Julius X comes home.

“I’m going to remember this night, for the rest of my life.” That’s what I was thinking when my cousin walked into Schomburg Center in New York City. I have a strange relationship with New York. I love her. Seriously. I have such great memories of NY. Syretta, Bassey, Sabrina and I walking through Brooklyn in the summer. Stacie, Rich and I stumbling from bar to bar in the West Village. Seeing Passing Strange on Broadway, wanting to throw my concessions at a solo performer while Lucy and Jason practically snored next to me. I could go on and on.

Then there are the tough times; As a kid I was a leader in a hip hop group, Jamel, Squiggy, LJ, we drove up to NY looking to break in. I remember leaving to get on the subway, and I told everyone, “Grab a tape, we’re in NY anything can happen.” Nothing happened except we spent a ton of money with nothing in return. Dan and I went to NYC to do my solo show Essential Personnel, I later returned with Barbara, Mark and a band to put the show up again. Sometimes I’d perform for forty people most of the time I performed for three. I thought the experience of performing for such a small crowd was the worst thing that happened to me. Now I know it was one of the best. Traveling that for to perform for three people seemed like such a waste. But really it prepared me in ways I couldn’t imagine at the time. Professionally, every time I left New York, I’d think, she got me again. While staying in the city rehearsing with a new director for Essential Personnel, Ron, I woke up in Bassey and Maro’s apartment in Brooklyn to find out the sky had fallen. I remember clearly walking through the streets going to get something to eat, and the ash from the Towers floating in the air. Seed and I “escaped” New York three days later. When we drove out from the city, I looked out of the rear window and watched as the smoke crept from the mounds of debris and stretched itself into the night sky. I mourned for the city, the people, and the idea of New York. The idea that all these people of all different backgrounds could be in the same place, work together, live together, love/hate and struggle together it seemed that 9/11 had destroyed that.

Thankfully New York and her people are stronger then that.

I wrote Julius X, about a mythical time and place in America, Harlem more specifically. The play is set in an alternative universe, but it is about honoring a man, Malcolm X, a place, and a time. I did a ton of research, talked to Jimmy, Dr. Felicia and her mother to help me fill out the vision of what Harlem was, what it meant to the people who lived there. It’s a complicated piece with a lot of layers. I’ve had two really excellent directors do the play and I’m happy with both of their visions. Gary’s (Plowshares in Detroit) version was tight and well staged, Barbara’s (Players by the Sea in Jacksonville) was big, and smart. Both got the poetry right for the most part. The actors in both were good. Except, Julius. The Detroit Julius was good, but not what I was looking for, I enjoyed him as an actor, just not sure I dug him in that role. The less I say about the Jacksonville Julius probably the better.

There have been other productions, one in Cleveland that I didn’t get to see. I was curious how that production was because I was not able to work with the actors on the poetry, so I wasn’t sure how it was going to work out. The reviews were mixed, I didn’t expect to get much out of it. But oddly enough that production is how the Classical Theatre of Harlem found out about the play. While on tour they’d heard from someone that they needed to check out the play, they asked for a script, I sent it in and didn’t hear anything for a while, and then they schedule the reading. Between radio, Summer in Sanctuary, and my new piece Crumbs, I hadn’t thought much about it.

I came to New York for rehearsal a little unsure. The director Tracy, was young and hadn’t directed a lot. She was nice though, and I thought she got the material… but still. All of that was erased the minute we started rehearsal. The cast was phenomenal, and Tracy’s command of the rhythm was impressive. In a week’s time we bonded and created something that was better then I’d even imagined it in my head. Each actor did amazing work, but I’d seen great actors in various roles, so while I was impressed I wasn’t surprised. It was the smaller roles that blew me away; usually in a production the weaker actors get the smaller roles. In this reading, we got some excellent talent to read these small parts and really bring it to life. And then there was Julius. Ty Jones is an incredible actor, I’ve seen him, do his thing a couple times, and I enjoyed watching him. When CTH said they wanted to read the play I asked if Ty could be Julius because I knew he could kill the part. Thankfully Ty is on the board of CTH, and agreed to do it. He was magnificent. He gave the reading exactly what the role needs. Fire, smarts, and a magnetism that makes you as an audience member want to follow him. Without that fire, the play loses much of it’s punch. The actors, the drummer/violinist, Tracy and I were able to collaborate on the material and elevate it beyond what I have been hearing in my head into something beautiful.

The night of the reading, I got all screwed up on subway, and had to jump in a cab to get to the Schomburg Center. When I read the address to the cabbie, is when it hit me. The Schomburg is in Harlem. 135 and Malcolm X Blvd. Performing the piece in Harlem was something I wanted to do since started writing the play, but honestly I never thought it would happen. It struck me watching the actors, give the play it’s due, in some ways I’ve accomplished a goal, a dream that I held on to so long, I just didn’t even think about it anymore.

I’m not one for looking back when it comes to my career. When good things happen, I take it, enjoy it for a day or two then let it go. I learned long ago that the business is a series of ups and downs and the way you survive is not to get too high or too low. But this week, I know I will feel similar to the way I did when my children were born. A continual floating high, that’s not so easy to let go.

God is good, and the universe makes space when you dream.

Rejuvenation

It’s been forever since I wrote on this blog. Why? I’ve been crazy busy. Working at the Foundation has been a huge blessing, but at the same time, it’s taken all of my time.

