Makha Mthembu and Stakiah Lynn Washington (Photo courtesy of Imagine Theatre)
Reviewed by F. Kathleen Foley
Imagine Theatre at the Colony Theatre
Closed, Excepting School Matinees.
Playwright June Carryl’s The Girl Who Made the Milky Way is based on traditional Khoisan folktales. Considered among the oldest human inhabitants of Southern Africa, the Khoisans went into decline some 20,000 years ago. Today, native Khoisan are few, and only 100,000 or so still speak the Khoisan “click” language. Even so, the tribe’s cultural effects on the African continent remain widespread and profound.
That rich culture is reflected in Imagine Theatre’s latest production of Carryl’s play, which just closed after a short run at the Colony Theatre. (It will continue with a series of local school matinees). The show is geared for K through 5 audiences; at the performance, I attended, the kids in the house seemed particularly enthralled. There was plenty for adult audiences to enjoy as well, including exceptional design elements —Tom Buderwitz’s riotously colorful scenic design, Dianne Graebner’s whimsical costumes, Rebecca Kessin’s sound, complete with fun reverb effects, and Gabrieal Griego’s projection design, which included evocative images of African tribal dances. Gavan Wyrick’s lighting, with its fantastical images of swirling constellations, was one of the evening’s highlights.
The wonderful design elements, coupled with Carryl’s whimsical and inventive play, should be a sure-fire hit for the young audiences at the school matinees, which continue at the Colony. However, the play borrows from so many Khoisan traditional tales that the plot and the proliferation of characters are sometimes difficult to follow.
The action revolves around the clever, courageous Little Sister (Stakiah Lynn Washington), who sets out with her three friends Mantis (Makha Mthembu, who also functions as narrator), Lion (Carter Michael) and Hare (Edward Hong) to find her father, who never returned from his last hunting trip. On their perilous journey to the farthest reach of the sky, the friends intend to present the grumpy, arrogant Moon (Max Lawrence, playing multiple roles) with a gift. In exchange, they hope he will return all the lost things he has been hoarding, including Little Sister’s father.
Call this the Khoisan version of The Wizard of Oz, complete with a Lion and the Moon, who can be read as an Africanized Wizard. En route, the four travelers overcome a series of obstacles, with wily Little Sister answering a series of life-and-death riddles posed by the various characters they meet.
In a particularly humorous encounter, the quartet falls afoul of a cannibalistic tortoise (Jamela Asha, also playing multiple roles), whose dinner plans are ruined when she accidentally flips onto her back. When Little Sister mercifully flips her back, the Tortoise is moved by her kindness. It seems the Tortoise has never had a friend before, and Little Sister’s offer of enduring friendship humanizes her — to surprisingly poignant effect.
Director Armina LaManna has assembled an engaging cast for her lively staging. All are excellent, but Lawrence is particularly fine as the Moon, a cranky narcissist who is also humanized by Little Sister’s magnificent gift of the Milky Way. When the lights of the Milky Way twinkled on, both onstage and throughout the theater, it was a thrilling moment of stagecraft —and a fitting finale to this ancient tale.
The Colony Theatre, 555 N. 3rd Street, Burbank. This production has closed, except for school matinees.
