Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Jillian Walker’s unruly SKINFOLK excavates blackness, amorphously but with soul

• By drediman
• March 9, 2020
• No Comments

Jillian Walker in “SKiNFoLK” at the Bushwick Starr.

This past weekend, I caught Jillian Walker’s SKiNFoLK at the Bushwick Starr in Brooklyn. The new, loosely autobiographical concept musical (for a lack of a better term) is being presented in collaboration with the National Black Theatre and Musical Theatre Factory. The piece ambitiously attempts to excavate and dissect, in a sort of fevered cabaret fantasia, the African American identity — culturally, genetically, and spiritually.

The experience of watching SKiNFoLK is difficult to articulate, which is part of its allure, as well as a source of difficulty. Indeed, the work encompasses theater, ritual, cabaret, dance, and performance art. If anything, Ms. Walker’s unruly show bears the strongest resemblance to Ntozake Shange’s seminal choreopoem for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf. Both shows refuse to be classified in their impassioned endeavor to reclaim black heritage, much of which has been muddled by history. However, whereas for colored girls is an exquisitely focused work of art, SKiNFoLK restlessly takes on its mission from a number of angles. This amorphous, stop-and-go approach proves somewhat frustrating, demanding the audience’s generous indulgence.

The production has been directed by Mei Ann Teo, whose immersive staging sets the piece in a subterranean, root-bound chamber beneath a supposedly mighty tree. It’s an apt if heavy-handed visual metaphor. Nevertheless, the setting affectingly creates a cradle-like sanctuary for Ms. Walker to freely bask in her vulnerability, anger, and curiosity. The production’s three fabulous singing and dancing actresses – Ms. Walker, Tsebiyah Mishael Derry, and Lori Sinclair (each hugely charismatic) – give soulful and uplifting performances, engaging with Ms. Walker and Kasaun Henry’s smooth, sultry score and nicHi douglas’s sensuous choreography winningly. But make no mistake, however, SKiNFoLK is Ms. Walker’s show, and she’s nearly always squarely front and center – it’s her personal story and history on display, after all.

RECOMMENDED

SKINFOLK
Off-Broadway, Musical
The Bushwick Starr / National Black Theatre / Musical Theatre Factory
1 hour, 40 minutes (without an intermission)
Through March 21