“…I believe an artist is supposed to ‘afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.’” – Rhodessa Jones, actress.

Reality is like a wound. It stings when touched even slightly, but if ignored, it inevitably festers. The essence of avant-garde theatre is the rejection of cultural boundaries (sometimes venturing into the realm of taboo) in order to clean out the wound, to address these societal realities, despite how it may hurt. The problem with the socially-conscious performance of Cultural Odyssey, however, is that there is no transition from the pain of the problems to how we can help heal them.

Idris Ackamoor, founder of Cultural Odyssey and main speaker, began the evening with a lecture on using art as social commentary. This preceded a medley that employed experimental percussion (beads on drums, for example), the chorus of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” and the vocals of actress Rhodessa Jones.

Jones played multiple parts in a monologue of pseudo-melodic, wailing improvisation that, however artistic and raw, was disturbing, afflicted, and near to ulcer-producing. The characters represented in the dialogue were in turn victims and perpetrators of everything from sexism to abuse.

The lines, “CPS took my kids, bitch/You gave CPS your kids,” reproduced the conversation of a drug-using mother and her neighbor against a haunting, percussion only backdrop. The lyrics, “Dad, I need a gun to be a man/Shut up, bitch, or I’ll blow your head off,” asserted with harsh reality the torment of young men drawn into gangs by violence, poverty, and racism.

“This [performance] is the epitome of art as social activism,” Ackamoor said.

But this wandering into the dark folds of human injustice fails to produce anything but a heavy heart and the need for an Advil.

At the conclusion of the performance, Jones said, “Let us go home and feel grateful and be blessed…” which is probably the exact response this Picasso of experimental music, acting, and social commentary will receive. Though the message is honorable, the medium leaves one feeling deflated and demoralized. Realistic and well-done, perhaps. Revolutionary? Not quite.

Art is indeed a precursor to action, but any revolution (reset anyone?) needs more than outrage. It needs direction and, at the risk of sounding cliché, it needs hope.

Фото: Donald Lacey (http://www.culturalodyssey.org/gallery/pre-nbtf/)