'The America Play' seeks truth in history

For a penny, townspeople step up to a dark box, choose from a selection of pistols and take a shot at Abe Lincoln’s look-a-like.

That is just a peek at the Department of Theatre and Drama’s production of “The America Play,” which addresses the issue of finding a black identity in a history in which all major decisions were made by white men.

“When it comes to the black parts of American history, there’s a lot of holes there. There’s a lot of holes,” Jamaal McCray, IU alumnus and lead actor playing the Foundling Father, said.

The play is directed by Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe. Other lead roles include graduate students Shewan Howard playing Brazil and Dawn Thomas playing Lucy. The three leads agree that working on the play has been a challenge.

Howard said playwright Suzan-Lori Parks intentionally made the play ambiguous so that people can find different meanings in it.

Despite the vague nature of the meaning of Parks’ work, Thomas said the style of speech required for the play is complex.

“The script absolutely has been the most difficult script to work on for me because of how specific it is in her writing,” Thomas The script has a lot of repetition, pauses, rhythm and specific language styles that prove challenging to the cast. Though audience members might not understand Parks’ every intention, the themes are clear and relatable, Howard said.

“Everybody has been touched by love,” Howard said. “We all try to discover ourselves and try to figure out where we come from, what our heritage is, what’s real and what’s not.”

The play centers around a family – the Foundling Father, his wife Lucy and his son Brazil. Foundling Father is a former gravedigger and the spitting image of Abe Lincoln, had he been black.

In the play, the Foundling Father visits a theme park called the Great Hole of History, where famous historical figures march and parade about for spectators to see, and decides to leave his family to work at the park.

“He went on his own journey to greatness ... He moved from out East to out West where he tried his hand on making a big hole for himself,” McCray said.

The Foundling Father seats himself in a rocking chair dressed as Abraham Lincoln, allowing passersby to impersonate John Wilkes Booth and re-enact the Lincoln assassination. Strangers who choose to re-enact the scene pay a penny, choose a gun and pretend to shoot.

Thirty years pass, and Lucy and Brazil go on their own journey to reconnect their family, even after they discover Foundling Father died in that time.

“A large part of it is a story about a family that is broken and that tries to reconnect,” Howard said.

The cast had to make connections of their own in what Cooper-Anifowoshe calls “contemplative dance,” an art form meant to allow the cast to better trust each other.

“What is really wonderful about contemplative dance is that your body starts to take over and you stop censuring yourself,” Thomas said. “It’s just about moving and living with your body in those moments.”

First, cast members sit in two lines in meditation, and as the music rises, they’re encouraged to stand up, run to the middle of the room and dance.

People run in and out from the center of the room because no more than three can dance at a time.

“It means that you at least share some kind of unspoken inquiry or ... something that you relate with the others,” McCray said.

Though many of the cast members said they have enjoyed working with Cooper-Anifowoshe, McCray said he shares a special bond with her.

“It’s been emotionally, mentally and spiritually stimulating working with that woman,” said McCray, “and I hope that this definitely is not the last time.”

With weeks of rehearsal almost through, McCray said he hopes audiences see the performance to enjoy the humor and the thought it provokes.

“There’s definitely something to consider, something to take in, to contemplate, to watch and be a part of,” McCray said. “It’s relevant.”