Janet Song, Savannah Schoenecker, America Covarrubias, Naseem Etemad, Kita Grayson, Mackenzie Mondag
(Photo by Areon Mobasher)
Reviewed by Molly McLean
The Fountain Theatre
Through March 29
(Photo by Areon Mobasher)
The renowned poet June Jordan wrote many words for the stage. She wrote lyrics for the musical Bang Bang Über Alles, the opera I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky, and for the acapella group Sweet Honey in the Rock. Instead of producing these works, Artistic Director of the Fountain Theatre Raymond O. Caldwell and Jordan’s artistic and life partner Adrienne Torf worked to create Poetry for the People: The June Jordan Experience to honor her work and life. This piece was developed when a production of Ceiling was delayed in 2022 to a 2024 production in Washington D.C. at Theater Alliance.
At one moment in this piece, we see a list of questions on a screen (media design by Deja Collins) June Jordan used in her poetry classes to criticize poems. Some of them include: Is this a poem? Is it coherent? What are its strengths? What are its weaknesses? I’ll ask these questions too.
Is this a play? No. It’s better described as a collage that includes biography, poem readings, writing exercises for the audience, and songs for which Jordan wrote the lyrics. It is an overview of Jordan’s impressive life.
Is it coherent? Since it’s a collage that includes many forms, the actors have to switch between performing as speakers (of poems), narrators (of biography), characters (in a biography), characters (in a musical), and more. Caldwell never figures out how to delineate these different roles or how to make this choice dramatically engaging. The actors bring great effort to make this lecture-Wikipedia article-poem-museum exhibit alive in a theater. Of note: Naseem Etemad has a beautiful, relaxed speaking voice and Mackenzie Mondag moves and speaks with delightful energy.
What are its strengths? The piece talks about many interesting things, including: the KKK intimidating Jordan and Torf’s musical, her determination in childhood, lessons she learned while traveling, and protesting as a Freedom Rider.
What are its weaknesses? This piece struggles because it does not follow any major themes or questions that piece together this collage. The narrators tell us how to feel about her poems and her life, instead of letting us feel ourselves. Even the screens with her poems on them mostly show fragments of the stanzas. Jordan’s life is remarkable: Why not a play that depicts her life? Jordan’s poems are remarkable: Why not a choreopoem?
I hope one of June Jordan’s plays is produced in Los Angeles one day, because, I’m told, she’s quite a writer.
The Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave., East Hollywood. Opens. Sat., Jan. 31; Fri.-Sat., 8 pm, Sun., 2 pm, Mon., 8 pm, dark Monday, Feb. 2 and Monday, Feb. 23; thru March 29. FountainTheatre.com NOTE: All shows are pay what you can.
