via UPROOTED
In the Red and Brown Water
UPROOTED Theatre and Marquette University Theatre have come together to bring Milwaukee In the Red and Brown Water, a powerful piece from Tarell Alvin McCraney’s The Brother/Sister Plays trilogy. Producing artistic director and education program coordinator of UPROOTED Theatre, Marti Gobel, is both director and costume designer for the show. In an interview with the Shepherd Express, Gobel shared some background about In the Red and Brown Water and how the collaboration between Marquette and UPROOTED came to be.
In the Red and Brown Water runs Nov. 6-16 at Marquette University’s Helfaer Theatre, 525 N. 13th St. Tickets are available online or by calling 414-288-7504.
Shepherd Express (SE): Can you share with me the storyline/premise of In the Red and Brown Water?
Marti Gobel (MG): In the Red and Brown Water is the story of Oya, a young girl who becomes a woman during the course of the play. Oya is a local track star in a fictional New Orleans housing project. Her skill and love of running make it possible for her to escape the projects when The Man From State offers her a scholarship. Because her mother, Mama Moja, is dying, she declines the offer. Three men offer her their own particular kind of comfort: Shango, the fighter; Ogun, the businessman; and Elegba, Oya’s best friend. These relationships lead to an emotional unraveling for Oya. The whole neighborhood witnesses the journey. Think Our Town in the ’hood.
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SE: Is there a reason behind why Marquette/UPROOTED are only performing one part of The Brother/Sister Plays trilogy?
MG: Yes. They are full-length plays. It would be difficult to continue the artistic partnership for all three pieces for financial and logistical reasons. UPROOTED Theatre will do a hybrid staged reading of the second installment of the trilogy, The Brothers Size, in March. The play will feature local artists D’monte Henning, Marques Causey and Chike Johnson. The one-night event will be presented at the Next Act Theatre space. We hope to do an off-season production of the third piece, Marcus; or The Secret of Sweet.
SE: Can you tell me about how the collaboration between Marquette University Theatre and UPROOTED Theatre came to be for this show?
MG: I met with heads of the Marquette Theatre department a year ago. They shared with me their rising enrollment of people of color and believed it to be their responsibility to provide a full education for their theater majors. This included giving them an experience that spoke to their ethnicities and cultures. I was so impressed by their dedication to all of their students. UPROOTED Theatre is currently the highest-producing African American theatre in Wisconsin. The efforts of Marquette to connect theater students to our organization have created long-lasting ties for their students of color to the professional theater community. In addition, I described In the Red and Brown Water as “Our Town in the ’hood.” Little did I know, but Thornton Wilder’s classic play was set to open the 2014/2015 Marquette Theatre season. I’d say it was meant to be.
SE: Who is the creative team for this play?
MG: They include both student and professional designers. I will direct and am the costume designer; Dennis F. Johnson (co-founding member of UPROOTED) is doing movement; light design is by Mike Van Dreser; set design is by Madelyn Yee; and stage management is Kaitlyn Martin. Local African drummer Lucky Diop will provide the sound for the play. Local professional actors Ericka Wade and Ken Williams join the student cast of 24.
SE: Any memorable past contributions or distinctive styles we can look forward to seeing again?
MG: I am extremely attracted to plays that require little production value. Many of our plays in the past have been rich in text with clean and simple design elements. You can count on this for In the Red and Brown Water. The ensemble cast rarely leaves the stage, encouraging the notion that this is a true neighborhood where everyone knows everything. We will use no recorded sound for the production, just live drumming. Because the play coasts between the spirit world and reality, I have directed it with an eye for what needs to be real and what needs to be found within the audience’s imagination.
SE: What do you believe is most thought provoking/moving about this show?
MG: It is based primarily on the Yoruba spiritual traditions. That said, it speaks to the gods and goddesses in all of us and encourages the notion that sometimes we control our destiny through the spirit world, but can be just as affected when the spirit world walks among us. The ensemble will serve as a pantheon of deities for much of the play.
SE: Is there any additional backstory on this play you think readers might find interesting?
MG: Oh, yes! McCraney has based all of the characters on common African gods and goddesses. He has written them so that their godly attributes have been translated into the modern day reality. Oya is the goddess of wind. She breathes and often screams. The playwright has made her a runner. She is in the air. She screams at her frustration. Elegba and Elegua are the god and goddess of roads, particularly crossroads. The playwright has made these characters Oya’s confidants. Shango is the god of lightning and thunder. The playwright has made him a soldier who stirs up a storm of epic proportions in Oya. Ogun is the god of iron working, and a god you must never break a promise to. The playwright has made him a mechanic that gets his heart broken by Oya. Mama Moja is the essence of motherhood. The playwright has seen to it that she is the mother figure in the neighborhood. Shun is a lover of the god Shango. The playwright sees to it that she is a jealous neighborhood woman in the play. O Li Roon is the god associated with the sun and is the life force of all living things. The playwright has seen to it that he runs the local grocery store, manifests as The Man From State, who has the power to take Oya out of the hood, and is the only Caucasian god in the play. Egungun is the god who unites the community through “sets” and “layers.” He reminds a community of their collective energy. The playwright has made him a DJ that reigns over a block party.
SE: Do you have any other information or comments you’d like to share?
MG: This collaboration has been everything that I wanted it to be. A way for UPROOTED to keeps its finger on the pulse of the up-and-coming artists, an experience driven by our shared belief that theater is a great binder and necessary for the development of society. And lastly, nothing like this has been seen in Milwaukee. The play is ground breaking in its structure and its message.
