Nia Vines and Alexis Dupree in “Panther Women”/Photo: Khaliq Visuals
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“Panther Women: An Army for the Liberation” is true, exciting storefront theater, set in a literal, narrow storefront on 79th Street in the South Shore neighborhood. The scenery is on the walls, in the form of historic newspapers, handbills, and even F.B.I. “Wanted” posters from the era of the Black Panther Party in the late sixties and early seventies.
The audience is seated in folding chairs against the walls, while the multi-talented seven-woman cast performs in the middle, dancing and singing and telling stories. It’s challenging, passionate, and beautifully in your face.
The new play, directed by Myesha-Tiara and co-produced by Perceptions Theatre and Prop Theater, was written by Ohio native India Nicole Burton. It is described as a “choreopoem,” a word originated by writer Ntozake Shange in describing her work “for colored girls who have committed suicide/when the rainbow is enuf.”
Jerluane “Jae” Jenkins in “Panther Women”/Photo: Matthew Gregory Hollis
A’Kesiha Lee/Photo: Khaliq Visuals
Taylor Elie Talhamé in “Panther Women”/Photo: Matthew Gregory Hollis
That means if you’re looking for a conventional narrative—with people sitting down and having drinks and answering doorbells—you won’t find it here. It’s also not straight history. This is more hagiography—combining infectious dancing choreographed by Deja Hood with stories about women leaders of the time—Angela Davis, Assata Shakur and Elaine Brown, played respectively by Alexis Dupree, Jerluane “Jae” Jenkins and Taylor Elie Talhamé. (Davis was not a Black Panther, but a Black liberation activist with ties to the party.) Certain lines are repeated by the players like prayers or laments, such as “I’m tired of being alone” and “I got that feeling again of nothingness.”
Maya TW Jones in “Panther Women”/Photo: Matthew Gregory Hollis
The action begins with a character named Journey (the radiant Maya T.W. Jones) entering the space from the sidewalk, looking around in wonder at the poster-covered walls. She’s seeking help from her ancestors to deal with the pain and struggle of being a Black woman in the United States. The characters of Davis, Shakur and Brown begin to tell their stories—about their childhood encounters with racism in Birmingham, Alabama; Wilmington, North Carolina; and Philadelphia, and how they became revolutionaries. Journey gains strength from the women in the Black Power movement, as if the photos on an altar of secular saints have come to life to dance with her, and embrace her.
While the movement is celebrated, there is some portrayal of the shadow, sexist side of the Black Panther Party—one woman is beaten by a male political activist. A friend who came with me to the show remembered how when she was with the Black Panthers, she had complained about how women were always made to serve coffee, and was reprimanded for not being sufficiently supportive of the men. Patriarchal attitudes in the Party eventually drove Brown away from it.
“Panther Women”/Photo: Khaliq Visuals
But warts-and-all history is not what the show’s about—it’s a salute to women’s power as it expressed itself during this period. And it’s worth seeing for the message, for the use of movement and language, and for the performances, particularly by the three leads, who give humor and subtlety to an otherwise very serious and stylized script.
“Panther Women: An Army for the Liberation,” at The Davis, co-produced by Perceptions Theatre and Prop Theatre, 1825 East 79th, perceptionstheatre.org. April 28 through May 27.
