APAP Diary: "Word Becomes Flesh"

Okay, so this video of spoken word artist B. Yung at a 2009 poetry conference is here because, thanks to Marc Bamuthi Joseph/The Living Word Project's Word Becomes Flesh, I have now become a B. Yung fan. Word Becomes Flesh (2003)--running now at The Public Theater's Under The Radar Festival in association with 651 Arts--takes an audience deep into the experiences, thoughts and feelings of a young Black man dealing with realities of the streets, the system, sexuality, relationships and fatherhood. All six men who deliver Joseph's "choreopoem" or "spoken world" are talented and committed performers. But Yung, from his first moment on stage, takes command with an immediate "on" and firm grounding in the material and emotional roots of the work. It's a smooth and beautiful performance arising from the rough, complex context set out in the piece--strife, anger, alienation, self-doubt, self-delusion, longing, wild hope.

Scene from Marc Bamuthi Joseph's Word Becomes Flesh
Photo (c)Jati Lindsay

Some sections of Word Becomes Flesh have more punch than others, but the whole work and its individual performers gain authority as they proceed, and the fiercely assertive movement and acting rock steady. So go meet Yung and his five colleagues Dahlak Brathwaite, Daveed Diggs, Dion Reiner-Guzman, Khalil Anthony and Michael Wayne Turner III.

Word Becomes Flesh runs through January 15. For information and ticketing, click here.

The Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street (just below Astor Place), Manhattan
(map/directions)

Rays of light

My body is a halfway house for a ray of light. -- Marc Bamuthi Joseph

Last evening, 651 Arts brought together the fabulous Ntozake Shange and Marc Bamuthi Joseph--"fabulous" modifies both of them, thank you--for a conversation that could have, should have gone on all night. From the outset--with Joseph explaining that his middle name means "of the trees" and Shange acknowledging that "trees carry spirits"--everyone could feel that these two charming, multi-talented, politically astute artists ride the same wavelength and have much to share. I'm still buoyed and buzzing from this one-time-only, one-of-a-kind, event, which took place before a full and fully mesmerized audience at the Mark Morris Dance Center as part of 651 Arts' Live & Outspoken series.

 

Joseph opened by offering excerpts from Word Becomes Flesh, a solo that takes the familiar concept of spoken word and pumps it up into super-embodied word--a steady roll of movement, narrative and allegorical characterization treating historical and societal realities. Later, as Shange interviewed him, Joseph cited the world-renowned Tap God. "The way Savion Glover hears rhythm and channels it through his body is the way I aspire to hear language and channel it through my body," he said. "The body is the primary mechanism for carrying a story and for the making of ritual." He certainly has come a long way from the nine-year-old who--auditioning for Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk--did not know how to dance. Unimaginable!

Like Joseph, we were all beguiled by the presence of the author of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. Shange, as interviewer, brought insightful questions and an effervescent spirit of generosity and wit. Imagine Shange--"she who walks like a lion"--wondering about the distinction between Ruby Keeler (of the hard-charging feet) and Ginger Rogers (of the light-skimming feet) and Joseph answering with a juicily word-embodied elucidation of the Afro-Haitian snake god, Damballah. Pure joy, pure joy. The two of them should really take this act on the road.

For Colored Girls deeply influenced the young Joseph, to be sure, and clearly directed his sense of compassion towards women and his commitment to playing a positive role as educator and activist. It would have been great to hear a little about his concern for environmental issues and eco-equity, described as "the radically democratic position that poor communities and communities of color are logistically and psychologically included in the new, clean and green economy." But if this interests you, keep watch for his upcoming performance project--red black and green: a blues. You can find out more about it at Life is Living.

To keep pace with 651 Arts, click here. Next up: poet-activist Amiri Baraka interviews actor-director Stephen Henderson, April 5, 7pm. (Information and ticketing)

Live & Outspoken with 651 Arts

As part of 651 Arts's Live & Outspoken series, Ntozake Shange will interview Marc Bamuthi Joseph:

Tuesday, March 8 (7PM)

The James and Martha Duffy Performance Space
Mark Morris Dance Center
3 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn (directions)

Artist and performer Marc Bamuthi Joseph is one of America’s most vital voices in performance, arts education, and artistic curation. After appearing on Broadway as a young actor, Joseph developed several poetically based works for the stage that toured across the US, Europe, and Africa. He is the artistic director of the 7-part HBO documentary Russell Simmons Presents Brave New Voices; an inaugural recipient of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship, which annually recognizes 50 of the country’s “greatest living artists;” and mentor to young writers with Oakland’s YOUTH SPEAKS. Joseph speaks with Shange, who he has called “one of my greatest influences," about the artistic process, activism and more. Bamuthi will perform excerpts from his works Word Becomes Flesh and red, black and GREEN: a blues. 

Click here for tickets or call 212-868-4444.