MUTINY AT PORT CHICAGO…A SUMMONS TO ATTEND A COURT MARTIAL
By Oni Adunni
One of the wonderful plays in Los Angeles in 2009 was Mutiny at Port Chicago, an “Spellbinding” is the adjective describing the Ruskin Group Theatre Co. production . “ Travesty” is the adjective describing true facts spawning the production. In 1944, 50 black sailors faced a court martial because of their heroic stance of refusing to load ammunitions and high explosives to a transport ship . Their loading orders came just days after witnessing and feeling traumatic effects of two ships and a dock blown to smithereens at their Port Chicago munitions base outside of San Francisco . History records it as WW II’s greatest state side military disaster. 202 black sailors were killed and 293 wounded. The sailors, as well as the 50 court martialed ones all enlisted to serve their country but prevailing racism relegated their assignments to cooks, waiters, chauffeurs, and extremely dangerous duties.
The play’s first act brings the entire incident to light by realistic explosion sounds , military uniforms costumes and a 10 member cast offering up excellent acting skills along with narratives and riveting putting you right there in the thick of things dialogue.
With spot on eye contact , black sailor, Seaman Edward Little (J. Teddy Garces) chillingly recounts picking up “ A head,” “a foot,” “a body,” and rubble off the demolished deck that he and mates were ordered to clean . Dog tired and depressed about unfair treatment, the sailors other immediate concern was having to load ammunitions on another ship without being properly trained. Lttle, along with Long John (Eric Bivens) Sylvester (Pedro Coiscou) Seamon Summerville (Durant Fowler) in ensemble actions dived into such diversity of characters using joking, southern dialect, gambling and arguing, that the 5 sailors seemed like a full platoon.
Using historical records of the factual event, Mutiny at Port Chicago was written and directed by
Paul Leaf. Without a doubt , Leaf must have experienced a director’s dream in staging a highly charged scene in the play where the sailors, in precision military style left-right-left-right steps march in then rigidly, as it were, stopped on a dime realizing they were headed to the munitions ship. The sound of their abrupt stop was deafening, only the barking angry “Forward March” voice bellowing out from a navel officer could be heard. Clearly, for the men, it was moving on to the ship or resolutely doing an About Face’” to the brig. They chose the brig which set in motion the thoroughly gripping court martial 2nd Act .
The scene opens in a court setting complete with the sailors, the Navel Officer Prosecuting Attorney, the Judge and a Navel Defense Attorney. At issue were sailors refusing to load deadly explosives coupled with their knowledge of being used as pawns by high ranking racist officers betting which squadron would finished first. In opposition, the navy wanted nothing less then the firing squad labeling them as traitors, cowards, with further accusations of conspiracy to discredit commanding officers.
The intimate theatre plops audiences dead in the center of things giving extra advantage of observing facial gestures and body language . The actors court appearances were relatively short , yet each characters intent came vividly across. In volleys of vociferous “Objections!,” “Sustained!,” “Overuled! ,” judge talk,( Carl Coughan) convincingly shows bias. As a witness, Lt. Fontana (Josh Drennen) was like pinnocho. Every Time he told a flat out lie his face took on such a smug, half smiling expression, one wanted to throw a rock at him. Lt, Cdr. James Coakely ( Cris D’Annunzio) was indeed a hard core prosecutor determind through testimony of loaded questions to Lt. Dimatto ( an obliging David Dunham ) and equally hard core and readily obliging Commander John Leslie ( Paul Denk), to get a guilty verdict. Coakly’s questions to them invited collusion; “Isn’t it true that you heard the sailors ‘expletive’ language plotting to disobey commands ?” He could not, however break the “no we never plotted” stoic stance of Seaman Summerville, who concluded his testimony givng an insight into his character, saying “before turning in I read my bible.”Do we believe him to be an honest person? Yes! “ Navel Defense attorney Gerald Veltman (Maury Sterling ) was the soul of sincerity bringing a warmth and honesty in his attempt to defend the black sailors in the utter frustrating atmosphere of, well, a stacked deck….Go see the end of the play.
Paul Leaf is practically an alchemist, digging up old cold dead papers, dusting them off to extract clarity, performing a creative theatre license surgery, then bringing back to life a vital project where one
can …see—feel---hear---know of an injustice with a capital “I”
DREAMGIRLS….A REALLY BIG SHOW
By Oni Adunni
“And I Am Telling You, “ –“Dreamgirls, now at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles , is to resurrect Ed Sullivan’s words “A Really Big Show!” Big is Henry Krieger’s music numbers with Tom Eyen’s lyrics advancing a story concerning the rise to super stardom of the “Dreams”, a ladies trio who started out as the “Dreamettes.” Relatively, well, big in size, and a really big voice capable of moving a notch up on the Richter scale, is Dreametts lead singer Effie White (Moya Angela). Effie is relegated to singing back up to Denna Jones, (Syesha Mercado) who is impressive and aptly suited for Denna whose gorgeous looks, slender size and softer voice suits a more commercial appeal. The groups manager Curtis Taylor (Chaz Lamar Shepherd), himself rising to power through payola and moxie calls the shots. Shephard digging believably into a “know-what-you-want in an artist “ also manages James Thunder Early ((Chester Gregory), limited in crossover appeal but really big in belting out soulful songs.
Since glitz and glamour of the Dreams night club performances are a large part of this musical , its drama is secondary, but varies little from the iconic movie .Coming across for instance is Effie’s despair, her leaving the group, her ill fated love for Curtis and courage of regaining self esteem. Adrienne Warren as “ Lorrell,” the other trio member is such a charmer, you hardly know of her pain in a going nowhere relationship with married Jimmy Early . Trevon Davis as “C.C. White”, Effie’s song writing brother, does, along with a pleasing voice projects a warmth in trying to heal a strained sibling relationship.
