#MJDB

[newfrontierseries]

The Celebrity Cookout: Black Icons + Me (Part 1)

In 1962, a fresh faced, 38-year-old James Baldwin penned an essay titled “The Creative Process” (read it here!) in which he laid out, in no uncertain terms, his views on the responsibility of the artist, a group of individuals he described as “historically despised while living and acclaimed when safely dead.”

Baldwin writes:

The precise role of the artist…is to illuminate that darkness, blaze roads through that vast forest, so that we will not, in all our doing, lose sight of its purpose, which is, after all, to make the world a more human dwelling place.

Indeed, artists have historically served as a guiding light in the darkness, an anchor in stormy seas, a phone charger when your battery is at 1%. Artists create, and in that act of creation, help us to make sense of the world around us and maybe, just maybe, not feel so alone.

And today, in the 21st century, as the world burns (both literally and figuratively) – we have turned these artists into celebrities who we continue to look towards in times of uncertainty and despair. And certainly (and I cannot emphasize enough the true sincerity in my claim here) – it would be foolish to deny the artistry involved in the act of celebrity. It is a beautifully special skill to grab the spotlight, to hold our collective attention, and create iconography.

We’ve been thinking about this a lot during the development process of Michael Jackson and The Devil’s Book – specifically about how Black celebrities inhabit deeply sacred spaces in the lives of Black people. And all of that thinking has led to the genesis of this! A new, multi-part series that I am calling: The Celebrity Cookout: Black Icons + Me. The premise? What would it look like if I asked Black people of all different ages and backgrounds to reflect on the ways in which Black celebrities have impacted their lives by answering three, very simple questions. The result? A beautiful and diverse tapestry illustrating the richness of Black celebrity, iconography, and popular culture.

To kick off this series, I asked some members of our Rough Draft Reading to respond. Learn what playwright Terry and ensemble members Breon, Netta and Donovan had to say. And check back later this week to hear some incredible memories from some incredible Black people all across the country!

Name: Terry Guest

Hometown: Albany, GA

Who is a Black celebrity that has had a major impact on your life? Whitney Elizabeth Houston.

Can you talk a bit about what that impact has been? I remember looking at Whitney Houston when I was a child and thinking “She is the most beautiful person in the world. I hope to look like that one day.”

What is an iconic moment of theirs that has stuck with you (or, as the kids would say, lives in your head, rent free)? Of course the Diane Sawyer interview! That all white suit!

Name: Breon Arzell

Hometown: Detroit, MI 

Who is a Black celebrity that has had a major impact on your life? As a child, Eddie Murphy. As an adult, Beyonce.

Can you talk a bit about what that impact has been? Eddie Murphy was a Black character actor; everything I wanted to be. With Beyoncé, it's her work ethic, showmanship, attention to detail, and being a BOSS of all trades.

What is an iconic moment of theirs that has stuck with you (or, as the kids would say, lives in your head, rent free)? Coming to America. (full stop.) Like, WHAT? Who does that?! Surprise album drop. WHAT?! Again, WHO DOES THAT?! And I also appreciate the way she's been able to maintain privacy and craft her brand and image.

Name: Netta Walker

Hometown: Jacksonville, Florida

Who is a Black celebrity that has had a major impact on your life? My favorite Black celebrity is Barack Obama. But the most impactful Black celebrity isn’t just one person, it is The Temptations.

Can you talk a bit about what that impact has been? Every one of The Temptations’ songs has strings attached to my childhood with my father. He loved them so much, and for that they played a major theme in my life. We’d watch Four Brothers reruns all the time so Papa Was A Rolling Stone always brings me back to those days. Him singing My Girl to me before bed, because I was his only girl (and his baby girl at that). Him chasing my mother around singing Aint to Proud to Beg. Ball of Confusion, Just My Imagination, I Wish It Would Rain, I Can’t Get Next To You - every single one of them has a bittersweet memory.

 What is an iconic moment of theirs that has stuck with you (or, as the kids would say, lives in your head, rent free)?

“AIN’T NOBODY COMIN TO SEE YOU OTIS”

Name: Donovan Session

Hometown: Tulsa, Oklahoma

Who is a Black celebrity that has had a major impact on your life? A Black celebrity that had a stronger impact in my life than realized was Miss J from America’s Next Top Model.

Can you talk a bit about what that impact has been? I grew up watching this androgynous gender-fluid GODDESS teaching these girls how to slay! I didn’t realize how much I was being influenced by their confidence and unapologetic nature throughout my life. They have remained glamorous and graceful for decades to come and they don’t receive the flowers that they deserve.

