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.
