The Shadow Theater: Dinah Was...

Fortunately I was invited to history in the making last week, the beautiful birth of a new era in Colorado theatrical arts, the opening ceremony and first performance at Aurora's Shadow Theater Company. The project was the vision of primary inspirator Jeffery Nickelson whose profound creativity and imagination has become a reality. He who says; " people think of shadow as lack of light, but actually there is no shadow where there is no strong direct light shining its reflection". A basic philosophical insight but a unique harmonic perception. The strong dynamic interplay between opposites is a taste of future insights into the human condition, reenacted on stage with tradition and flair. I was not the only one left breathless at the dedication of the theater to Nickelson, I felt a great sense of the theatrical heritage, of the continuing epic, the saga and the storyteller; a tradition rooted in the community and reflecting not only an arena for entertainment but a vibrant forum for intellectual thought, reflection and expression. In his honor, the actor Hugo Sayles recited the poem from the play 'The River Niger' by the writer Joseph A. Walker;

"I am the River Niger... I wriggle and stream and run... hear my waters... I sleep in your veins... I came to the cloudy Mississippi / over keels of incomprehensible woe... I flow to the ends of your spirit."

The Queen of the Blues; Shadow's first production is a carefully woven and intriguing play on the life of Dinah Washington (1924-1963), called simply ' Dinah Was'. Before the play I actually wasn't quite sure who this woman was and why she was famous. Perhaps that was a good thing, the unfolding story was all the more a revelation of this wholly original and provocative performer. It also gave me a very touching and personal insight into the life of a black woman in 1950's America; the social, cultural and political dynamics of a segregated society, wherein racism had become a finely sharpened tool of manipulation.

The play is set in the lobby of the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas Nevada in 1957. Washington arrives for a two-night performance. As a reputable singer she expects first class treatment, but as a black woman in a subtly discriminating environment she is only offered the trailer in the car park as accommodation during her stay there. In a bold expression of protest she strips down to her underclothes and refuses to budge, like a disciple of the great Ghandi in an act of 'non-violent resistance.' This symbolic 'peeling away' of the Dinah façade or public persona forms the hub of the play; and from there we are made privy to all the machinations of the people in and around her life, their attempts to mold, seduce, direct and manipulate, to restrict, challenge or force her through ill-use and abuse. Such continuous battle makes a strong woman who manages to maintain her integrity but also becomes vulnerable, and thus we see the poetess naked and exposed, sitting alone amidst the baggage of her life in a sort of recollective final judgment.

Everybody from the bell-boy to her personal assistant attempts to budge her into moving. With cleverly interwoven flashbacks combined with perceptive and prophetic insights into her later life. We are lead up to her death by overdose in 1963 and beyond to a commemorative 'postage stamp' in 1993 with a ghostly but triumphant commentary. The play is poignant, tragic, revealing, considerate, shocking and also not without a shards of satirical humor; above all it truly evokes the mighty spirit of a woman determined to live life on her terms only, and perfectly encapsulated by an enraptured and convincing performance by Rene Marie. As Dinah Washington said when she gave a performance in London; " There is only one heaven, one earth and one queen... and Queen Elizabeth is an imposter..." The legend and voice of this queen is brought back to life here at Shadow Theater... and the songs break through the bars of a cage that attempted to hold an exquisite and talented woman, and through her we can begin to understand the true meaning of freedom.

Dinah Was, a musical by Oliver Goldsmith. Directed by Jeffery Nickelson. With Rene Marie, Albert Banker, Joseph Graves, Ghandia Johnson, Tyrongela Ross, Joey Santos, Hugo Sayles, Kurt Soderstrom, Shashauna Staton and Yvonne Underhill.

April 24 to May 24 2008.

The Shadow Theater Company, 1468 Dayton Street, Aurora CO 80010

Tel (Box Office) 866-388-4849