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Pg. 20 Your Stars

‘Lackawanna Blues’ is a master class in session!

By LINDA ARMSTRONG

Special to the AmNews

“Lackawanna Blues” is a theatrical masterpiece! There’s a master class happening at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on W. 47th Street, a master class in storytelling, character description, acting and directing and it is being given by Ruben Santiago-Hudson through his one-man, autobiographical play, “Lackawanna Blues.” Santiago-Hudson has created a touching, beautiful tribute to Nanny—Rachel Crosby—a woman who raised him in her boarding house in Lackawanna, New York.

It is so engaging to listen to him describe how they met and how she came to raise him as her son. SantiagoHudson endearingly introduces the audience to the disabled, poor and sometimes mentally ill people that Nanny would take in. He portrays 24 different individuals to perfection. Nanny was a kind-hearted woman with limitless generosity, love, food, and support. She was a mother to the entire community in Lackawanna, and not only took in people who desperately needed a home, food, clothing and money, but also took in disabled animals. Nanny had a strength in spirit that helped her to be a champion and a protector for the abused. As Santiago-Hudson describes the assorted types of people that lived in the boarding house, he lets each tell their story of woe, and the stories are quite captivating.

A seasoned actor, SantiagoHudson smoothly transitions into the 24 characters. He skillfully takes on the physical stances, tones and mannerisms of each person and makes each one seem to be standing right there on that stage—and it was magnificent to behold! Nanny, for Santiago-Hudson, wasn’t just the woman who raised him; she taught him life lessons, supported him in every way, and took a pride in this boy who became her son, best friend and loyal keeper of the stories of her love and kindness.

A person like Nanny, who does so much unselfishly for others, should have their story on Broadway. What a tremendous tribute this piece is to her. Generations will know who Rachel Crosby from Lackawanna, New York was because Santiago-Hudson has written, performs and directs this piece with his whole-heart.

One of the truly marvelous aspects of this play is how Santiago-Hudson’s words flow from his mouth with a rhythm that gels with the guitar playing of Junior Mack, who performs onstage alongside him. (Also, SantiagoHudson plays a mean harmonica.) Santiago-Hudson touched everyone as he gives a biblical affirmation to represent what Nanny’s life meant when he says following her passing, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” And that applies to Santiago-Hudson as playwright, artist and director. Well done! “Lackawanna Blues” is a must-go! It’s a blast! And it has been extended through Nov. 7, so go and learn about Nanny and feel the importance of the light she shined on so many lives.

For more info, visit www. manhattantheatreclub.com.

Ruben Santiago-Hudson (front/standing) and Junior Mack (back/seated in top-left photo) (Marc J. Franklin photos)

By CHARMAINE PATRICIA WARREN

Special to the AmNews

In Montclair, New Jersey at Peak Performances (Nov. 4-7), Stephanie Batten Bland’s “Look Who’s Coming to Dinner” tops this month’s calendar. Bland is known for “…creating performance at the intersection of dance-theater and

installation, questioning contemporary and historical cultural symbolism and the complexities of human relationships.” And for “Look Who’s Coming to Dinner,” inspired by the 1967 Stanley Kramer film starring Sydney Poitier, Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, she pays tribute to those who paved the way toward acceptance in love and life. “Set around a transformative dinner setting, seven dance-theater artists excavate interlaced universal traumas through imagery and ritual as they seek a seat at the table. In dialogue with the film’s use of intimate domestic settings to evoke the vast tensions of its cultural context, the dancers excavate interlaced universal traumas through imagery and ritual as they seek a seat at the table,” according to the release. For more information visit www.peakperfs.org/

STILL RUNNING:

Oct. 20 - Nov. 6 (Virtual & Inperson)—“Crossing The Line Festival” spotlights Africa’s cultural renaissance through interdisciplinary artists and features works by Igbo-American artist Okwui Okpokwasili, in collaboration with Peter Born; nora chipaumire, a native of Zimbabwe and central Mozambique; and Somi, Chirstopher Myers and Kneza Schaal. For more information visit www.fiaf.org ALSO THIS MONTH:

Nov. 1-15 (Virtual)—Sooraj Subramaniam and Kuala Lumpur-based January Low explore their parallel experiences of the Odissi Indian classical dance form in the world premiere of “Other Places of Being” for the BAC digital season. For more information visit www.bacnyc.org

Nov. 2-7 (In-person)—Gibney Company choreographic associate Rena Butler will offer world premieres along with Sonya Tayeh and Alan Lucien Øyen for the Company’s Joyce debut under founder, artistic director, and CEO Gina Gibney and directors Nigel Campbell and Amy Miller. For more information visit www. givneydance.org

Nov. 4, Dec. 9 & 16 (In-person)— The fall 2021 curatorial team, guest artist/curator Hilary Brown-Istrefi, Philip Treviño, and Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte brings Pioneers Go East Collective’s CROSSROADS to Judson Memorial Church. Featured will be Sheree Campbell, Yoshiko Chuma and Dane Terry, film by Anabella Lenzu, gorno (Glenn Potter-Takata), film by Yuan Liu, film by Janessa Clark, Jasmine Hearn and more. For more information visit www. pioneersgoeast.org

Nov. 7 (In-person)—As part of Works & Process at the Guggenheim, Akram Khan will share excerpts from “Creature” along with a discussion moderated by Meghan

McNamara. For more information visit www.guggenheim.org

Nov. 11-13 (In-person)—The Chocolate Factory Theater presents the world premiere of PURO TEATRO: a Spell for Utopia by luciana achugar furthering achugar’s “…mission of making work as a practice of constructing a new theater – a utopian theater – as a practice of growing a collective utopian uncivilized body with the audience,” according to the release. For more information visit www.chocolatefactorytheater.org be-titled work with composer Elizabeth Gartman. For more information visit www.newchamberballet.com

Nov. 14 (In-person)—As part of Works & Process at the Guggenheim, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater offers a season preview with artistic director Robert Battle. Prior

to his farewell performance, there will be an appearance by dancer and resident choreographer Jamar Roberts, and the newly appointed artistic director of Ailey II, Francesca Harper will join the discussion. For more information visit www. guggenheim.org

Nov. 15 (In-person)—As part of Works & Process at the Guggenheim, members of Dance Theatre of Harlem will perform highlights and join the discussion about resident choreographer Robert Garland’s “Higher Ground” set to a selection of songs by Stevie Wonder with Imani Perry. For more information visit www. guggenheim.org

Nov. 9-14 (In-person)— The Indigenous Enterprise, a collective of dancers from across Turtle Island—currently known as North America— makes their Joyce debut and will present traditional works representing the legacies of their native elders and more. For more information visit www.joyce.org

Nov. 16-28 (In-person)—Complexions Contemporary Ballet returns to the Joyce Theater for its 27th season with two programs: (Program A), the world premiere of “SNATCHED BACK from the EDGES” and (Program B) “LOVE ROCKS.” All works are by cofounder Dwight Rhoden. Desmond Richardson is the other co-founder. For more information visit www.joyce.org

Nov. 17-21 (In-person)—Dancer and choreographer Twyla Tharp celebrates her 80th birthday at City Center in a program of signature works and two world premieres with dancers from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (James Gilmer and Jacquelin Harris); American Ballet Theatre (Aran Bell and Catherine Hurlin); the actor and dancer Robert Fairchild; and New York City Ballet (Sara Mearns, Roman Mejia, and Tiler Peck). For more information visit www.nycitycenter.org

Nov. - Dec. 13 (Virtual)—Jordan Demetrius Lloyd will premiere “Trip Gloss World Premiere” “…an experiment in translation from a 3-dimensional world to a 2-dimensional screen…with layered animation that captures an amalgamation of movements by six dancers drawing from a web of inner stories and imagined fantasies,” according to the release,” for the BAC digital season. For more information visit www.bacnyc.org

Photos from Company SBB/Stefanie Batten Bland’s “Look Who’s Coming to Dinner” (Carlos Cardona photos)

“Saved rounds” is a colloquialism used in the military, referring to a piece of information that a person forgot to say after telling everyone they can leave. But what do you do when you’re no longer able to deliver that information?