So what’s been going on since I last wrote. I started making movies. In December I wrote and directed a short “Sign Language”. I primarily created the short to compete in a reality show premiering on FOX. Sign Language did really well in the competition but I did not advance to the final round. I’d love to write more about the experience, but I’m under a gag order and can’t talk about it. My site is being revamped but in the near future, you will be able to see the movie on my site.

This summer I’ll be doing some more movie stuff with my partner Zach Flugum. We’ve formed our own company called 99 Pictures. We’ve got a bunch of stuff on the table that we are looking at working on this summer. I can’t really talk about those until we are further along in the process. Hopefully, I’ll be blogging about those experiences.

Julius X. Julius X opened at Plowshares Theatre Company this Saturday (April 21, 2007) WOW. What an experience. In the past, I’ve been politically correct about the two previous incarnations of the piece. The initial workshop at the Baltimore Theatre Project got good reviews, but on a whole I thought it was terrible. Loved the actors, but the director and I saw the piece very differently. That’s not to say the director isn’t a good one, just that this project didn’t synch with the two of us. I saw it the right way, he didn’t. Cleveland was… interesting… I really loved the performance of several of the actors, and really liked the director. But the piece was being done as a part of Festival and the piece ran for two nights. I didn’t get to work with the director, and I don’t think he was familiar with performance poetry, so it was an okay production, but definitely didn’t do what I was looking for from the piece.

Last year, I was blessed to meet Gary Anderson, the most unlikely of ways. I submitted a script to him. What is unlikely about this is that I’ve been submitting scripts for years now, to different theatres. The plays get put in a slush pile and never read, I get sent a form letter saying they are going to look at it, and then politely never hear from the theatre again. This is typical. I don’t have the connections necessary to “get in” I don’t know enough people, so my work continually gets pushed into the “who cares pile”. Not at Plowshares, Gary does something revolutionary, he reads scripts! I queried him about Julius X and he asked to read it. Days later, he called and we started working on putting the piece up.

There are times in my life and career when I meet someone and I know, this is what I was looking for. It happened that way with Barbara, Larry and David, and for sure I felt that way with Gary. For the last year or so, he’s been schooling me on the business, and the art of playwriting. I’m really happy with the current draft of Julius X, and a lot of that has to do with Gary’s guidance. So when I traveled to Detroit this weekend, I wasn’t really worried about the play. I was anxious to see it. Gary had been pretty silent about the progress of the play since he started rehearsals. Mostly because he was busy as hell, but secondly, he wanted me to form my own opinion about the piece. So I went into the Theatre without really knowing what I was going to see. (Keep in mind I’ve seen two productions of the piece that I absolutely hated).

From the start of the play a smile settled on my face that has yet to be removed. My baby is finally born, and he’s beautiful. The actors where cast perfectly, each one of them brought something to the stage that breathed life into the characters I’ve been living with in my head for the last two years. That was the easy part though, I’ve seen the other cast with great actors, but what this cast got through Gary’s direction was the poetry. Shakespeare’s work is filled with poetry. Julius X is not only filled with poetry, it’s essential to the style of the piece. Previous productions completely lost the poetry. This one is spot on. Due to budgetary concerns we could not put up the play like I see it in my head, (that involves dancers, African drummers, and a small orchestra) But, what is on stage in Detroit is so faithful to what I’ve been dreaming of, I didn’t even care the other parts weren’t there. Next time. Gary and I will be looking to do this piece with a bigger budget, in other venues. I feel indebt to Gary and the cast. Such a great gift to see something you worked on for so long to be seen on stage, and know that everyone is on the same page.

In saying all of that, I should explain a little more about where my head has been lately. I love Julius X. I don’t think I’ve ever worked harder on anything in my life. I stretched so much artistically, I knew it would be a stretch when I started. But that’s what made me want to do it. I don’t want to keep doing the safe work. I want to challenge myself, and the audience. If it’s not a challenge, something I have to really work for, then why do it? If that’s the case I should have continued being a slam poet. No disrespect to anyone in the slam at all, none of us can walk the same path, but for me, the slam was a step towards something bigger, if I’d stayed there, I would not have been challenged. That being said, in watching the earlier incarnations of the play I was extremely discouraged. I’d pretty much decided to give up playwriting. I love it, but it hurts to watch something you’ve worked on so long turn out so wrong. I finished the first draft of Julius in January of 06’. I haven’t written another play since then. I’ve played with some ideas, scribbled some things down, but on a whole, I’ve been scared of it.

On a whole artistically I think I’ve been a little lost. I’ve applied for some huge grants that I didn’t get. I’ve been working my butt off on all of the other shows I’ve written, and still don’t feel like I’ve gone as far as I’d like to go. I was not at the point of giving up, I can’t don’t know how, but I have been rethinking what I want to and where I want to go. Last night watching my play on stage being performed by excellent actors and a brilliant director, I feel in love with theatre again. The same way I did in 10th grade close to 20 years ago, when we read Julius Caesar in English class. I’ve had a piece I wanted to write for the last year, and I’m finally getting ready to dive into it this summer. I need to do it. I’m going to look back on all those ideas and start breathing life to them. In my most productive period, the pieces were working the way they were suppose to, that propelled me to the next project. With the success of this production I remember why I write for the theatre, because I love it.