Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is August Wilson’s 1920s entry of his 20^th century cycle.  This Tony-nominated play takes place entirely in a studio in Chicago’s South Side at a recording session of Ma Rainey, “the Mother of the Blues,” and her band. It’s the only play in the cycle set in Chicago. In his typical fashion, Wilson infuses comedy and music in this drama exploring the tensions between the past and present, African and American identity, the North and the South, the temptations of this world and the power of the spiritual realm as well as the psychic pain, oppression and exploitation rampant in Black life as the descendants of slaves tried to find their place in American life in a new century – a century they dared hope would be kinder than the last. 

Can formerly exploited sharecroppers get their share in the music game?  Is the new North anything more than “up” South?  Must hip cats be limited only to blowing their horns or can they find wholeness through their art?

Ma Rainey and the band fight for their humanity against a system in which they lack power and understanding of the rules - against structural racism and the individuals who turn its wheels.  As the old folks say, Ma “doesn’t take tea for the fever” as she gives White folks hell 24/7, sometimes just for the sake of it.  Her perennial protests embolden us even if her victory is only pyrrhic.  But what price does she pay for her constant, but certainly well placed, anger?  Must Ma always be tough?  Can she ever let down her guard?  Ma constantly wears the mask and seems unable to take it off. 

The blues was one mechanism we used to manage our rage.  It was often a bridge that took us over to the next day.  But the blues often was not enough to salve our deep hurt from the hostilities we endured – lynchings, backbreaking sharecropping, sexual horror – as reflected in trumpeter, Levee.  Levee’s more than just a loose cannon as he tries to negotiate a way seemingly out of no way.  What options did we have at the start of the 20^th century to deal with the psychic costs of racism?  Dare I ask what options we have now as we deal with “the problem of the color line” in the 21^st century, as manifested by rampant urban violence, inadequate public education, the prison industrial complex, the unwinnable drug war and substantial unemployment.

In the tradition of the Court Theatre, it is a drama well done.  Fine acting of high caliber – you will see familiar faces. You may remember AC Smith, who plays Slow Drag as the lead in the Court Theatre’s stellar production of “Fences.”  He is just as strong here.  James T. Alfred is powerful and convincing as Levee.  He is simply a scene stealer.

Make your way to Hyde Park and the Court Theatre before the last curtain call!

- Lauren
Comments?  E-mail me at: Lauren@so-LAZE.com  
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Ma Rainey's Black Bottom continues through October 18, 2009 at Court Theatre.