What is an iconic moment of theirs that has stuck with you (or, as the kids would say, lives in your head, rent free)? An iconic moment of theirs that comes to mind is when the girls had to strut down a runway covered in water and the only person who could do it successfully was Miss J! The girls were GAGGED!! 

[infinitytrinity]

It’s amazing when this far north, the sun barely rises high enough to go over a mountain, instead it plays peekaboo from the side! . #mjdb (at Fort William, Highland) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt6GSPcghgZ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=ptbws02v9kac

[tradizioni-barcellona]

🔴 EVENTO ANNULLATO 🔴 Su Facebook Tradizioni Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto - Sicilia #Tradizioni_Barcellona_Pozzo_di_Gotto_Sicilia #Sicilia_Terra_di_Tradizioni (presso Tradizioni Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto - Sicilia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CX024A-MjDB/?utm_medium=tumblr

[jaimeterno]

#athens #grece #parthenon #temple #trip (en Valparaíso, Chile) https://www.instagram.com/p/CSisx2-MjDB/?utm_medium=tumblr

[peterwrite]

🇺🇸 TODAYS SALES! 🇺🇸 RARE COLLECTIBLES! #EBAY LINK IN BIO ⬆️ #TwinLakesSilverFrontier #silver #gold #coins #money #cards #jewelry #antique #vintage #old #history #gift #present #forsale #sales #auction #philadelphia #denver #sanfrancisco #lasvegas #newyork #dallas #neworleans #florida #TLSF #TwinLakesSF #july https://www.instagram.com/p/CCMl-mjDB-u/?igshid=6o6tt0d0c8gd

[bronze44]

at CHP - Academy https://www.instagram.com/p/B21o5-mJDBs/?igshid=6hq763hs88nd

[newfrontierseries]

Dramaturgs Gone Mad-Libs

(L to R Hannah Hopkins, Nadya Naumaan, Jared Bellot, and Will Kiley)

Hello! My name is Hannah Hopkins, and I am the Dramaturg for Daria Miyeko Marinelli’s CROPT.

To me, dramaturgy is a collaborative process in support of the play: we’re figuring out how to ask new and better questions together in real time.

We felt it was important to share this play now because in this moment, we have the opportunity and obligation to confront the violence that has always already been just beyond the surface of what we desire and take for granted. 

My role will help this new play by finding, facilitating, and supporting ways to connect critical voices and ways of knowing to the world(s) of CROPT 

Hello! My name is Nadya Naumaan, and I am the Dramaturg for Being Julia Roberts.

To me, dramaturgy is

  being a play detective - serve the truth of the play..    

We felt it was important to share this play now because

 Islamophobia still exists in the US. Also levity is important and we love Julia Roberts. Can these things exist in a play together? Only Abbas knows.

My role will help this new play by

 providing research, listening, and providing endless enthusiasm.  

Hello! My name is Jared (he/him),  and I am the Dramaturg for Michael Jackson and the Devil's Book by Terry Guest! 

To me, dramaturgy is getting to have lots of really good conversations and getting to ask a lot of really good questions (not expecting an answer in return). 

We felt it was important to share this play now because Black lives and Black stories and Black myths and Black people matter now. And always. 

My role will help this new play by helping to facilitate the journey of the creative team through lots of ambiguity and uncertainty. And serving as the biggest cheerleader/sounding board/hype man to the my INCREDIBLY TALENTED AND INCREDIBLY BRILLIANT collaborators, Terry and Wardell. 

Hello! My name is  Will Kiley,  and I am the Dramaturg for  P_A_N_G_E_A  by Calamity West. 

To me, dramaturgy is bridging the rehearsal room and the outside public, advocating for the playwright and director’s intentions, crafting questions that help either open or close the play. 

We felt it was important to share this play now because the tempo of 2020 is causing us to reevaluate our senses of self while shaking up our histories and dreams. 

My role will help this new play by listening and responding to Calamity and Regina’s work, craft nurturing questions and feedback, invite the public into our process, notice trends and patterns, track the ways Calamity and Regina’s intentions show up within each iteration of the script. 

[newfrontierseries]

#MJDB Post 1:

“I don’t know that I have ever found any satisfactory answers of my own. But every time I ask it, the question is refined…questioning as ritual, questioning as exploration rather than the search for certainty.” - Ta-Nehisi Coates

“Hee Hee” - Michael Jackson

Any worthwhile artistic journey begins with a worthwhile question. Or, a worthwhile series of questions.

For me, the first thing I do whenever I begin work on a new project is sit down and ask myself, “Jared, what is this play about?”

