Theater Review

Mama’s Letters
by Jean Damu

Quick! Somebody, get this play into an established
theater!

One of Oakland’s best kept secrets, the Lower Bottom
Playaz, have created in “Mamas Letters” a powerful
poetic drama that sings of the pain and the beauty
that is the lives of Black women. It’s an original,
compelling and engrossing piece of theater that leaps
from the streets of Oakland but speaks to audiences
everywhere.

Mercedes Vaughn is a middle aged academic researcher who
suddenly finds herself emotionally distanced from her
family and friends from the Black community in which
she was raised. In an a studied attempt, that only an
academic would dream of, to discover how she became so
distanced from her origins, she creates a plan to
organize focus groups of other Black women to whom she
will put various questions; questions Mercedes hopes
will reveal shared intimacies of their lives.

Mercedes, played by author and director Ayodele
Nzinga, spreads the word that she will pay $50 to any
woman who agrees to participate in the study. What
follows is a parade of Sistas who reveal their
innermost feelings and thoughts about themselves and
about their most important relationships. Some are
sympathetic, some less so, but each one has a real
story to tell and no one has had an easy time of it.
Despite the pain and the sadness shared, there is lots
of humor to go around.

Indigo, a well known open mic hostess in Oakland
created two of the most memorable characters Wilma, a
woman suffering from over compensation for an empty
nest and Loretta Evaline Sykes, a self-righteous,
Black church everywoman. When the talk gets too raw
and raunchy for Sista Sykes, she grabs her purse and
runs for the door, without her $50.

As each woman is quizzed by researcher Mercedes they
come to question number nine, which invariably
inspires deep thought, then elicits haunting memories
and insights on the part of the respondents. Each
monologue rivets the viewer’s attention.

Kelly, the crack addict, does a wonderful dance,
teetering about the edge of a psychological abyss as
she justifies her crack addiction to herself and
wonders why she is so distant from her children. Kelly
is played by Kelee “Lucky 7” Boult, who has appeared
on nationally featured poetry slams.

Another standout cast member, and all the cast members
range from excellent to quite good, is Genevieve Jesse
who appears as the Stripper Mom a blond gum chewing,
quasi-prostitute and businesswoman Olivia. Jesse most
recently appeared in a production of Medea at Kent
State University in Ohio. Lynesha Monet and Olukemi
Lawal, Ayo “Pie” Nzinga, Clarecia Philyaw and Maleyah
McCoy round out this fine cast.

The Lower Bottom Playaz is now in its’ sixth year of
existence, and “Mama’s Letters” is its first original
presentation. It is therefore, not without minor
flaws. In the first act, of this two act play,
Mercedes leaves the stage momentarily while another
character Red, also played by Nzinga, appears on stage
as if she just wandered in off the street to join the
focus group. If the viewer is not paying strict
attention, confusion can result. But there is nothing
here a little tinkering won’t fix.

For the last two or three years The Lower Bottom
Playaz have contributed to Oakland’s theater community
a steady diet of quality productions. Earlier
adaptations of Romeo and Juliet and James Baldwin’s
“Amen Corner” were adequate stepping stones. However
last years production of “Macbeth-A ganstas tale,” an
enthusiastically received hip hop version of
Shakespeare’s, “Macbeth” (which will be reprised later
this year) and the current Mama’s Letters clearly
prove this community theater company deserves broader
appreciation and support.

The company, founded by Nzinga, currently operates
under the auspices of the Prescott-Joseph Center for
Community Enhancement in West Oakland. The Center has
made its contribution by constructing a backyard stage
that serves the purpose of a theater but provides all
the distractions of the neighborhood as well. Despite
the occasional slamming door or crying children next
door, there is no taking away from the realization one
is watching quality theater.

Mama’s Letters will run one more week-end, July 6, 7,
& 8th. Friday and Saturday night shows start at 7:45
and Sunday's curtain is at 4:00. Tickets are $10.00
general admission with discounts for children under 12
and seniors. Theater located in the back yard of The
Prescott-Joseph Center For Community Enancement, 920
Peralta St. Oakland Ca. 94607. Box-Office information
at 510-457-8999.