One very noticeable difference between the play and movie is an omission of Jimmy Early’s drug habit and death. In the play when Curtis fires him, he in no way goes quietly into the night. No sir! Rather, Gregory’s James Thunder Early takes, and commands center stage with “jimmy’s Rap”, a
really big , indeed , show stopping number garnering thunderous applause.
Musically speaking also is the Dreams beautiful blending of voices, and oh, Moya Angela sears Effie’s good and bad life changes into minds from every blast off millimeter of a second beginning of a song.
Dreamgirls ‘ really big stand out song production number ,“Stepping To The Bad Side” is theatre magic! Its aim of projecting passing decades of rising to success is reached by Robert Longbottom and Shane Spark’s lively choreography of male dancers executing almost kaleidoscope movements to the music’s pounding soulful beat. Their exciting in-synch steps have added depth because of Ken Billington’s flashing blue lights on the darkened stage; then topping it, suggesting time passing is Robin Wagner’s set designed of large panels mirroring not only the dancing, but showing iconic images germane to various years.
Other magic stems from William Ivey Long’s costumes and changes by the Dreams who numerous times rush off stage into the wings, and quick as a flash pull off, unzip, step out of, or step into completely new ,and it must be said, dazzling costumes.
Sadly, the Ahmanson Theatre run ends on april 4th. If you are in town run to it or you will be missing…
A REALLY BIG SHOW.
______**********______
By Oni Adunni- With Help From
Portions of U.S, National Archives & Records Administrations(USNARA)
www.archives.gov/federal register/electoral college
11/03/08
THE WAYS-WHYS-WOES OF ELECTORAL COLLEGE
Among the many millions of people who cast their vote in the election, millions of them, especially first time voters t were exposed to one of America’s most confusing political government institution, The Electoral College.
First and foremost the Electoral College consists of 538 people who formally select the President and Vice President of the United States.
Words from the National Archives & Records Administration states “It is quite possible that a candidate who collects the most votes on a nation-wide basis will not win the electoral vote. This occurred in the 2000 presidential election where George W. Bush receive fewer popular votes than Al Gore but receive a majority of Electoral College votes. “ The result? George W. Bush was elected President. It is indeed prudent to know that these electoral votes come from the Electoral College which allows states to get one electoral vote for each of its Representatives in the House, and one Electoral vote for each of its two Senators. Since the entire State of California, for instance has 55 of these elected officials, California is allowed 55 votes in the Electoral College. A smaller state like Maine who has 4 elected officials has only 4 Electoral College votes. These Electoral College representatives, known as “ electors” are, according to (USNARA) “often selected to recognized their service and dedication to their political party. They may be party leaders or persons who have a personal or political affiliation with the presidential candidate. “ It is extremely unfortunate that the American public does not know the people who have the extreme power of electing the President because, according to the (USNARA) “The electors names may or may not appear on the ballot below the name of the candidate running for President.
For this writing, the state of California ,and its power of 55 Electoral College votes is used to reflect the workings the Electoral College in all of the states. The 55 elected officials of California are each charged with the responsibility of casting their individual vote for the Presidential candidate who wins the popular vote in their state. For example , if candidate “A” received a million votes and candidate “B” received a million and one votes, the electors should assume a “winner-take all” position by ignoring the million votes of candidate “A” and cast their individual vote for candidate “B”. If this was done, it should result in 55 Electoral College votes allotted to the state of California going toward the 270 Electoral College vote count from the other states needed to certify a presidential candidate.
THE NIGHTMARE SCENARIO IS THIS!. Once again, according to (USNAR)”There is no constitutional provision or federal law that requires electors to vote according to the result of the popular vote in their states. With this astounding fact in place, a voting travesty could occur where a very popular candidate “A” with a potential vote count of 215 would need 55 votes to allow him to arrived at the 270 votes to be selected President. HOWEVER, and this is a big HOWEVER, If 2 of the California electors did not cast their vote for the states “winner-take all,” and to reiterate, they are not bound by law to do so, then the 55 votes allotted to California would only be 53. DO THE MATH!.....215+53 = 268….This could allow candidate “B” who has vote rich Electoral College states help him arrive at the 270. Worse yet, should each candidate happened to arrive at a 270 tie, a teeny tiny state with the power of 1 Electoral College vote could be the deciding tie breaking factor of 271 votes…
Question? Who knows who has an Electoral College representative in their pocket to the point where they would not take a “winner- take all” position to cast their vote allotted to the state. Question? How can they dare not cast a “winner-take all “vote especially when a candidate has received millions of popular votes in the state.? Question? Why does the system allow potentially one hundred forty eight million votes to be cast for either candidate only for the purpose of two hundred and seventy Electoral College votes be the deciding factor for electing a President. If all of this sounds confusing , join the comments of Daniel P. Gregory in Terms of American Government 4th Edition who says “Of all governmental institutions and procedures that throw the public for a loop, the Electoral College tops the list. “(pg 113) And finally, since this historical election is now over, let us hope that in obedience to “Change,” along with President-elect Barak Obama’s administration doing something about the economy, the war, schools, taxes the poor and healthcare, they would do something about the
Ways, Whys, and Woes of the Electoral College. After all, (USNARA) says “Public opinion polls have favored abolishing it……”
________________________________________________
Oni Adunni is a free lance Arts writer