle or drip of some other world
to wake up in.

Man Breathing Life into Metal
(Note italics at end)

The saxophonist wets his lips
and caresses his mouthpiece

sucks it in and lets it escape
and then draws it back

into himself so its dark twisting
entrails join with his own

clamps the dormant light of that
gleaming muscle in his

fingertips and forces through its
thin lips from his own

the infinite compression of a breath:
the golden bell sings out

with the panic of inarticulate matter
waking to the agony it is

to be an animal, the joy it is
to move and speak and sing

“Now when I get through playing it,
it going to be just as warm as my body . . .”

Moth

I bit my fingernails too short
waiting for this bus, I stood
too close to the road too long, peering
through the haze of engine fumes—

Everyone around me pretends not to know.
So naturally by now they‘ve all
long since forgotten.
No one on this bus remembers
poetry overhead among the ads:  today
hundreds of cockroach silhouettes,
the extermination campaign . . .

A dead moth
on the stairs in the train station knows:
startled black and red and yellow eyes
on shattered wings
stare past me through the concrete overhang,
and suddenly I see
right through the step I’m about to take—

Its furry underbody
leaves a yellow pollen on my fingertips.
Ridiculous
to carry the fallen creature home.
Ridiculous to choose one place
out of all the galaxies
to go.

Distant Singing

Listen:
somewhere off in the distance,
a motor.
It too has a song.
It’s the song of pushing eagerly forward,
heedless of how,
careless of where,
regardless of why,
intoxicated
with the singleminded joy
of burning its little tank of fuel,
never mind
where the fuel came from
or where that little plume of smoke
might go.

Hurtling Through Darkness

Hurtling
between the silver ribbons
uncurling eternally
out through the darkness,
steering by a chain of diamonds
strung through space,

I start again every time
I stray from my lane and they
bump under my tires, the reflecting
eyes of all the animals
who have died for this highway—

Focusing my own wild eyes
into the rainstorm,
the floodlights of billboards,
the pulse of blue lightning
at the power plant,

leaning back in the cushioned engine
of my will
with the road’s vibration
humming in my vitals,
gripping the steering wheel as tight as my life,

I ride the thirsty beast
of my momentum, obedient to the signs,
barely in control,
hurtling through the darkness of the eons
of extinction

OVERDUE: CURATED FOR THE CREATIVE SET FOR FRIDAY, MARCH 15th - in connection with The Jasper Project's BIG TINY GALLERY featuring 20+ Jasper Artists!

Join Richland Library for This FREE, After-Hours Program

WHAT: Overdue

WHEN: March 15 | 7-11 p.m.

WHERE: Richland Library Main(1431 Assembly St., 29201)

WHO: Adults, ages 18 & olderExperience a night of creativity and entertainment at Richland Library's Overdue: Curated for the Creative event on Friday, March 15, from 7 - 11 p.m. at Richland Library Main (1431 Assembly St., 29201). Join Richland Library after hours for interactive activities like block printed stickers, zine making with Eden Prime, and more! Be entertained with live music performances by Dear Blanca, Niecy Blues, and Katera. Enjoy delicious food from Dae's Delicious Dogs and drinks from the cash bar by Transmission Arcade. This free event, open to those ages 18 and up, promises an evening of artistic exploration and community engagement.

Attendees of Overdue will have the first opportunity to view Richland Library's newest exhibit, Jasper Presents: A Big Tiny Gallery. The Big Tiny Gallery is a collection of small artworks created by a collection of local artists previously showcased in The Jasper Project’s online exhibition series. Over the years, Jasper's Tiny Gallery series has allowed artists to show a selection of smaller pieces offered at affordable prices. The exhibit will be on view in the gallery from March 15 - April 26th. A closing reception for the gallery is scheduled for April 19, 2024.

A complete list of activities, musicians and partners is available online.

This event is sponsored in part by the Richland Library Friends and Foundation.

For questions, please contact Tacara Young at 803-351-5616 or tyoung@richlandlibrary.com.

South Carolina State Museum Presents SC Artist Homecoming June 22, 2024

SAVE THE DATE!

JUNE 22, 2024

The South Carolina State Museum invites you to an Artist Homecoming for SC visual artists and arts supporters, honoring iconic living artists and fostering new connections in the arts community. This day-long program will include panel discussions, behind-the-scenes tours and time to explore the museum, followed by a reception.

Registration is free and will open on April 22nd.

REVIEW: Workshop Theatre's CATS

CATS … finds success with a cast that exhibits unflinching commitment to the task at hand (and they seem to be having a rather good time while they’re doing it).

Workshop Theatre of South Carolina opened their production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s CATS last weekend, starting a three-week run of this show which ran for 18 years on Broadway. As the resident community theatre troupe at Columbia College’s Cottingham Theatre, the Workshop presentation is a special collaboration between Workshop and the Columbia College Dance Education and Dance Studies program - creating a unique opportunity for community actors and dance students to work together. 

Based on T.S. Eliots Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, Webber’s CATS has been performed for over 40 years and had a feature film adaptation in 2019. For those reasons, we’ll spare you a synopsis and move right along.  

