Introductions

Who am I?

My name is JD Stokely. I am a soon-to be graduate of Hampshire college, with a concentration in experimental theatre, creative writing and Black studies. I have spent the past two years writing “The (Sexual) Liberation of Mammy”, and have worked for the past three months directing it. I have created this study guide to share with you my writing and rehearsal process, in hopes that you will one day want to put on a production of this play.

Who are you?

If you are reading this study guide, then you are about to put on a production of “The (Sexual) Liberation of Mammy”. You will be leading the process of the production, most likely in the role of a director or facilitator. You might be working with seniors in high school, college students, or even older community members. You might be interested in doing a large scale production, or a staged reading. This study guide will provide you with a roadmap by showing you the steps that we took while creating the original production. There will be examples of workshops, discussion questions and a list of resources that you will help you to give you and your ensemble a headstart in creating an amazing production.

Why put on this play?

“The (Sexual) Liberation of Mammy” is not a play that can just be read. Like all theatre, one of the main purposes of this script is to be performed. The second crucial purpose of this play is to promote dialogue on issues of race, sexuality, motherhood, historical and personal memory and the importance of intersectionality, just to name a few themes. This play should not be showcased without a talkback.

This play is sincere. It’s intention is not to provide the audience with a “right answer” or one specific point of view; instead, “The (Sexual) Liberation of Mammy” provides an array of characters with their own opinions, individual histories and personal truths. I must state that this play is not about one universal black queer experience. It is a very specific story that aims to grasp at more universal themes of family, love and memory. If you are looking to have an honest discussion about race, sexuality, and gender, while simultaneously learning something about the history of minstrelsy and its influence on the American identity, then this play is for you.

The Story

CAST

Adanne.... 24 year old African American woman, “resembling the mother”
Claire... 26 year old Caucasian woman, Adanne’s girlfriend
Ms Tompkins... 40-something year old African American woman, Adanne’s mother
Sonya... 27 year old African American woman, Adanne’s friend and neighbor
CHORUS OF BLACK MEMORABILIA PIECES:
Mammy... a Mammy statue come-to-life, the only Chorus member who speaks
Topsy Doll... A ragdoll come-to-life
Jimbo the Puppet... A marionette puppet come-to-life

SETTING
present day, New York City

THE STORY

Adanne is struggling with the different relationships in her life. Her white girlfriend, Claire, is constantly saying inappropriate things. Her old-fashioned mother is unsupportive of her job and her lifestyle. And her best friend Sonya doesn’t understand why she keeps dating white women... or why Adanne keeps around the Mammy statue her mother gave her. Adanne seems to be on the fence about the statue too, but after a failure of a dinner party where Claire and Sonya both showed their nasty sides, Adanne is visited by a reincarnation of her Mammy statue. Adanne isn’t sure if Mammy is a dream or a living being, but she confesses to Mammy that she needs someone to tell her “what to do, how to act, who to be.” Eventually, the line between dream world and the real world becomes blurred, as Adanne’s world slowly becomes taken over by a chorus of Black memorabilia pieces come-to-life.

The Show

For those of you who did not have the chance to see the actual performance... here is a link to the show. Enjoy!

http://www.archive.org/details​/ThesexualLiberationOfMammy

Masks

“We Wear the Mask"

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,--
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be overwise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!
- Paul Laurence Dunbar













MASKS

One big aspect of the original production was the use of masks. Masks are a strong visual metaphor for the ways that we hide behind our identities. In the original production, all of the Chorus members, including Mammy, were in masks. But that does not meant that they are the only characters that hide behind a mask. As an ensemble, we did a mask-making workshop, led by guest artists Najee Haynes-Follins & Sarah Jackson.


