The New Riverside Cafe was in trouble financially,paychecks were getting smaller making it difficult even for people accustomed to living simply to survive.The debates among various factions of this worker owned business were becoming more heated and more personal.Shortly after the play,my daughter Rose had come to live with me. The West Bank could be a magical place for a child,but also because of some of the "characters" it would attract,a parent had to become super vigilant. First by being a member of the Riv,and secondly through his support of the play from its inception,Mitch and I had become close friends. Mitch suffers with various auto immune diseases and would also get seizures.During this period,Mitch had received a terminal diagnosis from a doctor giving him 4-5 years to live.
Later that year ,I made what now had become my annual trek to Denver. During the making of Malcolm X Meet Peter Tosh,I would talk with my buddy and now former Denver Election Commissioner Doug Anderson about its latest developments. Doug was not exactly a fan of theater nor of reggae music,but Doug knew people,and also knew a little bit about open opportunities.Now that I was in Denver,Doug took me to the Mercury Cafe to meet Marilyn Meginity.
For years the Mercury Cafe was considered Denver's center for anything "alternative"."The Merc" as it was called by locals would host bands,poetry readings,and was pretty much the only place any type of offbeat theater could be staged,and it was all Marilyn's creation.
Marilyn and I spoke about my reggae theater concept,and the response it got at the Cedar Cultural Center. "Can you bring it here?" she asked.Up to that point,I had never considered the possibility of it going much beyond the Cedar.I told her I'd keep it in mind. Our conversation ended with Marilyn giving me her phone number and saying to me something to the effect of she could see this piece"doing something" in Denver. I never told her about marijuana being smoked in the play.
Come fall,with the Riv continuing a downhill slide,and with Rose returning to live with her mother,the future seemed bleak in Minneapolis. I bought a round trip ticket to Denver, packed my most important items,some clothes,music,books,and the script,gave myself a week to find work there. I remember saying to myself "If I find work,I'm calling Marilyn,and if I don't,I'll deal with my fate in a cold Minneapolis winter" I never used the return ticket.
For Denver I knew I would be reprising my role as Peter Tosh,and I left Minneapolis with assurances from Mitch that he would come to Denver to be the "Man in the Couch" again. That left a few other roles to fill and because my previous connections in Denver were limited filling the rest of the cast was going to have to be a work of Jah.
The Yardie Lounge was a weekly reggae dancehall held in Denver's Lower Downtown District or LoDo. At one time LoDo was basically skid row,but it was undergoing a renaissance. The Yardie was hosted by DJ K-Nee,Kenneth Hamblin III ,His father was a radio talk show host,and as a candidate for Mayor of Denver,I had been a guest on his program. It was on a Colfax Avenue bus en route to the Yardie where I met Thomas Behler,and it was at the Yardie where I met Scott Kelley,who at the time was an underaged kid from the Virgin Islands not at the Yardie to drink,but rather because of the love of the music. Scott, after an interview and audition agreed to take the Malcolm X role.. The Jah Creation Band was discovered through a walk through the Capitol Hill neighborhood.Ayanna,the actress,was a co worker of mine.
It was in that same Mayoral race where I met DJ K-Nee's Dad is when I met Alan Dumas. He was a writer for the Alternative weekly Westword and covered some of the debates for the paper. He was now a theater writer for the now defunct Denver Rocky Mountain News.In its day,the Rocky's daily circulation rivaled that of the Denver Post,and I always seemed to run into more people who read the Rocky Mountain News. He became fascinated with the thought of a former candidate for Mayor turned Rasta Playwright and wrote an interview piece for the Rocky.
I remember feeling the sense of worry after attending the theater piece that was running while we were in rehearsal,counting three people in attendance and wondering whether it really was going to be worth it,and the sense of elation when backstage on opening night,Mitch leads me to to a window in order to witness a line out the door waiting to get in.
