I\u2019ll admit it: my theater reviewing process usually involves reading other reviews (mostly so I can disagree with them; this tends to be an effective starting point).<\/p>\n
And so \u201cOur Voices Will Be Heard\u201d by Vera Starbard\u2014currently playing at Perseverance Theatre\u2014presents a clear problem. It\u2019s a world premiere; no other reviews exist (which would make mine a world premiere, too).<\/p>\n
These days, you don\u2019t often get to experience anything for the first time. Not to mention a professional production of a debut Alaska Native playwright Perseverance Theatre Artistic Director Art Rotch likens in the playbill to \u201ca young Paula Vogel.\u201d Oh, yeah\u2014the play also features an entirely Alaska Native\/Native American cast AND director. You get the idea. \u201cOur Voices Will Be Heard\u201d presents a rare opportunity on many different levels.<\/p>\n
However, as far as world premieres go, I wouldn\u2019t call the experience preconception-free. The playbill warns of \u201cterribly difficult\u201d subject matter involving sexual abuse. At the performance I attended the audience received this warning again verbally, right after it was asked to turn off its cell phones and refrain from flash photography. This led me to expect either graphic depictions of said abuse or some kind of live-action afterschool special (and maybe both).<\/p>\n
Luckily, neither proved true.<\/p>\n
Yes, part of the plot does involve a \u201cterribly difficult\u201d subject, but sexual abuse is never depicted on stage, let alone graphically; even when characters mention it they use purposefully vague terms.<\/p>\n
And yes, \u201cOur Voices Will Be Heard\u201d does occasionally veer into melodrama. However, there\u2019s a fine line between the dramatic and melodramatic that isn\u2019t always clear to seasoned playwrights, let alone a first-timer. If Starbard occasionally strides across it, I, for one, am inclined to forgive her.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur Voices Will Be Heard\u201d takes the form of a split, interspersed narrative: one storyline set at a Tlingit baby naming ceremony celebration in present-day Southeast Alaska, the other in a small Tlingit village at around the turn of the 20th century. Both stories unfold before a backdrop strongly evocative of a cedar clan house, courtesy of scenic designer Akiko Nishijima Rotch and Northwest Coast visual artist Rico Worl (of Trickster Company), whose specially commissioned formline wall panel\u2014backlit and glowing throughout the play\u2014definitely deserves its own mention.<\/p>\n
The present-day section revolves around the character of the Storyteller, ably portrayed by Yup\u2019ik storyteller and actor Jack Dalton, who keeps breaking away from the celebration to crack goodhearted jokes about Tlingit grandmothers (apparently they\u2019re just as demanding and feisty as my own grandmother). More importantly, the Storyteller also tells us a story\u2014actually, it\u2019s more of a saga, told in pieces\u2014about \u201cWolverine Woman,\u201d and how she came to acquire her trademark courage, strength and skill, before passing those traits on to all future wolverine generations.<\/p>\n
Through allegory, the story of \u201cWolverine Woman\u201d echoes the forward narrative of the historical section, which also opens at a Tlingit baby naming ceremony for two cousins\u2014a boy, Sagu and a girl, Kutaan\u2014from a prominent village family.<\/p>\n
When we next see the cousins, they\u2019ve grown into early adolescence. As the family prepares for yet another village celebration\u2014a wedding this time\u2014we learn there\u2019s something odd about Kutaan\u2019s behavior of late. She\u2019s secretive, recoils from familial affection and, much to her mother\u2019s consternation, doesn\u2019t talk with boys the way the other village girls do. Instead, she seems to prefer the company of rough-hewn white traders, a new and increasing presence in the area.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure you can see where this is heading. In order to preserve that new play-experience, I won\u2019t divulge who did what to whom, or how each character reacts to these revelations. But I will say the discovery proves a major turning point for the family, who each must decide how to deal with the aftermath.<\/p>\n
The strength of \u201cOur Voices Will Be Heard\u201d lies in the \u201cgestalt\u201d of its production, achieved by the total effect of the writing, acting, direction, costuming, set design and a score\/soundscape by percussionist and Native Jazz Quartet member Ed Littlefield. You get the sense that everyone involved really cherished his or her involvement\u2014definitely not the case with all artistic collaborations.<\/p>\n
Under the crisp direction of Larissa FastHorse, of the Sicangu Lakota Nation, the entire Juneau cast shines, including Tlingit actors Erin Tripp as Kutaan, Xoodzi as Sagu, Leetta Gray as Sagu\u2019s mother Wanadoo and Frank Henry Kaash Katasse as Uncle Jinahaa; Yup\u2019ik storyteller and actor Jack Dalton as the Storyteller; Iroquois actor Erika Stone as Kutaan\u2019s mother Litaa; Aleut actress Jane Lind as family matriarch Shanaa; Cherokee actor Robert Vestal as Sagu\u2019s father and clan leader Ta.<\/p>\n
Now, I can honestly say \u201cOur Voices Will Be Heard\u201d is the first Tlingit theater piece I\u2019ve ever seen, as well as the first play with an all-Native cast and creative team. But it certainly won\u2019t be the last. Perseverance plans to include another world premiere by a debut Tlingit playwright in next year\u2019s season.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t get me wrong. I encourage you to enjoy \u201cOur Voices Will Be Heard\u201d on its own artistic merits\u2014I found specifically intriguing its overarching questions about culture, particularly surrounding how it evolves in response to both internal and external pressures.<\/p>\n
However, it\u2019s also nice to see a traditionally underrepresented group make some headway. Just saying.<\/p>\n
Geoff Kirsch writes from Juneau. Read more at www.geoffkirsch.com.<\/p>\n
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