By Lynn Felder
JOURNAL REPORTER
Potpourri Noir, which opened Tuesday night, provided a glimpse of four productions that will be performed throughout the week in the Drama Workshop Theatre at Salem College.
The spirited collection of shows is master-minded by Rhodessa Jones and Idris Ackamoor. Both have too many talents to list, but to name a few: They write, direct, act, dance, play a mindboggling array of musical instruments, and serve as charming hosts.
A one-woman musical drama, The Unsung Diva: Impressions of the Life and Time of Sissieretta Jones a.k.a. The Black Patti, was conceived written and performed by Angela Dean Baham and directed by Rhodessa Jones. Baham has a spectacular operatic voice and a pleasant manner onstage. The show reveals the life of Sissieretta Jones, an American singer who rose to international fame in the late 1800s.
On the same bill with The Unsung Diva is Music for One hand Clapping, conceived, written and performed by Ackamoor with able assistance from Frederick Harris, a master musician on instruments including piano (he also soloed on Chopin Nocturnes and a Beethoven sonata) and drums. Music is a journey through the lives of performers who have overcome seemingly insurmountable difficulties to use their God-given talents, including Peg Leg Bates. After losing his leg in a cotton-processing factory, Bates went on to become an acclaimed tap dancer, appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show 20 times.
The Breach, a performance-art piece about reparations, is a study in haunting images, featuring Jones, Ackamoor and Joanna Haigood, an aerialist who does spectacular dance/movement in this show.
Dancer Millicent Johnnie provided an extra treat Tuesday night. A Hurricane Katrina survivor, Johnnie did a dance of blind faith in response to that experience. But her dance to the spoken-word piece,
“Brother to the Night (Blues for Nina),” was unforgettable poetry in movement. And hot, hot, hot.
Deadlines prevented me from staying to see the preview of The Love Project, but the energy that Jones exuded any time she was on the stage — heck, even when she was in the audience — promise to bear out that show’s promise from her company Culture Odyssey’s Web site: “Part house party, part TV talk show, and part cabaret, The Love Project is an interactive experience that testifies to the network of human relations that define our times.”
The Unsung Diva and Music for One Hand Clapping will be at 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. The Breach will be at 8 p.m. Friday, and The Love Project will be at 8 p.m. Saturday. All shows are in the Drama Workshop Theatre at Salem College. Tickets for each show are $37. Call 723-7907.