How does one tell the story of a man who spent more time in prison than Nelson Mandela and Geronimo Pratt combined? With Lifer Dr. Ayodele Nzinga passed the final test of my mentorship. . She's on her own now, she has graduated to master teacher. She has her own theatre company, the Lower Bottom Playaz, in residence at Flight Deck Theatre, 1540 Broadway, downtown Oakland.
Ayodele Nzinga, a genius in her own right from natural creativity and life experience, a lethal combination for creative clarity, has done something no one in the world has done: produced the complete ten play cycle of plays by August Wilson, and in chronological .
We would think Lifer would be a challenge to her, a woman writing a prison drama about men. Yet we know a true artist knows all genders and beyond. Knowing such is the duty of a true artist, yes, to study people. And yet sometimes there is so much drama in our own lives, as per mothers,fathers, grannies, grandpa's, uncles, aunts, cousins, siblings, children, even grandchildren, that we know Ayodele often did not need to think hard about the Glen Bailey Story, Triple OG. FYI, Elder Jahahara Al Kebulan Ma'at says, "We are not O.G., Triple O.G., no, we are G.O.D." As G.O.D., we can do all things and nothing is impossible. For sure, Ayo's language is not over the top in the Marvin X style, but her main job is to tell the story of a man who survived the dungeon, the American Gulag, and after half a century of confinement, walked out with warrior pride and dignity.
Adimu Madyun as Glen Bailey is awesome, as he is in most of the roles he portrayed in the Lower Bottom Playaz productions, especially in the August Wilson Cycle.The play has been extended another weekend through Feb 2, 3,4, 2018. Be there or b square! Stay woke!
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--Marvin X