A short film by actor and director Doc Farrow, “Saved Rounds” attempts to chart the journey of an alcoholic veteran, racked by survivor’s guilt, to deliver a gift to the family of a fallen comrade. Deborah Leonhardt, who co-wrote the script, plays his supportive but beleaguered girlfriend accompanying him.

“You don’t find out who you are until you get shot at,” Farrow half-jokingly stated in a recent interview. Though many know Farrow as Coach Wilkins on the CBS comedy series “Young Sheldon,” they may not know that he had a military career.

Farrow reveals he got his nickname during his service. “Doc is a nickname that marines give their corpsmen. We’re the ones that go in, stand shoulder to shoulder with them, and patch them up. So if you’re good, you walk away with the honored nickname of Doc.” Farrow doesn’t reveal his birth name.

It was only after retiring that he even thought about becoming an actor, and it was Dave Chapelle and Larry the Cable Guy, in a manner of speaking, that led to the decision. Farrow was living in Arizona and studying nursing when, “One night, as I was smoking a cigar watching TV. Dave Chapelle and Larry the Cable Guy were on. I just said to myself, ‘Yeah, I can do that.’” He soon began acting classes. The classes strengthened his belief he was on the right path, though they weren’t easy for him. “You’re talking about someone from the military,” he explains, “who has learned how to lock up every rational emotion, so it was very challenging for me.”

Fate then stepped in and prodded him to move closer to film and TV mecca Los Angeles. “I lost my job, and with $2,100 in my pocket, hopped on my motorcycle and rode to L.A.,” Farrow recalled. He got into the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and started getting roles and doing stand-up.

The film was shot in Palmdale, Calif.— the arid, rocky, terrain in “Saved Rounds” mirrors both the battlefield in Iraq, and the one in the mind of Farrow’s character (also named Doc) when he returns home. Stated Farrow, “I did not think of this film being set anywhere other than desert. It needed to be the essence of desert warfare. Also, Doc’s soul needed to be in a place of desertedness.”

The experience forced Farrow to confront his own demons. “It took me two and a half years to get past my own hurt and my own feelings about my life and move back into the space of what my therapist calls ‘moral and spiritual fracturing,’ to allow myself to write the script and shoot the film,” he explains.

“There were people in combat who died who I had been close with, and some died when they got back from the war and a lot of that had to do with suicide or drugs and alcohol.” Losing comrades after they return, he pointed out, is sometimes harder. “It’s a much bigger pain because I have to deal with, ‘If I had been there, it may have been different.’”

This struggle is dramatized by another character in the film, who haunts Doc. Farrow explains, “He represents the people that died that I was there for, those who died I wasn’t there for, and people I could not save who were back home going through what they had to go through.”

He is candid about his continuing struggle with the effects of being in a war and how it affected his ability to write and act. “The nightmares started to come back and I was forced to learn how to embrace that for the writing. The irritability when spending time around people came back.”

However, Farrow persisted, committed to telling a story that would resonate on a human level. “The character has to be brave enough to overcome, and in order to write that, I had to be able to bring everything that I have, and am still, overcoming.” A feeling of responsibility to his audience pushed him. “I had to go there myself. If I didn’t then the next person won’t be able to see that we all go through something and we all have the opportunity to heal, which is the whole point of the movie.”

In addition to getting in touch with his emotions, workshopping his script was another challenge. “That was another layer of fear that went with that. It was like, I went through all this gut-wrenching work to write this and now you’re saying it’s not good enough?” He came to learn something valuable about the creative process from the experience. “I learned they aren’t critiquing me, they’re critiquing what works and what doesn’t about the script.”

Farrell’s personal experience in battle also allowed him to see Iraquis through a different lens. “There were those who wanted us to leave. Then others were smiling and gracious even going through so much more trauma. Then I found such beauty in people stopping five times a day and praying. Listening to the prayer was a beautiful thing. It’s not for me, but it was still beautiful to see and hear.” Actor, director, producer Doc Farrow (docfarrow.com photo) DON’T MISS YOUR CHANCE TO SEE THIS MUSICAL MASTERPIECE. BROADWAY TICKETS FROM $49 WITH CODE COCAM SHARON D CLARKE