Rhodessa Jones Rocks the House

Rhodessa Jones. UCLA. 10/16/06.

The Center for Performance Studies and the Center for the Study of Women at UCLA, as part of a Series on African-American Performance, brought in Rhodessa Jones of Cultural Odyssey and the Medea Project for Incarcerated Women for a performance. Jones is an awe-inspiring performance artist and activist. I've seen her speak before, but watching her perform is a different and striking experience.

Jones talked about becoming a performance artist in the '80s, saying that she began solo performance work becuase there weren't roles for people like her. The parts for African-American women were mostly maids and she didn't want to be Hattie McDaniel even though she respected her a woman strong enough to say "I'd rather play a maid than be a maid". So many of the solo performances that I love are dedicated to telling the stories that still aren't being told in most theaters.

Jones performed excerpts from three pieces, and they were amazing. She did a piece called "Raining Down Stars" which was a riff on slavery and mixed blood organized around an experience Medea had while she was in South Africa. This piece was strong, loud, and disjointed in a good way. The second piece was "On the Last Day of His Life," a piece written in 1988 in response to the death of Arnie Zane, her brother's partner who died of AIDS. This was a beautiful and incredibly moving performance that had me crying uncontrollably. Jones' ability to evoke a feeling and to communicate with an audience was inspiring. She then finished with piece from Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologues that was a hilarious relief after "On the Last Day of His Life." I learned today that Rhodessa Jones is a connsumate performer in her own right, as well as an inspired activist and organizer.

Those of you in or near San Francisco have the opportunity to see My Life in the Concrete Jungle, the latest Medea Project show Oct. 24-Nov. 5. I highly recommend that you go if you have the chance.