Trenton's Passage Theatre Company will present two one-person shows during its annual celebration of solo acts : "To My Unborn Child: A Love Letter from Fred Hampton" and "Bicycle Face."
To launch her first “Solo Flights” event at Passage Theatre Company, Artistic Director Ryanne Domingues listened to her Trenton neighbors.
“Theater is a conversation,” Domingues said. “Before I choose any programming, I look around and see what’s happening in the city. That’s really near and dear to us.”
She found two shows she believes will contribute to the community conversation: “To My Unborn Child: A Love Letter from Fred Hampton,” offered Feb. 8- 10 and “Bicycle Face,” offered Feb. 15 -17. Both one-person shows include historic elements that relate directly to modern times. Both shows, Domingues said, “reflect Passage’s mission to do new theater that’s relevant to our community.
“To My Unborn Child,” written and performed by Richard Bradford and directed by John Doyle, is an elegy to a son who never knew his father. Hampton, 21, was head of the Chicago branch of the Black Panther Party. In December 1969, city, state and federal authorities raided the apartment where Hampton and other Black Panthers were living. Hampton, asleep in bed next to his pregnant fiancee, was one of two men killed that night.
Authorities said they’d been responding to a tip that the apartment had a weapons cache. They also said the Black Panthers had shot first. A follow-up investigation those same authorities had fired between 82 and 99 bullets that early morning. In contrast, a single bullet came from a gun held by a Black Panther.
“Hampton was a target for the those in power because of his voice against economic, racial and social inequity,” Doyle said. “Those issues are still being confronted today. but Hampton’s focus on unification over division is a lesson even more critical as we fight for social justice.”
Domingues was unfamiliar with Hampton’s specific story until she saw the show a few years ago. It was easy to see the link between a man of color being shot and killed in his bed in 1969 – the show’s set is the bloodied bedroom where Hampton died — and more recent police shooting deaths of unarmed men and boys of color including Philando Castile in Minnesota; Alton Sterling in Louisiana; Walter Scott in South Carolina; and Tamir Rice in Ohio.
“This is a play that really addresses racism and class structure head-on,” she said, noting that Black Panthers co-founder Bobby Seale will give a presentation after the first evening’s performance. “I thought the people of Trenton needed to hear it.”
Doyle said Hampton is evidence of the historical nature of that systematic oppression. Little seems different today.
“We are in a time that has changed for the worse, even as we seem to be more tolerant and open,” the director said. “Hampton would still see the need to fight most of the same battles he was fighting then. That is why the play is so potent. He is speaking to us, his dream is the unborn child of today.”
“Bicycle Face,” written and performed by Hannah Van Sciver and directed by David O’Connor, is set in a feminist theory class in 2125. It tells the stories of three women in three different periods of history working for equality. The title comes from a fake malady invented in the 1800s in an effort to scare women from riding bikes.
“There’s an amazing tie between cycling and the origins of the feminist movement,” said Van Sciver, who onstage reads an article detailing how riding a bike could leave with a woman with a pinched expression, digestive problems and shortness of breath. “Bicycling allowed women to be mobile and meant they had to wear the appropriate clothing. It went against the belief that women should stay home and not exert themselves.”
The modern character is Van Sciver’s show is a woman taking photos during annual Philadelphia’s Naked Bike Ride. The future character is teaching the aforementioned feminist theory class the production is built around in a future that’s gender neutral.
“The two shows have a similar theme on completely different topics on opposite ends of the spectrum,” Domingues said. “I thought they’d be a nice complement to each other.”
Founded in 1985, Passage is Trenton’s premiere professional theater company. In an effort to expand its audience, it offered a performance of the season’s first show, “Salt Pepper Ketchup,” during school hours so high school students could attend. The play, set in Philadelphia, explores gentrification.
“Trenton is starting to have that conversation,” Domingues said. “How do we revitalize? What does that mean for the city?”
After the performance for students, Domingues heard one teenager say he was surprised. “I thought this was going to be an old time-y play,” the teen said.
“We want to show people that theater is about them and the issues they’re dealing with right now,” Domingues said. “That’s very important to our mission.”
SOLO FLIGHTS
“To My Unborn Child: A Love Letter from Fred Hampton” and “Bicycle Face”
Passage Theatre Company
Mill Hill Playhouse, 205 E. Front St., Trenton
Tickets: $ 13-65, available online at https://passagetheatre.org. Feb. 8 – 17
Natalie Pompilio is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. She can be reached at nataliepompilio@yahoo.com. Find her on Twitter @nataliepompilio. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook.