“Becky Nurse of Salem” is on now at Trinity Rep in Providence, playing in repertory with “The Good John Proctor.” The plays are on through Nov. 10. Click here for tickets and more information. “2216: The Remix of a Global Experiment” is on now at the Wilbury Theatre Group through Oct. 15. Click here for tickets and more information.
TRANSCRIPT:
James Baumgartner: I’m James Baumgartner and this is Artscape. We have two plays to talk about this week. One from Wilbury Group called “2216: The Remix of a Global Experiment” — we’ll hear from the playwright in a few minutes. But first up from Trinity Rep is “Becky Nurse of Salem,” a dark comedy written by Sarah Ruhl and directed by Curt Columbus, that plays on some of the themes and characters of “The Crucible.” Artscape editor Mareva Lindo joins me now to talk about it. Mareva, tell us about the play.
Mareva Lindo: The play centers around Becky Nurse, a modern-day resident of Salem, Mass. who is a descendant of Rebecca Nurse, a real historical figure who was accused of witchcraft and executed as part of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. Becky is a tour guide at the Salem Witch Museum, which is where we first meet her. If you, like me, don’t know or remember “The Crucible” all that well, that’s fine – Becky reminds the audience of what they need to know right up top.
Baumgartner: That’s right. And life hasn’t been too kind to Becky. She has chronic pain, her bills are stacking up, her daughter died years ago of an opioid overdose so she’s raising her teenage granddaughter on her own, she’s still pining for her high school crush – and then she loses her job. So in desperation, she goes to a modern-day witch, who gives her a few charms and spells to help her out.
Lindo: Yeah, and Becky is carrying so much – she’s angry about what happened to her ancestor so long ago, something she really can’t escape in her town or her job; she feels immense guilt about her daughter’s death; she’s incredibly worried about the same thing happening to her granddaughter; she’s now bitter about being fired; she’s lonely; and she’s in this unbearable physical pain from endometriosis. And that’s really the heart of the play, and it struck me, is this running theme of women’s pain and generational trauma.
Baumgartner: Yeah, it’s very moving. Something I loved was the portrayal of the relationship between Becky and her granddaughter Gail. Gail’s 15, almost 16 and she’s just out of a mental health facility. Their relationship is contentious, we see them argue and fight, but there’s love and affection and caring between them that really comes through. Jihan Haddad as Gail and Angela Brazil as Becky really brought that out.
Lindo: Yeah, and speaking of performances, I have to say, Meg Thalken who plays the witch was really amazing in this role, and so funny. She stole the scene anytime she came on stage.
Baumgartner: Yeah she’s kind of a fun con-artist but her spells actually work. But the play is completely focused on Becky Nurse, and Angela Brazil carries this show with such a broad range – she’s powerful, fragile, and she’s funny.
Lindo: Absolutely. And great performances all around, but she in particular had a lot on her shoulders.
Baumgartner: She did. “Becky Nurse of Salem” is on now at Trinity Rep in Providence, and it’s playing alternating with “The Good John Proctor” which is kind of a prequel to the events in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible.” The plays are on through Nov. 10.
Baumgartner: Turning now to The Wilbury Group, which has a world premiere at its space in the Valley District of Providence. It’s called “2216: The Remix of a Global Experiment.” They describe it as “an immersive and thought-provoking theatrical experience that weaves together personal narratives, historical truths, and futuristic possibilities.” JaMario Stills is the creative force behind the play. He recently talked with morning host Luis Hernandez.
Luis Hernandez: I understand from reading on this is that Afrofuturism is a major influence in your work. And I’m wondering how it plays into “2216.”
JaMario Stills: It’s a theoretical framing to help me understand and excavate this idea of Black and brown folk being realized, and to “best version of themselves,” the greatest version of themselves, the most realized version of themselves. As folks traverse from the transatlantic, landing in the South, how they themselves had to become Afrofuturists to see themselves out of that shape. So being from the South, I just inherently have taken on that, that coding. So yeah, and that’s very much so germane to being from Florida, which is where the story and it’s geopolitics are framed.
Hernandez: Looking at everything that is happening in your home state of Florida, how that plays into this show, how that plays into your storytelling?
Stills: It’s kind of unavoidable to tell a story right now without talking about Florida. And so the initial idea was, when I talked to Wilbury about it I was like, I would like to do a play about a community of Afro-diasporic people coming together to create a new global doctrine for the future, which would be like a new Declaration of Independence, all created by BIPOC people. What that actually entails is me getting the thoughts and ideas of the people I’m collaborating with. So as we talk about Florida, what has been your experience? And this is me, just talk to the actors – what has been your experience with monuments? What has been your experience with ecological terror? What has been your experience with gun laws? So these are all sort of touch points that are hyperlocal in Florida, but affect us all. And so they come to the table understanding the sort of ideas we want to uplift, and they find their way into it.
Hernandez: It sounds like an incredible experience for you and the performers. Now I’m thinking for us, the audience, this is going to be very different from a traditional show.
Stills: You know, it is, and I’ve been doing theater for a long time. I’ve never seen a show on this stage that was developed, idealized, and practically staged, with a complete democratized way of working. So as we’re performing this play it then goes into 2216, the year 2216, in which we become, as we call it, Black and brown avatars of ourselves. We become like, the dopest, we become the coolest, the sharpest, the most righteous, you know, we’ve zoomed out into the future and created these like ghetto superstars, you know what I mean? And so when we go from the world of trying to understand it, we get to a point where it’s like, but let’s just knock it all down, and let’s get to what we want to do. Let’s tell the stories we want to tell, without the constructs of the well-made play, you know what I mean? Let’s actually just do our own thing. … Let’s see this show from various textures. Let’s see it from a video media that represents maybe a confessional. Let’s see it from a voiceover, let’s – I mean, theater is so dope, like, you could do anything. And so it’s about actually finding the bendability of the stage. How can it become something in which a modern audience who is already so consumed, actually goes to the theater and have a theatrical experience, right? Like, how do we make them part of the show? How do we create a space in which people feel like, okay, this is why I left Netflix tonight. Like, this is, I get to travel. Do I understand and identify with all the points? Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. I absolutely do. But you’re coming for an experience.
Hernandez: Well, it’s called an immersive and thought-provoking theatrical experience. There’s a lot going on. It’s fantastic. Listen, JaMario, thank you so much. I appreciate it, and break a leg.
Stills: Thank you, family. I appreciate you. Y’all have a good one.
Got a question, comment or suggestion for Artscape? Email us at arts@thepublicsradio.org.
