Monday, December 23, 2024

Highlights from "An Unusual Life" Part 4 "The Writer/Performer"

  




 I turned to Mitch as we saw people pouring into the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis Minnesota

"Mitch..I think we're going to jail tonight"

For weeks we had plotted an escape route should the cops show up. We spent as much time exploring and plotting that segment out as much as rehearsals for the roles we were about to play. We were not counting upon a near capacity crowd thus making our plans null and void.

If someone had told me I'd be writing a play that was about to be staged even 2 years previously I would have laughed. My only previous encounter with theater had been some years ago during my time at Alaska Methodist University. Professor Frank Brink drama professor at AMU said he had role for me in an upcoming play he was staging called "Song of the Great Land" I read the script of the role he had in mind for me and although I had never been onstage before I felt I could learn the lines and Professor Brink was confident in his abilities to direct me in the things I needed to do stagewise. There was one problem: The character I was supposed to play was to kiss a woman. At this stage of my life I had never kissed a woman before. Adding to it was the fact with AMU being a small college I knew the woman I was supposed to kiss. She was attractive! The thought of kissing her (what if she doesnt like it? kissing in front of an audience?) seemed to me to be too scary so I asked Professor Brink if he could change the scene to a hug or nothing like the scene he envisioned. He said no and I said no to participating.

"Song of the Great Land" won awards and got to tour the country. I learned important lessons about missed opportunities and the willingness to be daring through that experience

I had written articles in AMU's college paper and once got an opinion column published in a Denver magazine. None of it could be termed as creative. Later I shared essay pieces I wrote after leaving GO with Jane Brakhage (former wife of filmmaker Stan Brakhage known later as Jane Wodening) Jane was a published writer and encouraged me in my writing. There was a period however following a divorce where I could write nothing. It took a move to Minneapolis and an immersion in the rich cultural scene of the Twin Cities for not only a revival of my writing but something I would have never imagined myself years beforehand to come from my pen

The first piece that arose was my play "Malcolm X meet Peter Tosh" This fantasy meeting was first developed at a writers workshop run by the Playwright's Center in Minneapolis. I almost threw the script away. As part of this workshop we were to read the scripts we had developed at the Playwright's Center and this was going to be followed by staged readings of the works in progress at the internationally known Walker Art Center. I knew there would be notable playwrights at this reading and I didn't want to embarrass myself .

I asked Mitch Olson to read it. I trusted Mitch to tell me if the script was terrible. I met Mitch while working at the New Riverside Cafe,the worker owned worker run vegetarian restaurant located in Minneapolis's West Bank neighborhood. It was known as the "Biomagnetic Center of the Universe" One thing was for certain the West Bank was certainly a magnet for hippies,artists and folks living in alternative ways. There was live music of all types almost every night of the week. Mitch's response? "You must bring it."

The piece was well received at the Playwrights Center and I was looking forward to the staged reading at the Walker Art Center when days before the event was to occur it was abruptly cancelled. The reason given?  None of the pieces to be read were of "standard theatrical fare" Malcolm X meet Peter Tosh wasnt meant to be of standard theatrical fare.That seemed strange as the Walker was noted for its avant garde programming. I was calling this piece "Reggae Theater"while it had characters and theatrical dialogue it was to be performed thematically stylistically and with a pace more akin to a reggae music concert. Reggae music is included.  I didn't take too well to its cancellation. I was done with the workshop and I quit. The facilitator at the time I quit was noted Twin Cities writer and playwright Dwight Hobbes. It was then decided that Malcolm X meet Peter Tosh would be staged at the Cedar Cultural Center as part of a Tribute to Malcolm X also featuring the other writers who had been bounced from the Walker presentation.

The script as scheduled for the Walker leaned heavily on its reggae stylings with a deep dose of the commonalities of the two main characters with each reading being scheduled for 15 minutes. For the Cedar presentation  we had total creative control thus rewrites were called for 

I met Terry Bellamy through the Playwrights Center workshop. He was a nationally respected theater actor noted for his roles in August Wilson's plays  Terry took an interest in what I was trying to do in presenting reggae themed theater and we began to meet. Terry acknowledged that he didnt know much about reggae but after reading the script his primary recommendations was to bring conflict into the piece and to creative a type of "bridge" to bring those not familiar with reggae into what you are doing.

Though Rasta and reggae themes promote "One Love" and while that theme remained as the overall spirit of the piece, it wasnt going to be hard to create a conflict. In the original script there were only references to marijuana. .Now the play was being rewritten around the differing views on marijuana between the Muslim Malcolm X and the Rasta Peter Tosh. We also knew from research that Peter Tosh wasn't afraid to light a joint up anywhere and everywhere. I played Peter Tosh at the Cedar. The rewritten script called for the Tosh character to smoke 5 spliffs. Every joint smoked at the Cedar was 100 percent marijuana 

The "bridge" became the character known as "The Man on the Couch" This character was portrayed by Mitch Olson and in Denver by Thomas Behler known today as "DJ Bloodpreshah" This character literally brought the audience in by beginning his act in the audience .Once he reached the stage he would turn on this "Magic Radio" where this meeting between Malcolm X and Peter Tosh was taking place inside his head

The bridge also became the live music in the play which often got audiences dancing in the aisles.. At the Cedar's initial staging Van Nixon Markiss and Brian Alexis from the popular Twin Cities reggae band The Maroons provided the music. In Denver during its first year run at the Mercury Cafe the band JAH Creation provided music. In later productions Van Nixon and the award winning 8750 Reggae Band from Telluride Colorado contributed original music for the play.

The script received its blessing from Andrew Tosh son of Peter at a meeting  arranged by First Avenue DJ and Program Director of the popular alternative radio station REV 105 Kevin Cole. Kevin was a regular at the New Riverside Cafe

Mitch and I didnt go to jail that night and in subsequent performances no member of the cast went to jail despite police appearances at performances at Colorado State University and at the Bug Theater in Denver where police surrounded the theater, closed off the street, blocked the alleyway and arrested 4 people in the audience

I truly expected that the first performance at the Cedar Cultural Center would be the last. Little did I anticipate that it would lead to what amounted to a 2 year run of the play in Denver at the Mercury and the Bug Theater thus opening the doors for a second reggae theater play I Edgar Hoover. The third reggae theater play, the one man Kolorada...a western tale not only played to a packed First Avenue house opening for Bob Marley archivist Roger Steffens but also saw the stage at the famed NYC venue Nuyorican Poets Cafe

I never anticipated receiving the Playwrights Center Many Voices award

I never expected to be sharing my work as far away as Freiberg Germany.

Little did I know that from the Cedar Cultural Center another creative front as a spoken word artist and storyteller would emerge leading to the release of 2 CD's Talkin' Roots and the 4:20 Report, a concept CD with my group the Talkin' Roots Crew. Little did I know the spoken word poetry with music would lead to opening for dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, the Wailers and at music festivals

A chance meeting with the late monologuist actor Spalding Grey pushed the development of the piece Black Hippie Chronicles.

A joint appearance on an internet radio show was the start of an enduring friendship and creative collaboration with Charlie Parr, the Austin Minnesota singer/songwriter on the Smithsonian Folkways label. Our Adventures in Music and Storytelling show was my first following a bout with cancer and the baseball themed Annie Jones story features Charlie's backing guitar.

Little did I expect such richness to emerge when just a few years earlier life seemed like a complete shipwreck..

I guess that's what makes an unusual life..

 





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