January 5, 2012 | Theatre,

Check out these films, books and music related to SUGAR

By Corrie Glanville

MUSIC

Chauncey Moore

After years as a musician and songwriter, Alabama native Chauncey Moore embarked on a solo career as a singer in 2008 and took on the coveted role of Music Director of The Lyric Stage Company’s production of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill last April. Come out to see this thrillingly talented performer as he accompanies Robbie McCauley in Sugar.

Sedition Ensemble

After seeing Robbie McCauley perform in 1979, musician/composer Ed Montgomery approached her about collaborating. The Sedition Ensemble, with its unique blend of performance and politics, was born. Check out one of their original performances, Congo New York, taped by Portland PBS in 1988 here, and their “Digression on Triangles” here.

“Satisfaction” Otis Blues by Otis Redding

In Sugar, Robbie McCauley reflects on the musical influences in her life including the Rolling Stones’ 1965 hit “Satisfaction”. Originally rejected by mainstream radio stations for its suggestive lyrics, the song was covered by Otis Redding for his album Otis Blues in the same year. Redding admitted he didn’t know the lyrics that well and chose to make some of them up on his version. Along with covers of Sam Cooke and B.B. King, Redding also included an original, “Respect,” which went on to be the signature song of Aretha Franklin.  

BOOKS

Out From Under: Texts by Women Performersedited by Lenora Champagne (1993)

Playwright, performer and director Lenora Champagne compiled this notable collection of women artists with a wide array of backgrounds and agendas — an essential readfor anyone interested in women and theatre. Along with Robbie McCauley’s “Teenytown” co-written with Laurie Carlos and Jessica Hagedorn, Out From Under includes Karen Finlay, Holly Hughes and Laurie Anderson, who performed at ArtsEmerson this past fall.

Performance and Cultural Politicsedited by Elin Diamond (1996)

 For those interested in a more academic look of the intersection of society and performance, check out this superb collection of essays from leading scholars that explore art, music, theatre and dance. And you will find Robbie McCauley’s own essay “Performer’s   Performance,” w here she offers a master practitioner’s perspective on performance studies.

 In One Actby Adrienne Kennedy (1988)

While not as well-known as some of her contemporaries, since her first play was staged in 1964, Adrienne Kennedy’s stunningly original voice and vision has had an enormous impact on playwrights including Robbie McCauley. Winner of two Obie awards and one of five playwrights included in the Norton Anthology of Literature, In One Act is a perfect introduction to her work that includes the Obie Award-winning Funnyhouse of a Negro, A Movie Star Has to Star in Black and White and her adaptations  Electra and Orestes.

THEATRE/FILMS

Let Me Down Easy (2011)

Considered one of the most original performers working today, Anna Deavere Smith conceived and wrote her most recent one-woman show based on over 300 interviews conducted on three continents inspired by her stint at Yale University as a visiting professor. In Let Me Down Easy, Smith turns her laser-like focus to the health of both body and spirit; her individual subjects range from a New Orleans doctor to cyclist Lance Armstrong. Variety called the work “A totally vital piece of theater; mixing a standup comic’s instincts with a great reporter’s keen eye.” Her previous works include the award winning Fires in the Mirror and Twilight: Los Angeles, which will be performed by Emerson Stage this February.

Lackawanna Blues (2005)

Originally performed as a one-man play by author Ruben Santiago-Hudson off-Broadway in 2001, Lackawanna Blues is based on the playwright’s own memories of growing up in a boarding house in 1960s upstate New York raised by the tireless Nanny Crosby and an assortment of vivid characters. This poignant portrait of African American life was filmed for HBO in 2005 with a full cast that included Jeffrey Wright, Terrance Howard, Mos Def and S. Epatha Merkerson who won the Emmy award for her portrayal of Nanny.

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf (1982) 

In Sugar, Robbie McCauley touches on her experiences in the original cast of Ntozake Shange’s seminal choreopoem that celebrated African American women through song, poetry and dance. Finally available on DVD from Broadway Theatre Archive, this 1982 production features then unknown actresses Alfre Woodard, Lynn Whitfield and Shange herself.