Because there was to be an extended run at the Mercury,it was decided that there would be varying amounts of marijuana used for each show,and the all marijuana spliff could be any from the first to the last.
Opening Night,the first and the last spliff was 100 % marijuana.
People would come once and come again bringing their friends.,and yes some folks would walk out,some offended by the marijuana usage or the dancing taking place in the aisles or in front of the stage when the band played.Closing night at the Mercury,with my Dad in attendance,every spliff was real. All this led to Alan Dumas calling Malcolm X Meet Peter Tosh in his Year in Review in Theater piece "The cultural event of the year." It also led to an engagement in Fort Collins Colorado.
This performance was to be for one night on the campus of Colorado State University.It was sponsored by a local reggae business in Fort Collins as well as the radio station at Colorado State. For this show,I decided as director that the first and last spliffs would be completely real.
As the play began I noticed a yuppiesh looking guy his face for a moment frozen with surprise when the first spliff reached him in the front row of the audience before excitedly pointing out to his date.His lips seemed to say "It's REAL!!"
The Jah Creation Band played an extended set following the performance,and it was during that set where I was questioned by the Fort Collins Police Department as to possible marijuana usage. Meanwhile,the dressing room and the outside of the theater is surrounded by cops. No arrests were made,but I was advised by the police in that familiar Western way,that it would be best if we packed it up and got out of town as quickly as possible. Later I discovered that contrary to my instructions where we were only to bring as much marijuana as needed for the play,someone had packed enough marijuana to which,if it had been caught would have meant a much longer stay in Fort Collins than we had planned on. As Jeff from Rasta Connection was paying us for the performance,he slipped me a little more than what was agreed upon.He said something to the effect of using the money to follow up on this effort by creating a piece that deals with Marcus Garvey..
Malcolm X Meet Peter Tosh was staged the following year for another extended run.This time at the Bug Performance and Arts Center in Denver.
Shortly after the Fort Collins show,Mitch had returned to Minneapolis and the Couch role was now being filled by Thomas.
In the period after Fort Collins,Scott Kelley had become dreadlocked and now was in perfect position to assume the role of Peter Tosh freeing me to focus solely on directing. James Crutchfield made his stage debut as Malcolm X. Native American storyteller Lisa Slicer was brought on for the reporter/storyteller role. Jah Creation was replaced by the 8750 Reggae Band from Telluride Colorado.The first time I saw the band, I immediately apologized to the band leader Rasta Stevie after the show for previously doubting that a white man could be Rasta or that an all white reggae band could be true to the message. Humbled and blessed by their participation was I..
During the first run of Malcolm X Meet Peter Tosh in Denver,I came to know a man named Ken Gorman. Ken was the force behind rallies at the Colorado State Capitol to end the prohibition of marijuana. Ken would advertise his rally by promising free weed at the Capitol and would back it up by smoking marijuana and by giving away joints on the Capitol steps. Ken was aware of what took place on the various stages,and his rallies were fertileground to promote upcoming work.
On the second night of performances at the Bug,Ken was in attendance. Marijuana smoking began in earnest in the audience long before any smoking action begun onstage causing some in the audience to walk out. Little over halfway through the performance,flashlights were now peering through the audience.It was the Denver Police. The audience cheered as Thomas on the couch blew smoke on the cops as they reached the front row. It wasn't planned that way,it was just the synchonicity of it all. Scott as Tosh launched into a fiery monologue on the evils of Babylon as police handcuffed Ken and 3 others over shouts from the audience shouting "Let em go!" When some cops began shaking billy clubs to the rhythm and music of the 8750 Reggae Band,I overheard a member of the audience ask "Is this real or part of the play?" As the writer and director of the play,I wanted to give the police every opportunity to arrest me if they were to arrest anyone. I left my seat and made myself available to the police.They weren't interested in me.I then walked outside to see where police had roadblocked the street,and had blocked off the alley where 8750's tour bus was parked.