It is a question that is both incredibly straightforward and deeply complex, but by beginning to answer it, I am able to give myself a lens with which to begin to analyze the text. As someone who deeply despises the anxiety that comes with not knowing, (which, for those wondering, yes, does make working as dramaturg, a role that fully lives in a world of ambiguity, a truly nerve-wracking journey) figuring out this question helps me to stay anchored and do the necessary work of unpacking the world of the play. It is a win-win situation for both my sanity and the artistic process. When Terry Guest first introduced his ideas around his new play, Michael Jackson and the Devil’s Book, to director Wardell Julius Clark and I, he answered my question before I even had to ask. “This play is not a biography about Michael Jackson.” Terry explained. “This play is not about Michael Jackson the man at all.”

“But wait!” You might be thinking to yourself. “This play isn’t about Michael Jackson? But isn’t his name in the title? Isn’t he a character in the play? Didn’t you start this very blog post quoting his iconic “Hee Hee” vocal riff? If MICHAEL JACKSON and the Devil’s Book isn’t about Michael Jackson, then what is it about?” Don’t get it twisted; this play is 100% about that little Black boy born in Gary, Indiana on August 29, 1958 (on the night of a full moon whose birth chat has a Virgo sun, Pisces Moon and Pisces Ascendant placement for the astrologically curious of the bunch). This play is 100% about the boundary and taboo-breaking career of one of the most iconic and significant Black superstars to have ever lived. This play is, 100%, without a doubt about Michael Jackson, The King of Pop, the most awarded artist in the history of music. But more than that, Michael Jackson and The Devil’s Book is a play about Black people. And selective Black exceptionalism. And how Black people have followed the story of Michael Jackson, with all of its ups and downs, for the past 50 years.

This play is an exploration of what it looks like for Black people to accomplish our dreams. And what we must sacrifice to do so. It is about our loss of innocence. Of our own realization that “celebrity,” that thing that so many of us spend our whole lives chasing, can be dangerous, dehumanizing, and deadly. This play is a reckoning that asks us to examine: What does it mean to sell and monetize your Blackness in a forward facing industry. At least, that’s what we think this play is about. Who knows – its doesn’t exist yet! But these are the things that we are going to keep asking ourselves over the next few months as this piece comes into focus. We are going to talk a lot about Black people in pop culture. People like Beyoncé, and Michael Jordan, and Diana Ross, and Bill Cosby, and Prince, and Serena Williams, and Oprah, and Barack and Michelle Obama. Black people who have reached a certain stratosphere and live a life that, for the rest of us is shrouded in mystery. What does it mean that we hold these people up, and why do we hold them up the way that we do?Real talk? I don’t know who the real Michael Jackson was as a person. (Honestly, neither did many of the people who were close to him.) He became famous and beloved and iconic and infamous and hated a million times over all before I was even born. So who am I to try and dramaturg us all into an honest understanding of his life?I began this post by sharing that I believe the best artistic adventures are based in inquiry. So I will leave you with three questions that Terry posed to Wardell and I back on that first day:

What was your first memory of Michael Jackson? And what did he look like?

How did the adults around you discuss MJ when you were young? How did your peers discuss MJ?

What do you think of Michael Jackson’s legacy?

I invite you to engage with us and share your own responses in the comments below. That’s what this play is about after all. Us.

What, did you think you would come here and get some answers? Well, joke is on you then. “Hee Hee.”

[infinitytrinity]

Any moment and the sun will rise above this mountain and shine it’s light on us. . #mjdb (at Fort William, Highland) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt6Foj_gB-G/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=18798ova61r3z

[infinitytrinity]

RenFest need I say more?! #mjdb (at Maryland Renaissance Festival) https://www.instagram.com/p/BuKrDyhg1Tj/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1gp3ob2tjr1qc

[infinitytrinity]

Loved! Seeing this historic castle in person! . #mjdb (at Scotland) https://www.instagram.com/p/BrITBf1lh2u/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=13sqgb2b1yusw

[infinitytrinity]

Beautiful #historical #scotland #castle #mjdb (at Dalmally) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bra8YHPlMxT/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1adsi2z7y03ok

[infinitytrinity]

Now that’s how you blow bubbles! #mjdb https://www.instagram.com/p/Bra3CUfF-1T/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=zo6juz22jpn8

[infinitytrinity]

Up close and personal with.. #halonablowhole #hawaii #oahu #honolulu #mjdb https://www.instagram.com/p/Br9fQg7hlsq/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=dhweu68nk3v9

[infinitytrinity]

Success! Full rainbow shot near Ke’ena Point Oahu! ~ . #mjdb (at Ka'ena Point Trail Hike) https://www.instagram.com/p/BryZpLJhWYb/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1qjtk0jzlwfpy