3.5 out of 5 starsRuns through Nov. 22 at The Space at 2106, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.,2106 W. Main St., Tampa, $20, thespaceat2106.com
With the recent onslaught of terror, Trump and tragedy, we could all use a good news break. Here’s something refreshing: A new performance space opened last Friday in West Tampa with an unconventionally uplifting night of theater, and it may just spur the revival of one of Tampa’s most neglected and charmingly historic districts.
Located near the corner of Albany and Main streets, the Space, aka The Space at 2106, is a multi-use venue with (mostly) repurposed contemporary decor designed by Urban Country Factory and financial partner Robert Morris. Organizers have plans for cultural events of a variety of types, all presented with one aim: promoting diversity.
Executive Artistic Director Jared O’Roark announced the Space’s hopeful manifesto during its opening night after-show Q&A. The director of the award-winning storytelling showcase and teen documentary, Project Shattered Silence, O’Roark left a 14-year position at Ruth Eckerd Hall as company/project manager to launch the venue.
O’Roark and Managing Artistic Director Erica Sutherlin were visibly elated to greet an eclectic, sold-out crowd last Friday night at the Space’s first-ever show, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf, a poetic and vivid portrait of the African-American woman in America. Performed with monologue, evocative verse, dance and music, For Colored Girls consists of personal tales and poetry that interweave and overlap, revealing common threads of oppression and sexism, as well as strength and triumph. The ambitious work, written in 1976 by Ntozake Shange, was the second play by a black woman to be produced on Broadway, after A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry.
The unique opening night began with the actors greeting audience members before the show in brightly colored, African-inspired wraps, sashes and head ties designed by costumer Gillian Bertrand. Seating was immersive, spread out across the venue to accommodate the roving performances. Some of the benches were big and clunky — O’Roark joked that the shorter among us would feel like Lily Tomlin’s Edith Ann as our feet didn’t touch the floor — but cushions were provided to mitigate any discomfort.
Directed by Sutherlin, a Tampa Bay theater favorite and all-around nurturer of local creative talent, For Colored Girls is “a choreopoem,” as playwright Shange describes it, and includes 20 distinct poems choreographed to pop/soul/Latin-flavored music selected by Sutherlin (she even plays the djembe during one of the scenes). Blue Feliu and Rodney Hamilton choreographed the expressive dances that enhanced the show’s emotional tenor.
Like a word painting, For Colored Girls comprises a variety of moods and brushstrokes. It’s poignant, joyous, funny and tragic, with expressive verse and movement. The cast consists of seven African-American women, each identified by a single color.
Cast members include Diana “Dynasty” Hardy, whom local music fans will recognize as a popular hip-hop/soul artist who teams up with DJ Sandman and has opened for the likes of Erykah Badu, Mos Def, Talib Kweli and several others. What many don’t know is that Hardy earned degrees in both theater and music business management, and unleashes her acting chops with aplomb. As The Lady in Yellow, Hardy is as DY-namic and effervescent as she is in her crowd-pleasing music shows.
The show’s standout is Andresia “Real” Mosely, the Lady in Blue. Mosely, a nationally recognized spoken-word artist and a classically trained actor, has the best command of voice and physicality onstage (using the “onstage” term loosely, of course). In her monologue “i usedta live in the world,” she explains how her universe is Harlem, “six blocks of cruelty/piled up on itself.”
Amber Forbes, the Lady in Red, poignantly delivers one of the most harrowing and heart-wrenching monologues of the night. Her theater credits include August Wilson’s Jitney, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (The M Ensemble Theatre), A Streetcar Named Desire (Tampa Repertory Theatre), and most recently Hour Confessions (RQL Productions).
The rest of the cast turns in solid performances, including Camille Scringer (Lady in Green), Marlene Peralta (Lady in Orange), Leotte Harrell (Lady in Purple) and Ashley Colllins (Lady in Brown).
Thad Engle’s lighting design encouraged an intimate mood while spotlighting each of the women onstage. Some of the monologues were a little rushed and lacked enunciation or proper pacing — most likely due to opening night jitters — but those rough spots can be easily corrected.
Above all, For Colored Girls marks an auspicious beginning for a new performing arts space and, hopefully, the rebirth of a historic Tampa neighborhood
