Week No. 8 of 16

Jump Ahead: April 19th Class Trip to Pangea Theater's D'Lo show

Summary & Reflections: The show, presented at Intermedia Arts, was a one-woman montage of monologues interspersed with video bits featuring herself and her family, dealing with the life experiences of a young woman growing up gay and loving hip-hop in an immigrant Sri Lankan, Hindu family.

Talent wise, there's nothing really more to say. D'Lo was wonderful--very entertaining, very adept at taking on each of the multiple characters she assumed, both in costume and in persona. And she was extraordinarily convincing in this aspect—at first i didn't even know it was the same person when the mother came onstage! D'Lo's humor also helped keep the show's pace moving forward, as well as lighten the load of some of the heavier topics covered—like violence, homosexuality and discrimination, etc.

I especially appreciated what D'Lo was able to achieve as an artist in terms of utilizing such a s small stage and so few props. It was amazing the way she can captivate an audience on those terms and engage their interest as equally as if we were watching a Hollywood movie on a large theater screen. The immediacy and the life-quality of the theater as she used it was awesome.

Questions: It was a bit challenging for me to come and see this show, I can't lie. I wasn't that thrilled with it, not knowing what issues would be dealt with, and feeling like with all the amazing shows dealing with globalization, why this one? I was happy that real themes related to immigration and identity came through so strongly in the production. And I respect D'Lo's courage in facing her identity and embracing it despite the costs. It is, like I said, challenging for me, because it's not the framework I was raised in. Until my college years, I never really confronted anything dealing with transgenderism, so let's chalk it up to my culture as well. Still, after thinking about this for some time, I believe it is possible for our 2 views to coexist. I can respect her as an artist, as an individual, and as a human being, and we definitely come together in believing that to discriminate against someone for who they are is simply wrong. I ask the same respect of others, I have to offer that in return. It's a matter of not getting caught up in feeling that we all need to be the same--in this case, regarding our gender, dress, and sexual identities. Obviously we don't have to and we can't be!