“This play is a mixtape, jumping from one song/scene to the next…by rhythm or melody. The pace rarely…drops below 100 beats per minute. The text is not only spoken, but also danced and sung. Past, present, and future all happen at once. The mixtape is less story, more state of mind.”
So begins the script to Angela’s Mixtape, a musical memoir by Eisa Davis – quite possibly the most spirited, unconventional piece of theater I have ever seen. Eisa (pronounced EE-sa), a singer, songwriter, and playwright who last appeared on Broadway in Passing Strange, is the autobiographical star of this five-woman play, produced by the nonprofit New Georges Theater and the Hip-Hop Theater Festival. Based on her unusual upbringing in Berkeley and Oakland, California, Eisa’s work is a highly relatable story told in the most unexpectedly inventive of ways.
Left to right: Ayesha Ngaujah (Cess), Linda Powell (Angela), Eisa Davis (Eisa), Kim Brockington (Mommy), and Denise Burse (Grandma) in Eisa Davis' "Angela's Mixtape." The production is directed by Liesl Tommy.
There are two lines of narratives here – that of Eisa’s aunt, the political activist Angela Davis, and that of Eisa’s own coming of age as she grows up in what she deems to be her aunt’s shadow. Angela, who is a now a professor at UC Santa Cruz, was actively involved in the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Panthers, and during the 80s (prior to leaving the party), she ran twice for Vice President on the Communist ticket. Eisa grew up in a politically charged environment, raised by an aunt and a mother who fervently believed that “every waking moment is for liberation” of oppressed peoples. Her storied childhood – from weekend demonstrations on the UC Berkeley campus to witnessing revolution on the island nation of Grenada – is captured through the quick-change transitions of the theatrical mixtape. Still, amid this sometimes frenzied shuffle of memories, it’s not hard to lose parts of Angela’s tale – the details of her struggle, the specific motivations that drove her to do what she did. It isn’t until her wrongful incarceration in one of the most high-profile cases in recent U.S. history that Angela truly comes alive.
Fortunately, the crux of the story isn’t on Angela but on Eisa, and her struggle – confronting that all-too-familiar existential crisis of “Who am I?” – is one that benefits from being told with the fluidity of a mixtape. Through a hodgepodge of episodes spanning the 70s, 80s, and 90s, we see Eisa transform herself from a wide-eyed 6-year-old to a young woman finally cognizant of her role in her family and in the world. Long-dogged by the fear of not “living up to my name,” Eisa convincingly vacillates between identities – going from not having “enough black friends” and “studying whiteness” to being “mixed” – before acknowledging that her passion laid not in politics but in the arts. You don’t need to have a socialist aunt to relate to something like this. Eisa’s story will speak to anyone who’s ever made an honest effort to figure out who they really are.
Left to right: Ayesha Ngaujah and Eisa Davis
What ultimately elevates Angela’s Mixtape from the potential heaviness of political activism and personal soul-searching, though, is its in-your-face “b-girl stance.” All five ladies have angelic voices that carry us through various musical genres (gospel, spiritual, freedom songs, African folk songs, etc.), but it was always the RAPPING that had me grinning like an idiot without fail. In particular, watching Eisa and Ayesha Ngaujah’s perfectly in-sync rap duets and funky dance moves really did make me want to wave my arms around like I just don’t care. So much of this show felt like a freestyle slam poetry concert. “I’m not a tape you can play,” Angela raps near the end. “I’m live, live, all the way live.” Word.
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Angela’s Mixtape is at the Ohio Theater (66 Wooster between Spring and Broome) through May 2. Tickets: $20 (general), $35 (premium). Monday nights, “pay-what-you-will” at the door.
Pearl Chen is a writer, editor, and web-producer based in Manhattan.
Last 5 posts by Pearl Chen
- Monetizing Emma - August 17th, 2010
- The Addams Family - August 6th, 2010
- Million Dollar Quartet - June 1st, 2010
- This Side of Paradise - April 27th, 2010
- American Idiot - April 17th, 2010
