Who You Callin Black Eh? Theatre for the People, by the People

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

I believe it was the headline of this play that caught my attention. I mean, Who You Callin Black Eh? I was shocked by the boldness of the title and I contacted the playwright Rita Shelton Deverell as soon as I could to learn more. This play is one that needs to be experienced, and not necessarily retold, so I thought I would present this article a little differently. I actually attended the second show, which was on Saturday, July 6^th, 2019 at the Factory Theatre Studio just off Bathurst and Adelaide. I arrived a little late, and Rita who happens to be one of the gentlest, sweetest souls I have ever met, waited for me and led me in to catch the tail end of the production.

The play was picked up at the Alumnae Theatre New Ideas Festival in 2017. It was then selected to be part of the Fringe Festival, which runs from July 3^rd – July 14^th. An assemblage of artists founded the Toronto Fringe in 1989; their goal was to provide a platform for grassroots performing artists. Since then, the Toronto Fringe Festival has become the largest theatre festival in Ontario. They showcase anywhere from 150+ productions every July at about 30+ venues around the city of Toronto. It is truly an act of manifestation to have your script chosen to be a part of Fringe because it is chosen by lottery in contrast to juried festivals in which the acts are selected based on their artistic qualities. I would like to take this time to introduce each of the parties involved in putting on this dramatic tale of race and shadism that exists in the black community.

Rita Shelton Deverall decided that theatre was her passion at 8 years old. Born in Houston, Texas (pre-civil-rights legislation), Rita has seen and experienced things that we have only watched or heard about. After dabbling in broadcasting for a while (CBC, Vision TV, APTN), at the age of 60 she decided that she was going to start writing plays because she realized that there were many stories that were going untold. This play is based off her time spent in Halifax where she had met some biracial, racially confused, split personality young people.

During our interview, she reiterated the importance of surrounding yourself with a great team. This is why she hand-selected her team that was going to bring the play to life; it includes: Clara McBride (Director/Mask Making and Design), Clayton Batson (Stage Manager/Assistant Director), Jessica Bowmer (Actor, Creator and plays the mother of Heroine), Brendan Chandler (Cree-English Artist, plays Heroine’s love interest), Chattrisse Dolabaille (Playwright, Actress and plays main role Heroine), Osaze Dolabaille (Musician, and actual father of Chattrisse), Jason Pilgrim (Actor, and plays Heroines father), Iliana Spirakis (Greek-Canadian Actress and is the narrator of the story), and finally Jim Plaxton (Lighting Designer).

I spoke with Clayton Batson, Jason Pilgrim, and Iliana Spirakis about what their thoughts were when the first experienced the script. “I knew I wanted to be part of this because finally, I was going to have a chance to tell a story that impacts my culture and community. The idea of racism within a race must be talked about more,” Pilgram explained. Grenadian born Batson had his own experiences with shadism, “In Grenada, I was called everything from brown boy, to Coolie. It was not until I moved to Toronto did anyone just consider me what I am, a black man!” Spirakis had mixed emotions about the script when she first saw it; she had never heard about shadism before being part of this play. “I realized that this topic must be important in Toronto right now.”

Osaze spoke proudly about having the opportunity to work with his daughter Chattrisse, “I take no credit for the wonderful work that my daughter does; yes, I did expose her to the industry, but it was her choice to pick it up and go with it.” Chattrisse, who patiently waited to speak with me, told me what it was like to be involved in a play like this. “I did a cold reading for the part of Heroine, and my first thoughts were, I hope people don’t mess up the name of the play. Each word was picked very specifically and has a great meaning. I live for the moments in the play that make people laugh, and at times, some of these moments surprise me.”

Finally, I was able to steal a moment to speak with Director Clara McBride, “My first thought was I’m white! Am I the right fit as the director for a play like this? Rita assured me that I was. I have bi-racial children, and they have asked me, am I dark mom, or am I light? After reasoning with myself for a bit, I realized that I had to do this, and I found using masks was a way to portraying lightness and darkness creatively.”

This play is something to be experienced; it will be showing on: Thursday, July 11^th, at 5:45 pm, Friday, July 12^th, at 4:15 pm, and Sunday, July 14^th at 12:15 pm. Warning; you can not arrive late or you will not be let in, so get there on time.