The next day a headline in the Rocky Moutain News' theater section read "Bug's Malcolm X sends audiences smokin" By the way,the performances at the Bug were the only time where no real marijuana was used onstage during the course of the run.
Word of the play and my reggae theater began to spread beyond the confines of the cities where it had run.I soon began getting calls and inquiries from various folks in the reggae community.Stories about the play were appearing in national and international reggae publications. One person showing considerable interest was Bob Marley Archivist and writer for (the first big reggae and world music publication) The Beat Magazine Roger Steffens. I first got to meet Roger after his presentation of "The Life of Bob Marley" in Boulder. Not only had Roger had personal interactions with Peter Tosh,but he was also an actor thus he was extremely interested in what I was doing.We agreed to keep in touch and talk began then about a future collaboration between the two of us.
I Edgar Hoover
In writing Hoover,I chose to loosely focus the piece around the former FBI leader's harassment of UNIA leader and Rasta prophet Marcus Garvey.More broadly it riffed on such topics as Corporate America's undue influence via television as well as the unconstitutional and racist actions of the United States Government.
Originally,the role of Hoover was to be played by Ken Gorman.He certainly knew a thing or two about illegal government actions,and yet if one met Ken,often seen in jacket and tie,he easily could have been mistaken for some sort of officer. However,Ken's marijuana activism was going to prevent him from devoting time in rehearsals needed to make it work.. The role then went to Jason Richards,an acting novice who I met while spending time at the 13th Avenue Bar and Grill in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. In observing him at the bar,there was something about his demeanor that I sensed he could pull the role off. Maggie Ebert had acted in several productions around Denver,but looked at Hoover as an opportunity to do something experimental,something that was rare in Denver theater then. Maggie had the role of Anarchist Emma Goldman,another one of Hoover;s enemies. I met Maggie while spending time at the 13th Avenue Bar and Grill. Kristy Moore was doing various Dinner Theater plays,and John Reed,as Marcus Garvey had also done some theater.You could say the cast was largely assembled at the 13th Avenue Bar and Grill,because it was through that establishment with its cheap beer and roundtables that I met John and Kristy also. Thomas and Marie Paule Vandevelve provided the drumming in Hoover with Thomas adding some Nyabinghi type chants to the theater. Hoover was the first piece "officially" presented as a Reggae Theatre Ensemble production. Shortly before Hoover opened at the Mercury,there was a backstage meeting with Jamaican Dub Poet great Mutabaruka. Mutabaruka read the script and gave it his approval
Closing night of Hoover,the drummers were joined by Rasta Stevie.
Not only did Jason as Hoover pull the role off,he carried the show.He was a perfect blend of sick humor,craziness,with a dash of a twisted sense of sincerity needed for this portrayal of Hoover..He captivated with his monologues and the chemistry was obvious between Jason and the rest of the cast.
Jason provided an electric ending to Hoover with the words "Goddamn Television" coupled with the obliteration of the set. Hoover was well received,drew great audiences,and was given the offer to go beyond the original run,but for various reasons I turned it down and on the day after closing night,I was on a plane,headed back to Minneapolis.The Reggae Theatre Ensemble at its core was a partnership between Mitch,Thomas and myself.
Kolorada...a western tale
Writing another play was the last thing I imagined would be happening when I returned to Minneapolis.. Despite the success of the two plays in Denver,there were other events occuring in my life that prompted my return to Minneapolis,I was pretty angry about the events that had occured leading up to my return,and thought that would preclude me from picking up the pen.However as I began to process those events in the quiet of the Minneapolis late autumn and early winter,there came a creative stirring and out of that stirring out of the pen came Kolorada...a western tale. It in many ways captured my Colorado experience though it did so through the eyes of various characters..a Denver Broncos football fan,a Rancher,and a Boulder based deadhead. There was also a Rasta mystic portrayed. Later,in honor of a beer mogul based in Colorado,a stormtrooper character was added .What was stirring was a performance piece that captured the spirit and message of the previous two plays,yet was something that could be performed solo. Kolorada was subtitled " a Roots Rasta view of life in America"
Kolorada was first performed at a couple small venues,including the New Riverside Cafe,then in what was to be both a creative test and a personal redemptive move,it was presented in Denver,at the Bug.
