Displaying items by tag: 1619: THE JOURNEY OF A PEOPLE

My first impression was, naturally, of the set: a stunning mural by Sholo Beverly in shades of blues and grays, the only color the red white & blue of an American flag. A series of posters were hung from the ceiling, from an announcement of a slave auction through Emancipation, the Civil Rights era and up to a headline from Obama’s first election.

1619 is the story of a journey made by an entire people: embarked upon involuntarily, maintained brutally, perpetuated coercively, and endured bitterly. Portions of the journey became gradually more volitional and intentional, e.g. the Great Migration between 1910 and the 1970s. But even that movement, though Isabel Wilkerson calls it an act of individual and collective agency, was neither truly spontaneous nor discretionary, but in response to the horrors of Jim Crow.

The journey was narrated by three individuals: playwright Ted Williams III, choreographer Marchello Lee, and Shannon Stiles, with four additional actors performing simultaneous enactments: Nicole Ross, Vanessa Love, Lucy Maura, and Ozivell Eckford, who was even more amazing on the West African hand drum as with the contemporary drum set onstage.

1619 is titled for the date that the privateer ship White Lion landed at Point Comfort [sic], Virginia, bearing 20-30 enslaved African people, who were traded by the ship’s chandler for supplies. The agonizing first scenes depicted the arrival of these terrified and traumatized people, and their sale as chattel. Indentured servitude was common in the seventeenth century, largely indigent white Europeans who were enslaved for as long as their indenture proscribed and then returned to their lives as free men. Enslaved Africans held no such contract; they were chattel slaves – property of their owners, as were their children, thus assuring an ongoing and self-renewing (organic and 100% pure; not a speck of cereal) supply of workers on whose backs the American South would build its empire of cotton, tobacco, rice, and indigo.

Our interpreters lead us to Juneteenth 1865, heralding the Emancipation Proclamation which, though flawed and limited, offered putative freedom to enslaved African workers. However, as one freedman stated, “we colored people did not know how to be free, and white people did not know how to have free colored people around them.” The result, of course, was mutual hostility and widespread mistrust, which has persisted to this day – 400 years, as Stiles repeatedly emphasized in her laments.

Stiles was superb, representing the anger, iron will, and exhaustion of Black women throughout history. The other two chroniclers debated in the hip-hop song Booker T or W.E.B.:  Williams made Washington’s accommodationist arguments while Lee aligned himself with W.E.B. DuBois, arguing for activism and reparations. I must admit this is where I began parting company with 1619 myself; attempts were made throughout to represent the virtues of both schools of thought but … see, I was 8 when Reverend King, with Bayard Rustin, Philip Randolph and 249,997 of their closest friends, Marched on Washington. There was, naturally, an article in Newsweek about it, with a sidebar specifically about the “I have a dream” speech. My mother cut that page out of the magazine and gave it to me, saying, “Keep this and remember this man. He’s a great man; he’ll go far.”  I still have that clipping in my childhood scrapbook, with the report cards and other memorabilia. Just sayin’—I’ve reverenced Dr King all my life, but at heart I’m more of a Malcolm sort of girl. Takes all types, n’est ce pas? And 1619 was written to speak to all types.

The music was amazing, comingling hip-hop, jazz, blues, spirituals, wonderful West African drumming by Ozivell Eckford and eight original songs. Marchello Lee’s choreography was marvelous, and masterfully danced by all players: Williams, Lee, and Stiles, with Eckford, Nicole Ross, Vanessa Love, and Lucy Maura. I think it was cool to see the playwright and choreographer on stage with the others; and Williams showed himself to be the consummate multi-tasker by also co-directing, with Fleetwood-Jourdain’s Artistic Director Tim Rhoze.

What didn’t quite work for me was the story sequence, despite the raconteurs. I lost the linear coherence somewhere between Abraham Lincoln and Rosa Parks, and found it difficult to reconnect, though I knew the chronicle fairly well myself.

I applaud Williams’ optimism, but I honestly can’t share it. The final song, about I See the Chains are Gone, wasn’t so much inaccurate as precocious; what event or circumstances does Williams see, present or forthcoming, that will actualize this change? The groundswell following George Floyd’s murder was squelched by a virus, and the many many subsequent murders have failed to revive that spark. Personally, I fear Williams may need to write an epilogue after November.

I was disappointed (though not surprised) at the audience: gratifyingly numerous and responsive, but overwhelmingly pale. True, this is Evanston, but the production was co-sponsored by Evanston Public Library and Northwestern University which, last time I checked, had no race restrictions in their admissions policies.  One hopes the NU Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations (the entity actually collaborating with Fleetwood-Jourdain) will put out some fliers.

Williams states in his biographical blurb that he ‘lives to inspire’. I wouldn’t necessarily call 1619 inspirational, but … let’s say it’s a safe production to recommend to your more ‘un-woke’ friends with reasonable confidence that they will learn something without being scared away. And the show is worth the time simply for the singing and dancing!

1619: THE JOURNEY OF A PEOPLE plays at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre on Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons through June 30.

RECOMMENDED

Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre's 2024 season of four productions will open with the original musical 1619: THE JOURNEY OF A PEOPLE by Chicago writer and performer Ted Williams III. The musical commemorates the arrival of the first 20 Africans on the shores of Point Comfort, Virginia on August 20, 1619. In it, three modern characters lead audience members on a journey through multiple performance pieces, leaving viewers both inspired and challenged about the progress of America's African sons and daughters. This production uses various musical forms including hip-hop, jazz, and blues, to commemorate the struggle for survival and equality and to celebrate the stories and journeys of America's African sons and daughters. FJT is partnering with Evanston Public Library and Northwestern University for this production. 1619: THE JOURNEY OF A PEOPLE will play Saturdays and Sundays from June 15-30, 2024, with the press opening on Sunday, June 16 at 3 pm.
 
Performances will be Saturdays at 7:00 pm and Sundays at 3:00 pm, at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes St., Evanston. Tickets are $30.00 and are on sale now at www.fjtheatre.com. Additionally, 2024 Premium Gold Member Cards, good for all three 2024 summer and fall play productions and A MOODY EXPERIENCE: MUSIC BEYOND THE MARGINS, are now on sale for a very limited time for only $90 - a nearly 30 percent discount off of the regular season ticket prices.
 
LISTING INFORMATION
 
1619: THE JOURNEY OF A PEOPLE
A Musical by Ted Williams III
Directed by Tim Rhoze and Ted Williams III
This is a co-production with Evanston Public Library and Northwestern University
June 15-30, 2024
Saturdays at 7 pm, Sundays at 3 pm
Press opening Sunday, June 16 at 3 pm
Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center
927 Noyes St., Evanston
Tickets $32.00, on sale now at www.fjtheatre.com
Phone 847-866-5914
 
From the beginning of American slavery to Reconstruction, the Great Migration, the Civil Rights Era, and modern movements for justice, 1619 packs generations of history into an amazing musical theater experience that traces the African American journey toward freedom and equality.