NAJEE & SARAH’S MASK MAKING WORKSHOP

What you’ll need:

One roll of plaster gauze
Tub of petroleum jelly
Bowl of warm water
Paper towels
Scissors
Assortment of paint
Any other decorative materials
Craft glue or hot glue

Procedure:

Pair off the participants and have them decide who will be making the mask and who will be masked. Have the face of the maskee generously cover their face in petroleum jelly, paying close attention to the hairline and eyebrows. Cut strips of gauze to desired lengths. Dip the gauze in the warm water and make sure to squeeze out excess water. Place the gauze on the face. Make sure to do at least three layers- once the mask has become rigid on their face, it is ready to come off. If they want to add any extra structural pieces to the mask, do so while it is still semi-wet. Once it’s dry, it’s ready to be decorated!












While waiting for the masks to dry, think about different theatrical games you can play … Here are some games that we played


French Telephone (Do Nothing)

This game only works with an odd member of participants. Everyone should focus on the person one over to the person to their immediate left. The facilitator will begin the game by telling the participants to “do nothing”, unless the person they are watching moves, in which case they should imitate them. No one should drastically exaggerate these movements unless directed to do so by the facilitator; the action should naturally become exaggerated as the game progresses. The game will end when the facilitator decides to end it.

Character Walks

Participants are asked by the facilitator to move about the room as they normally would. They are to think about the way in which they move, but not change it. Maybe they hold tension in a very specific part of their body, or they walk in a particular way. The facilitator then asks the participants to locate the part of their body that they lead with- this can be their center, their knees, their neck; everyone moves in a different way. Once they have found the part of their body that they lead with, they are asked to exaggerate it, until they are no longer themselves, but have created a new character.

Variation 1: Similarly to French Telephone, participants focus on one person in the room to study and copy. They begin by choosing a person to imitate, then studying their movements similarly to how they studied their own. Once the facilitator tells them to start, the participants begin to take on the movements of their person, and slowly exaggerate them.

Variation 2: This game is a great way to discover movements of the characters. Tell the participants to envision their character- the way they speak, their insecurities, and personal choices. The participants should think about how their characters might show these things through their bodies. If Mammy feels mischievous, how might she hold her hands? If Claire feels vulnerable, how might she walk into a room? Once they feel confident in embodying their character, the participants can begin to interact with each other, and see how that changes their body language.

Decorating the Masks

The original ensemble was asked what their character’s spirit creature would be. They decorated their masks accordingly. Here are some images of the masks:

We used these masks as rehearsal masks for the chorus members, which helped them think about themselves as non-human beings during rehearsals. This is not necessary for your participants, especially if they will not be in masks during the final production. It might be fun to have the participants do a final character walk with their masks on and see if that changes the ways in which they move their bodies and interact with each other.

Writing Assignment # 1

Are there any times you feel like you have to wear a mask about an aspect of your identity? How did you feel about the ways in which people interpreted your body language? Did you feel like those were accurate portrayals of you? Did you learn something new about the mask that you wear?

Becoming a "Character"

BECOMING A "CHARACTER"

The three Chorus members were all inspired by black caricatures: Mammy, Jim Crow and a pickaninny girl. It can be very easy for an actor to portray them in a very stereotypical way. However, they are just as much characters as Sonya, Claire or Adanne. The chorus should be played just as sincerely as any of the other roles- with objectives and purposes in each scene. The purpose behind creating a play with black stereotypes is to break their stereotypes by reconfiguring them into more constructive/educational images.

Creating "positive black image" is a question that many black artists have struggled with, especially since America has been plagued with stereotypical images of blackness on the stage since the early 1800s. But Betye Saar, an artist heavily involved in the Black Arts Movement in the 1970s came pretty close to finding a way. One of her most famous (and controversial) pieces, "The Liberation of Aunt Jemima" found a way to give new meaning to Mammy's smiling face. Saar put a broom in Mammy's hand, and a shotgun in the other. The image was an allegory to the infamous picture of Huey Newton, one of the leaders of the Black Panther Party. It was a way of saying that Mammy not only has power, but she has black power- an important distinction, since the caricature of Mammy is supposed to hate her own blackness.