Kolorada closes with a redemptive story that honors the individuals who in their own way exhibited love and assisted me through some dark days.I began to discover that in writing and later performing that closing scene titled "Valerie's Story" performed not as a character,but as me telling a story,,the anger began to heal. Kolorada was well received in Denver and later returned for a second run.
The collaboration with Roger Steffens and myself became a reality with Kolorada opening for Roger's Life of Bob Marley presentation at First Avenue in Minneapolis at an event co sponsored by Radio Station REV105 where now Kevin Cole was the Program Director. There were over a thousand people in attendance,many sitting on the dance floor quietly,watching and listening to an unmiked stage production of Kolorada.
Kolorada...a western tale to this day remains the most performed piece in the Reggae Theatre Ensemble stable. It found itself on stages such as New York's Nuyorican Poets Cafe as well as faraway stages like Anchorage Alaska and Freiburg Germany
It was shortly after its appearance at the First New York International Fringe Festival where I was informed that I was a recepient of a Many Voices Award and Fellowship from the Playwrights Center.
Flashback to a moment in New York at Fringe Central where every Fringe performer was promoting their play if they weren't on stage at the moment. Thomas was outfitted in something akin to a sandwich board,with on one side the dates and times of the performances of Kolorada... and other the other side notes scribbled on by marker stating "We Need Weed" That advertising led us to a marijuana delivery service who ended up delivering marijuana directly to us at the theater during our run.
Black Hippie Chronicles
Black Hippie Chronicles actually has its roots at the same time and place as Malcolm X Meet Peter Tosh. A portion of the Chroncles dealing with a road trip to Alaska was written at the same time I was writing the reggae theater piece. At the time it was written,I didn't know where it belonged,but I knew then that at some point I wanting to bring this out. It took a few years before it found its place.
It was during my Many Voices Fellowship where it made its first public presentation. I inserted it in a piece I had titled "I &I Roots Story. I & I Roots was the story of how a middle class raised African American comes to a Rasta overstanding.(How Rastas call the Western term understanding) The script had as characters the kid in different stages of his life along with a teacher. It received a reading at the Playwrights Center as a result of the Fellowship. The marijuana code words inserted into the work drew the attention of those in attendance who had followed my work and knew what role marijuana played in my writing but overall I felt I had forced something in to meet some sort of setting.
A year or so later,while working at a Downtown Minneapolis bookstore I meet the actor and monologist Spalding Grey.Spalding Grey was a master of the autobiographical monologue.While he was most noted for Swimming to Cambodia,my personal favorite was It's a Slippery Slope.While talking theater with Spalding,I bring up "I &I Roots Story. His advice to me? If its about your life,make it autobiographical,don't try to hide behind to hide behind "characters". "I &I Roots Story" then reverted to the working title I had given the earlier portion:Black Hippie Chronicles for indeed my path to Rasta stemmed from my period as one of those rare black hippies. Black Hippie Chronicles' first staging came after Spalding Grey's tragic suicide.It would be performed in the same manner that Spalding Grey would performed his monologues..with a glass of water and notes in front. It included my stories about the Kennedy assasination,the first time I smoked marijuana,as well as a story of attending an Allman Brothers concert.
Black Hippie Chronicles was the last piece connected with the Reggae Theatre Ensemble.Mitch went on to other creative endeavors. Thomas went on to become a noted Denver dancehall DJ under the name of Blood Preshah. Afterwards,my work would always be connected to the Rasta Reggae sense and message,but different avenues to express it were opening up as well..
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