Ameriville

Ameriville was captivating, humorous, heartbreaking, and an overall great experience for me. Ameriville is a play written and performed by Steven Sapp, Mildred Ruiz, Gamal Chasten, and Ninja, that explores America's troubles through song, dance, and poetry. The actors create the music for the play by beat-boxing and using a feet stomping dance throughout the performance, and the only props included four chairs, two tables, and a video projection. The play highlights racism (past and present), exploitation of the poverty class, and problems with politics. The play intertwines diverse issues such as war, climate change, gentrification, and the economy, and transitions between topics in a quick paced and gripping style keeping you engaged and never giving you a chance to look away. Ameriville is made up of a series of stories told from the perspective of New Orleanians, soldiers, poor people on the streets, brainwashed children, struggling immigrants, and much more. "The play presents a warning of the “storms to come” and a call for change,"(universesonstage.com). The play was intended to bring attention to different problems in our country, and uses a rhetorical style.


I stayed after the play for the Talk Back with the actors. One of the first questions that was asked was how the group came up with the idea and content for the play. The actors together stressed that the play that we had all just seen was nothing like what they originally had in mind. "Our initial thought was to look at the state that the country was in, this fear about everything. We were interested in exploring the history of fear in America. And then Katrina happened.”

Then the politics of the whole thing was discussed. "How have people reacted to the content in this play?" "Do you do a lot of political performances?" "Does it seem like people understand the topics you address and the way you address them?" The actors said that overall they've received positive reactions from the audience. Gamal Chasten, however, made a point of saying that they really aren't sure how the whole audience feels about the play. He said that they only truly know how the people who stay for the Talk Back feel, and they aren't sure if the people who leave as soon as the play's over liked it, disliked it, or even understood what was going on. Mildred Ruiz said that they usually write about controversial issues. She said that art should have a purpose and a meaning, and she closed her statement by saying, "Let's just say we aren't fans of Art For Arts Sake." She also stressed that performing is a political act in itself, and as she put it, "Just standing on a stage and saying something, is political." One thing that really grabbed me was Steven Sapp's response to the question, "When you performed in other cities, how did people react to the parts about Katrina?" Sapp explained that for the most part, people took it with an open mind, but others seem like they don't get it right away. He recalls an incident during a performance in Denver, Colorado that really shocked him. There is a part after the introduction piece about Katrina where Sapp stands on stage and says something along the lines of, "So we get it, you lost your fancy uptown mansions and there's some water in the city, but it's time to get over it already." He said that with that line the whole crowd began to laugh. "As I continued with the piece, the laughter would grow with every line," Sapp said. "Yeah, yeah we get it...Fema, Floods, and Fuck Ups," Steven's character continues. Steven said that by the end of the piece the audience was laughing hysterically until Gamal's piece started after. Gamal comes in and begins to tear apart Steven's character for being so ignorant and such an ass and tells him how awful everything going on in New Orleans is for the people. With Gamal's piece, Steven said the the crowd went silent and it seemed as though everyone sunk in their seats ashamed that they had laughed at the previous act.

Katrina. She's a sensitive topic for any New Orleanian. Personally when I heard that this was going to be something about Katrina, I had my doubts. Many others felt the same way and some, during the Talk Back, even told the actors about their uncertainty in the beginning. "I thought, who do these people think they are coming in from out of town trying to act like they know about Katrina and the things we've been through?" one woman said. All of the people who stayed for the Talk Back told the cast that they were truly impressed and had found the parts about Katrina very emotional and realistic. I was not expecting for the play to affect me so deeply and bring back such vivid memories I hadn't thought about for quite some time. "No one has ever captured the way I truly felt during Katrina until now...," one woman told the actors. The group came to New Orleans a few years ago and went around the city talking to different people, trying to get a few perspectives on the storm and ideas for what to talk about in their play. They took some of their writing to a few clubs in New York where the four of them stood in a line on the stage and practiced the different bits, making improvements along the way. Their work paid off and I was extremely moved and would recommend Ameriville to anyone.




Here is a video of the cast performing part of the piece about Katrina. The four actors stand in a straight line and do not have a stage or props in this performance. Listen carefully and you can hear the beat-boxing and foot stomps that make the music. It was much clearer in person, and in the theater you could feel the music around you.