The Mammy character in the script was directly influenced by Betye Saar's "Liberation of Aunt Jemima." During the monologue in which Mammy "wakes up", she points her broom at the audience like a gun. Mammy questions the audience about their assumptions of her identity. She challenges them to say remember her name, suggesting that she might even have a different name than "Mammy", letting the audience know that they really don't know anything about her history.

"Whose mother am I? Whose mother am I? Seems like since my creation, someone decided I had to be a mother. I was robbed of my youth- no time to play when you’re caring after babies. And whose babies were they? I don’t remember letting any man climb up on top of me. (No man ever tried. Too obsessed with my breasts and not with my other parts.) And who loved me, loved all of me? Not you. You don’t even know me. You’ve never even heard my voice before this, didn’t even care if I had a voice. (slight pause) You don’t even know my name. Go on, try and remember my name."

Writing Assignment:

Read the monologue above and write down the immediate images that come up for you in the monologue. Think about the stereotypical traits that are associated with the Mammy caricature. Now think about the moments in which Mammy challenges these during the play.

Movement

Movement was a crucial part to our process, especially with two silent characters in the script. Movement can act as the bridge between the “real” and “surreal” worlds of the play. The action in a scene can often be more truth telling than what is being said.

We had a series of movement workshops with guest artist Esme Vaandrager during the process. We started with more disciplined movement, using “Viewpoints”. Eventually, we began to explore authentic movement, and let the characters evolve.



Here are a couple of the image games and movement activities that we did during Esme's workshops:

Complete the Image

This is a game that should be done in pairs. During this image game, one person would create a still image. Their partner would then complete the image by creating a still image that compliments the first one. The first person to create an image then steps out, and creates a new complimentary image. This completely changes the meaning of the image, which can be very interesting.

Fill in the Space

This activity can be done in pairs or with the whole group. One person starts out by creating a still image. Similary to Complete the Image, a second person comes and creates a complimentary image. However, they must fill in the negative spaces of person one's bodies. Be creative; look at the space between fingers, behind knees, etc. Once the second person has added themself, the first person steps out of the image, and a new person fills in the space.

Authentic Movement

This can be done in silence, although it is sometimes easier to do with music. If music is used, make sure to steer the participants away from their initial instinct to dance. Authentic movement is about clearing your mind and allowing yourself to move your body in new, authentic ways. This activity can go on for a good fifteen or twenty minutes. Sometimes it helps if the participants are given a prompt to think about. We started by thinking about circles, and eventually "invited our characters into our bodies" by channeling specific moments in the script or images of black stereotypes that we had researched on our own.

Manifesto

In Act II, Sonya gives a monologue, in which she contextualizes herself in relation to the Mammy caricature. There are two parts to her monologue, in two very distinct voices. Read the first half of the monologue below, and think about whose voice Sonya is channeling.





skin so smooth
hair so soft
ass so big
pussy so tight
skin so smooth
hair so soft
ass so big
pussy so tight
hair so soft
skin so black
pussy so tight
ass so smooth
skin so black
hair so big
skin so black
pussy so tight
breasts so warm
soft
smooth
big
breasts
give me
give me
you are mine
soft, so
smooth
tight
big
big
big
big
big.
i cant feel you
but i sure want to
touch you-
every
part
of
you
(belongs
to
me.)

mammy, let me suck on,
let me suck out
your self-
worth with my
lips
covering your
mouth
don't try to speak, or even
scream, your words are not
welcome here, in this place
where nobody knows your
name, just the outline of your
body (fingers feeling in the dark
of you, looking for pleasure, or
a place to crawl back into- who knows?)
don't try to move, you are stuck
feet glued to the floor beneath that
floor-length apron, hand chained
to the handle of that wooden broom.

Writing Activity #3:

The second part of Sonya's monologue helps to break the silence around the ways in which black women’s bodies are commodified; in many ways, it is Sonya's Black woman manifesto in which she verbally takes back “ownership” over her body. Think about ways in which you have felt marginalized, silenced or powerless. What did that powerlessness look like? Write a manifesto that reclaims your own personal power.

