Hip-Hop Theater

‘History of the Word’ at Crossroads Theatre Company gives birth to new writers.

By: Jim Boyle

James Halloway DeLeon IV, Angela Kariotis, Ugkarsh Ambudkar, Angela Lewis, Akil Dasan and Britton Jones star in History of the Word at Crossroads Theatre Company in New Brunswick.

   High school never looked this problematic in Grease.
   When History of the Word makes its world premiere Oct. 15 at Crossroads Theatre Company in New Brunswick, audience members will get a real taste of life experienced by teenagers in New York City. One student is constantly mocked for being overweight, while another is stereotyped for being too pretty. A Muslim teen impregnates his black girlfriend, but must remain hidden from her racist father. It’s a raw yet crystal-clear window that still promises to be optimistic.
   "There are six main characters," says producer and co-conceiver Orin Wolf from his New York City office. "Each period focuses on each individual, but they also interact with one another. It’s a day in the life for them and how they deal with their struggles."

Music director Akil Dasan (left, with Angela Kariotis and Angela Lewis) is the only spoken-word artist appearing in the production.

   The idea began formulating in early 2002 when the young producer was involved in several major stage shows around the city. There was one thing that kept bothering Mr. Wolf, and he decided to finally do something about it.
   "The audiences were made up of older, rich, white people," says the passionately honest Cleveland native. "I wanted to examine why kids weren’t excited about the theater. The only things that appealed to them had puppets and special effects, like ‘The Lion King.’ There was nothing content-driven and narrative-oriented interesting them."
   The first thing Mr. Wolf had to do was settle on a director who could help shape his progressive vision. About six months later, he selected Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj, assistant director of the Tony Award-winning revival of A Raisin in the Sun and recipient of the Woodie King Jr. Award for Outstanding Direction for his 2003 staging of Damn Yankees in St. Louis.
   "He was dedicated from the start," says Mr. Wolf. "He was a real driving force behind bringing the team together. We both shared a vision of bringing youth back into the theater. We wanted them to feel like they owned a part of it. We also wanted to make it affordable and marketed right to them."
   Mr. Wolf figured the quickest and least expensive way to capture their attention was through music, specifically hip-hop. He also figured hip-hop’s closest stage relative was spoken word and began attending poetry slams around the city, getting a feel for the dynamic artform. During that time, Russell Simmons debuted Def Poetry Jam on Broadway to rave reviews.
   "That’s when I knew I was on the right track," says Mr. Wolf. "I saw it 10 times, but what I got from everybody was that it wasn’t theatrical. Again, there was no narrative, no story. One poet would read their work, leave the stage, and somebody else would come out. It was a poetry slam, don’t call it a Broadway show."
   To go beyond that show and give a true theater experience, Mr. Wolf needed to bring in the best of the city’s New York spoken-word artists. After a lengthy audition that had 30 candidates performing in front of each other, he and Mr. Maharaj picked out the most memorable, including Felice Belle, Kraal ‘KAYO’ Charles, Akil Dasan, Marisa Vural and Yolanda Kae Wilkinson, and held a two-week workshop.
   "I basically locked them in a studio for two weeks and told them to write about themselves as much as possible," says Mr. Wolf. "I wanted them to discuss everything that they felt had an impact on spoken word and today’s youth. They talked about history, pop culture, women’s rights, and I videotaped it all."
   With a mountain of material, he brought in playwright Ben Snyder to filter it down to a cohesive story. What he got was a high school-set musical based on the artists’ poetry that weaves in their work throughout the dialogue. Since the poets were a little too old, Mr. Wolf auditioned younger actors to play them, along with a supporting cast. While the original poets are still involved with the show, attending rehearsals and rewriting bits of dialogue, only one of the writers appears on stage. Akil Dasan, who is also the show’s musical director, plays the school janitor and remains mostly in the background.
   "He keeps everything tied together," says Mr. Wolf. "He opens the show and roams around, cleaning up after the students. There’s not a lot of acting; he’s more of a presence, like the narrator in ‘Our Town’ without as many lines. He acts as the audience’s point of view. Akil is a genius musician. He plays the classical guitar while doing a human beat box with his mouth. It’s just the most incredible, complicated chords. He composed six songs for the show."
   During the script-writing process, Mr. Wolf was contacted by Crossroads Theatre Company’s artistic director Ricardo Khan. After meeting with him, Mr. Wolf agreed to premiere his show at the New Brunswick theater, keeping with his desire to tour the show to communities throughout the country.
   "It was never our goal to make this a big Broadway production," says Mr. Wolf. "This needs to tour and go to communities that haven’t been exposed to live theater. I don’t want to exclude anybody. I want it to travel to Israel, France, Germany. I want to look out and see a multicultural audience.
   "Crossroads is the perfect kind of theater I want to use," he continues. "I didn’t want a huge theater that would bog down the production. The set is very simple so that the focus is on the words."
   It just so happens that some of those words will also be provided by area students. To encourage more people to attend the show, Mr. Wolf teamed up with Youth Speaks, a non-profit organization that encourages literacy and poetry to schools all over the world.
   "One of our poets, Felice Belle, is involved with them," he says. "That’s how we started collaborating. She’s been the project’s mother from the beginning. What we do is have representatives from Youth Speaks go out to area schools weeks before the show arrives. They teach the students about writing poetry, and then have them pick a topic from a list of the show’s themes, such as body image, the war, being an American. They all write a poem about that topic, and the best one is incorporated into the show. I think when a student is sitting in the show surrounded by family and hears his or her words coming out of an actor’s mouth, they’ll feel that power. Maybe, just once, it’ll give birth to a new writer."
Crossroads Theatre Company presents History of the Word at Crossroads Theater, 7 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick, Oct. 15-24. Performances: Wed.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m.; Oct. 23, 3 p.m. Tickets cost $30-$45, $15 students. For information, call (732) 545-8100. On the Web: www.historyoftheword.com