Single Black Female by Lisa B. Thompson
a critique by Korinn Annette Jefferies korinnannette.com
I believe theatre is a communal event. when I go see a play, I find that I enjoy it more in intimate settings.
a small local theatre, a coffee shop, the library multipurpose room.
in these spaces, theatre means more. the people that are attending the show are there for a reason. they are there because they want to connect to a story, they want an experience.
Single Black Female at Mettlesome Theater was an experience. the play is written by Dr. Lisa B. Thompson and at Mettlesome, it is directed by the incomparable JaMeeka D. Holloway.
there is a lot to like about this piece. it’s fast-paced. it’s relevant. and the coziness of Mettlesome emphasized the play’s conversational tone, drawing it’s audience deep into the world of the play. the acting is not presentational— the third wall is broken in a way that feels familiar and comfortable.
Single Black Female premiered in 1999 in San Francisco at Theater Rhinoceros. the reviews I read prior to seeing the show led me to believe the show might be dated and that the characters, SBF 1 and SBF 2, held more conservative, traditional views.
I don’t know if we saw the same show. I found the characters to be far more progressive and accepting than the reviews I read led me to believe.
the play was not as “nineties” as I expected either.
there was talk of shopping at the Gap, the game of online dating, desiring Barack Obama as a husband, music from 2006, and references to doing coke in the bathroom ten years prior which, based on the text, would be the 80s.
it was kind of all over the place. it was a little difficult figuring out where exactly in time these specific characters existed.
and I really didn’t like the beginning of the play. well, I liked it, but I didn’t like the bashing of women who choose to be video vixens or participate in reality television. there is a bit of anti-Blackness and classism that the characters both perpetuate and acknowledge, but never internalize.
there is a part of the play that discusses the invisibility of Black women and how we often don’t see each other, but the characters never really address how they fail to see the Black women who are not like them. SBF 1 and SBF 2 are middle class and while their views seem to align with who they are, I would have loved to see them redeem themselves from this way of thinking or have some personal revelation about themselves.
lastly, as a makeup girl, it pained me to hear SBF 2 refer to the iconic MAC lipstick and pull out a Fenty lip color… it’s not that big of a deal but I wanted to scream. lol.
it’s a really good play. and it makes me think about Ntozake Shange’s influence on Black women playwrights and how we all have that sisterhood play, that ‘I’m a Black woman’ play, because our experience is so inherently dramatic. it’s like we read for colored girls and we’re able to see ourselves and our experiences as profound and worthy of acknowledgement. as a result, we record and preserve those experiences through the creation of a play that tells our story.
and I think that’s beautiful.
“Let’s go shopping.”
Single Black Female by Lisa B. Thompson
directed by JaMeeka D. Holloway
is at Mettlesome Theater till May 28th
find tickets here.