It is also important to know that not everyone expresses their personal power through words. This is a clip of a choreographed dance that an ensemble member made in response to Sonya’s monologue.



Allow participants to create their manifestos in whatever ways they see fit. They can write, dance, sing, or find any other ways of creatively expressing themselves!

"Aunt Jemima on the Pancake Box?": Black Memorabilia, Then Vs Now

"The commodification of Otherness has been so successful because it is offered as a new delight, more intense, more satisfying than normal ways of doing and feeling. Within commodity cuture, ethnicity becomes spice, seasoning that can liven up the dull dish that is mainstream white culture."- bell hooks, "Eating the Other: Desire or Resistance"


One of the most common reactions we got to doing the production was "I've never seen this stuff before- where did you find the black memorabilia?" Often, people think that black memorabilia is something that was a Southern phenomenon, something that ended when slavery ended. The caricature of Aunt Jemima, one of the more famous Mammies in American history, actually emerged in 1890 when a black woman by the name of Nany Green (a former slave) was hired to sell pancakes at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. More important than the pancake mix she was selling, Ms Green was selling a (false) memory of the "good ole South", when blacks were cheerful and servile. I think it is very important to note that Aunt Jemima pancakes and syrup are still available in supermarkets today.



While you are reading this play, ask yourself:

Do we still see images like this? What negative images of Blacks do we consume everyday? Of other racial minorities or marginalized groups?

Writing Assignment #2:

At the end of the play, Mammy interrupts Claire's vow to Adanne, by saying "this isn't over." What do you think she is referring to? Do you agree with her, and why/why not? How does the Chorus' laughter at the end of the play make you feel?

What Now?

So you've done the lesson plans, workshops and rehearsals. It's opening night. What now?

Talkback

A talkback is a dialogue between the cast, crew and audience. Any performance of "The (Sexual) Liberation of Mammy" (whether it be a readthrough or a full-on production) should have a talkback.

Here is a sample of questions that we used during our talkbacks:
- What are some moments (lines of text/images/etc) that stood out to you?
- How did the use of black memorabilia affect you?
- Have you been able to identify images like this before? And if so, where?
- Do you think the themes of this play relate to our community?

The key to a talkback is to not overwhelm an audience with prepared questions; they will naturally end up asking about things they want to talk about. These questions should be seen more like prompts.


Reflection


During the talkbacks, I realized that our cast and crew had a lot to say, in some instances, more than the audience members. Even though the cast was constantly reflecting in journals or on their own, we hadn't had much time to talk as an ensemble about what the work was bringing up for us. I encourage you to set aside a day to reflect as a cast and crew about the script as a whole once the full production is over. You'll be surprised what wonderful ideas will be brought up.

Resources

Here is a short list of resources that I found helpful when doing my own personal reasearch. These sources are a great start to understanding the history of minstrelsy and further explaining the emergence of black caricatures in American media. Share these sources with your ensemble, and encourage them to do their own research. Enjoy!

Bamboozled. By Spike Lee. Dir. Spike Lee. Perf. Damon Wayans, Savion Glover and Jada Pinkett Smith. New Line Cinema, 2000.

Collins, Patricia Hill. "Prisons for Our Bodies, Closets for Our Minds: Racism, Heterosexism, and Black Sexuality." Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism. New York [u.a.: Routledge, 2006. Print.

Hooks, Bell. "Eating the Other: Desire or Resistance." Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston, MA: South End, 1992. Print.

"Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Ferris State University." Ferris State University: Michigan College Campuses in Big Rapids MI, Grand Rapids MI, Off Campus Locations Across Michigan. Web. 29 Apr. 2011. .

Wallace-Sanders, Kimberly. Mammy: a Century of Race, Gender, and Southern Memory. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 2008. Print.

The Watermelon Woman. Dir. Cheryl Dunye. Perf. Cheryl Dunye, Guinevere Turner. Dancing Girl, 1997. DVD.