Reaching out to the soul
NANDINI NAIR
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“My Soul is a Witness”, by The Pegasus Players from Chicago, showed the relevance of history today.
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Photo: S.R. Raghunathan
Rousing recreation A scene from “My Soul is A Witness” by Alex Levy
Five actors brought alive history with its trials, triumphs and tragedies. The Pegasus Players from Chicago made the Civil Rights Movement the theme in their recent production “My Soul is a Witness”.
Staged at The American Centre auditorium, the play was part of an initiative by the American Centre and The Youth Parliament to celebrate India’s 60th year of Independence.
It chronicled American history from 1955 to 1963, staging the past so we might know the present. The play highlighted the need for a Civil Rights Movement today, for, though racial segregation might have ended, inequalities continue. Through personal narratives and songs, events like the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Desegregation of Little Rock and Sit-ins of Freedom Riders were brought out.
Through powerful acting and authentic impersonations, figures like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, JFK and Rosa Parks breathed on stage. These characters were enacted with honesty and not heroism. Rosa Parks was only as strong as the line, “I am not standing”. This single statement, to the bus driver, led to a 381-day boycott of public transport, culminating in the desegregation of public transport.
The daily sacrifices
But the play also highlighted the daily and nameless sacrifices of scores of people. Boycotting of public transport meant that thousands had to walk miles everyday. The belief, “I am not walking for myself, but for my children and grandchildren,” spurred them towards sacrifices. People braved water canons, which “tore the bark of trees”.
They faced guns and lynch mobs because of their conviction in life and liberty. A mother lost her son to a lynch mob. Another woman’s nine-year-old daughter died in a bomb blast at a Sunday school. Searing tragedies like these were enacted with terrifying accuracy. The play also revealed the debates of the time through conversations. A telling confrontation between Martin Luther King and Malcolm X brought to surface the debate between ballot and bullet. King explained, “If we buy into hate we are no better than them.”
To this Malcolm X replied, “Hate keeps Black people in reality. Who said we are better, you are beginning to sound like a racist…” Dialogues like this threw light on the course that history took.
The acting and dialogue provided the substance of the play. But music gave it the soul. The actors are all highly trained singers. The songs varied from Billie Holiday’s signature “Strange Fruit” to the Gospel number, “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child”. The songs poignantly expressed injustice, despair, aspirations, hope, resistance, struggle and victory. Unaccompanied by instruments, the actors’ voices touched every conscience. The play came to Delhi after travelling to Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata. It has special relevance to India as the tools of struggle against oppression were the same.
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