Split Ends,
Venus Opal Reese’s powerful one woman show now at La MaMa has as
its subject matter the love/hate relationship between black
women and their hair -- should it be chemically altered,
pressed, weaved, locked or left in its natural state? -- and the
history behind the whole mess.
The evening begins with a video show of young black women
discussing both the pleasures and traumas of dealing with their
hair. Then Reese comes on stage as a young rapper -- Urban
Philosopher and weaves (pun sort of intended) the dilemma of
black woman’s hair with the history of African Americans in
general. Later the Urban Philosopher will present a slide show
of ads from the early 1900’s encouraging black women to
straighten their hair, to be more white and thus more beautiful
and successful. Madame C.J. Walker, one of a slew of “madams”
who got rich off of black women’s anxieties, is almost a villain
here.
“Does
being black mean you have to pimp your own people?” the
Philosopher demands.
Later Reese, whose performance is full of fierce honesty and
courage, transforms herself into a beautician, a sensual old
lady who loves her hair because it’s long and manageable, a
dancer, a cancer patient for whom the loss of her hair is more
terrifying than the prospect of death, a little girl whose
mother punishes her vanity over her hair by cutting it off, and
a drag queen who incorporates black divas like Diana Ross,
Whitney Houston (“before Bobby and crack”) and Mariah Carey
(“When she’s being black”). Reese doesn’t even have to say who
the character is when she claps on a shiny little wig and
describes in an oh so proper voice how she set about to strip
herself of everything that signified blackness (and maybe even
femaleness) to ease her road to power.
Except,
perhaps, for the pert anchor woman pageboy. Who else could it be
but Condoleeza Rice? Reese also plays a junkie and former
chanteuse whose hair was both a blessing and the cause of her
degradation, a hilarious Beyonce wanna-be and a woman who wanted
to be Angela Davis, with her mushroom cloud ‘fro, till she got
arrested for it. In between costume changes we return to the
beautiful young women in the video, who are asked questions like
‘What’s your hair’s name?’ ‘If your hair was a garden what would
grow there?’ and ‘What would your hair wear?’ A few of the women
claim their hair would wear dominatrix boots. The evening ends
with the word, “Redeem.”
Split Ends, which cleverly refers not only to hair but to
history, is a moving evening in the theater. It’s directed by
Liesl Tommy, with dynamic lighting design by Nicole Pearce and
sound design by Yiannis Antoniou. The clever video and
projection design is by Katy Tucker, and kudos must also be
given to all the young women who participated. Split Ends will
be at La MaMa, E.T.C. 74A East 4th Street, till February 11.
All photos courtesy of Olivia Jacquet.
