Spunk Play Review

By: Krissi Dines

African American history, folk lore, musical tradition, and story telling has been present in
theatre for generations !he stage has always been an e"cellent medium for cultures to e"press
themselves successfully Penumbra !heatre #ompany makes it a part of their mission to $illuminate the
human condition through authentic representation of black life and culture% &onderfully located in the
'artin (uther King #enter in )t Paul, Penumbra strives to educate audience members, not only
through the historical and cultural value of their productions, but also by inviting guests into an
educational environment !heir current production, Spunk, is the re*telling of three tales by +ora ,eale
-urston .best known for her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God/ in the $combined styles of
storytelling, blues and dance% !he uni0ue characteristics, historical themes, and diverse character roles
found within each of these three tales were what made this show so successful
At this level of theatre, impressive set design, costumes and vocal talent are, not only e"pected,
but re0uired 'issing any of those three elements would distract from the content of the show itself
&ith a mission statement like Penumbra1s, they can1t afford to have audience members leaving their
shows talking about anything other than how the content of the show affected them &ith that being
said, it can be assumed that the set, costumes and vocal chops of this production were top notch
Absolutely flawless !he subtle use of costume pieces such as masks, hats, scarves or fans transitioned
scenes and characters effortlessly, always emphasi2ing the plot and never taking away from it An
e"cellent e"ample of this costume piece use was during the third tale when the narrator opened her fan
and set it on the stage to represent a walkway lined with flowers !he same fan was then picked up later
on in the scene by another actress and used as her $going out fan% 3nfortunately, having a technically
unflawed production doesn1t make it successful &hat made this show successful and intriguing were
the different aspects of African American culture represented in each of the three tales !he three tales
each took place in a different influential time period for African American culture
!he first tale, entitled Sweat, took place in what we assume to be the early 45661s in a humid
southern town 7t followed the story of a man and wife in an abusive relationship 7n the end, her
husband tries to control his wife by placing a rattle snake at the front of their house !he same rattle
snake ends up killing the husband while the wife watches scared and helpless from a nearby porch
Story in Harlem Slang, the second tale, was a comical story of two pimps working the street in 45861s
,ew 9ork !he two 2oot*suited men tried to pick up women with the most original forms of pick up
lines in the hopes of a warm dinner !he final tale, The Gilded Six-Bits, told the story of another
husband and wife, this time newlyweds*very much in love, who fall upon an unfortunate first two years
of marriage when the wife cheats on the husband with hopes of providing them both with a better life
:ach tale took place in a slightly different time period, had slightly different stereotypes represented,
and told very different stories !he thing that changed the most in each tale was the role of the woman
3sually when a play decides to represent African American culture there is only one type of female role
spotlighted at a time, and she is usually the victim in some way 7n this production we see three
completely separate roles of women in African American culture
!he first tale shows us the more commonly thought of female character !he abused, hard
working woman !he second tale gave us a brief look at a confident, working, independent woman who
was smart enough to see through a pimp1s trickery !he final tale showed us a women who brought
trouble into her marriage by cheating !hese three undeniably contrasting female roles were all
skillfully e"ecuted by the same woman; Austene <an 's <an did an e"cellent =ob of creating
completely different characters )he played the victim as successfully as she played the culprit -er
body language as Delia .first tale/ was hunched over, sunken in and weak -er voice was low and tired
and she rarely looked up from the ground &hen she played the confident women in the second tale,
she lead with her chest -er head was high and she never bothered to look from side to side or look any
one in the eye )he moved her hips confidently when she walked and walked to the rhythm of the
music 7n the final tale, she appeared young and full of life )he lead with her heart and made
purposeful eye contact with those on stage that her character cared about )he reached out and touched
her husband when they spoke and smiled when she spoke, which gave her character a much more
optimistic and open*hearted 0uality Because of these body language choices, it was easy to understand
the guilt the women felt after cheating on her husband -er posture very clearly changed into a sadder,
but not sheepish, state 3nlike her first character, this character was regretful, but not afraid, of her
husband
Austene <an has a true talent for understanding these different women and showing them to us
in a convincing manner -er ability to do so helped interpret the theme of each tale in a way that spoke
to the audience very clearly Because of the ama2ing talent of the actors and the e"pertise of the artistic
team, Penumbra1s production of Spunk was intriguing, informative and, overall, entertaining !he
intimacy of the theater and the actors connectedness to the audience allowed for audience members to
put their guard down and approach the show with open hearts and minds !he cast channeled the
African American tradition of storytelling in order to show the audience a small glimpse of their past
7n doing so, they taught audiences history lessons through soulful songs, 0uick comedy and
heartbreaking romance (essons the audience never knew they would be receiving when they sat down
(essons they will, hopefully, remember forever