Ameriville : A production of the Universes Theatre Company, Inc.
Ameriville takes us on a musical tour of the wrongs of America. A devised piece put together by the Universes, a quartet of energetic multi-talented performers who sing, dance, and act, it falls a little short of its mark, which is to entertain, educate, and activate audiences. Despite the company’s claim “to break the bounds of traditional theatre,” their goals and techniques are largely familiar. The political musical revue has a long history.
Ameriville’s music is drawn from hip-hop, gospel, blues, rock, country, and flamenco. Most of the singing is a capella, accompanied by rhythmic clapping, tapping, and stamping. Like their singing, the dance and movement is performed at high intensity. And therein lies one of the production’s flaws. About halfway into the evening, the effect of Universes’ non-stop (and sometimes angry) gusto palls. I began to feel assaulted and longed for a change of pace.
Amerivlle debuted in 2009 at the Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, Kentucky and has been touring since. The show’s structure intersperses music and dance sections with monologues and sketches, both comic and dramatic. Its point of departure is Katrina and the deprivations the hurricane wrought on the poor.
We meet characters, some more convincing than others, such as the recurring figure of a young man who wanders the streets of New Orleans looking for his mother; an old man suffering from post traumatic stress disorder; an artist who profits from the disaster by selling masks she makes from damaged palm trees.
The show becomes doctrinaire as it turns away from New Orleans to take on as many evils as it can fit into ninety minutes. War, racism, poverty, global warming, American gun culture, mistreatment of immigrants, “fracking,” are all indicted. Misogyny was not on the list.
Perhaps to illustrate poverty, the set is minimalist and dreary. With its planked floor, four straight-back hard chairs, two rough tables, and grayish-brown wooden upstage wall, it resembles a room in a shack. The furniture is reconfigured to indicate place, mark scenes and assist the choreography. For example, performers climb on the table to give monologues and to stamp out rhythms. The chairs are placed in a row to designate a canoe, one of many references to water.
Projections – an often hackneyed device in contemporary theatre – are unimaginatively used. Newspaper headlines about the hurricane, a red spotlight denoting climate change, and undocumented statistics that support Ameriville’s political stance are cast onto the upstage wall intermittently.
The performers are stronger as singers and dancers than as actors. Their diction is not always clear; punch lines get lost in confusion.
One of the highlights is Mildred Ruiz-Sapp’s flamenco-style number. As she dances, she sings in Spanish to flamenco rhythms the lament and the dreams of a Latina immigrant. Her persuasive and powerful voice, the proud movement inherent to flamenco, and the theatricality of the moment make her a touching figure, both universal and individual.
I found much of the political commentary and satire simplistic and heavy-handed. The issues presented are real and significant. They merit a more probing approach. On the other hand, the many students in the audience were on their feet cheering wildly at the performance’s end.
ArtsEmerson Presents
At: the Paramount Theatre, Boston, MA
A PRODUCTION OF THE UNIVERSES THEATER COMPANY, INC.
AMERIVILLE
Written and Performed by
UNIVERSES
Steven Sapp, Mildred Ruiz-Sapp, Gamal A. Chasten, William Ruiz (A.K.A. “Ninja”)
Directed and Developed by
CHAY YEW
CHOREOGRAPHER: MILLICENT JOHNNIE
SET DESIGN: ………………………………BRIAN SIDNEY BEMBRIDGE
LIGHTING DESIGN: ………………………………RUSSELL H. CHAMPA
SOUND DESIGN: ……………………………………BENJAMIN MARCUM
VIDEO DESIGN: …………………………………………BRIAN FREELAND
DRAMATURG: …………………………………………MORGAN JENNESS
Jane Baldwin, March 17, 2012