CATS, under the direction of Julian Deleon, finds success with a cast that exhibits unflinching commitment to the task at hand (and they seem to be having a rather good time while they’re doing it). This ensemble, which consists of over 35 performers, hits their marks, are constantly engaged in catlike activities, and ultimately offers an energetic performance that feels dutifully rehearsed.  

Actors Bobby L. Rogers (Munkustrap), Katherine Brown (Bombalurina), Carly Siegel (Demeter) and Blythe Long (Jellylorum) hold the audiences’ hands (read: paws) throughout the production as their characters are charged with introducing us to many of the characters or informing the viewers about the history and traditions of the Jellicle Cats. All four performers have truly lovely voices that are fitting for Webber’s vocal score, and they all lead the proceedings with poise and control that makes the audience feel welcome to their secret society.  

Lisa Baker, as Grizabella, does an admirable job in this production. Baker’s performance of “Memory” satisfies fans of the song due to her powerful vocals and purr-fect tone (sorry, we had to) that throws comforting nods to the Betty Buckley performance we’ve heard countless times over the last four decades.  

The performances of Nathan Jackson (Mungojerrie) and Jessica Roth (Rum Tum Tugger) are also winning moments for this production. Jackson’s Mungojerrie feels incredibly familiar to folks who have experienced the original production of this piece. He’s fun, mischievous, and quite comfortable with his dance duties. Roth’s Rum Tum Tugger deviates from the usual characterization that mixes Tom Jones with glam rockers of the 80s and provides audiences with a Janis Joplin-esque rock-n-roller that is delightful when she takes the show over.  

Without a doubt, Choreographer Erin Bailey was responsible for a larger part of the production than is usual with most musical theatre works. Bailey has created a lot of movement for the cast that allows the trained dancers to wow us when they take the spotlight, and for the “movers” in the cast to look their best throughout most of the production. While some moments aren’t as successful as others, there is a lot of varied movement throughout the production and your eyes don’t get tired seeing a large cast execute it.  

To that end, Emily Jordan (Victoria on March 9th), Katherine Brown (Bombalurina) and Jack Thompson (Mistoffilees) gave us professional performances in regard to dance in the production. They lend Bailey’s work the talent that it desires, and they give longtime CATS fans a glimpse into the choreographic focus with which the show originated.  

Music Director Taylor Dively, in his first time navigating the music for a full-length musical, shows promise in that the vocals of CATS are rather good - especially when regarding the soloists. However, the sound design makes the proceedings uncomfortable at times as the sopranos are too high in the mix - which can make certain moments feel like a caterwaul rather than the good blend coming from stage. On March 9, the band was unfortunately not meeting the cast’s performance level, as the show began with wrong notes on the keyboards, destroying the iconic opening melody. These sorts of accidents occurred often throughout the evening, leaving us hoping that the musicians will realize that they are being paid to be there, and should therefore be just as prepared as the cast who is donating their talent. 

Ultimately, despite the efforts of the cast, this production suffers from a design concept that simply does not work. The show has been promoted as “not your mother’s CATS” - and this is truthful advertising. Our mother’s CATS had humans in fully committed feline-wear, and the illusion worked rather well to make such a bizarre concept a Broadway and West End hit. Workshop’s cats have painted noses with headbands or hats that have “cat ears” attached. Our mother’s CATS had fun set pieces that allowed the cast to create a train out of oversized junk pieces laying around the set along with other moments of inventive whimsy. Workshop’s cats had bare bones structures with some castored scaffolding that left us thinking we were watching CATS on a scaled down set of RENT. The show asks for many moments of reveal, surprise, inventiveness and magic that, in this production, were simply absent. We were not tricked into thinking Macavity was in disguise as Old Deuteronomy. We did not believe we had witnessed magic when Mistoffelees motioned for the cast to wheel Old Deuteronomy back on stage when he’s supposed to be miraculously summoned. The same lack-of-illusion applies when Grizabella is wheeled off stage left as she finally ascends to the Heaviside Layer. Where’s the thrilling sleight of hand? The possibility of that felt lost in the first 30 seconds when a crew member, portraying a human in the wrong alley, walked across the stage making it clear the felines were the same scale as he.  

Cast member Harrison Ayer’s bio briefly and aptly reads that Ayer “is a human, acting like a cat dressed like a human.” That’s pretty much what you get with this directorial concept. If it was a big idea that didn’t come to fruition due to the immensity of the project, then it can be forgiven. However, if this production meets the vision of those who created it - then perhaps this CATS shouldn't have been let out of the bag. Doing “different” is welcome, but only when there’s a relatable or inventive perspective that exposes something newly relevant or unexpected about a cherished work.

We always invite patrons to challenge our reactions by taking the time to see the work themselves. Art is entirely subjective, and you may have a very different experience. If you want to see a fully committed cast giving you undeniable energy in tandem with some rather talented dancers that are performing one of the theatre industry’s most successful works, then you should book your tickets to see Workshops’s production of CATS. The show runs through March 23rd at Cottingham Theatre on the campus of Columbia College. You may buy tickets at www.workshoptheatreofsc.com. Also, don’t forget that the theatre is taking donations for animal shelters, so be sure to bring some treats, litter, or toys with you.