Paula Lindo – Our histories, stories, present, future.

The audience at the gala performance of Shades of I-She: Every Woman’s Story on April 27 was held spellbound by the powerful performances. Audience members said the play, written and directed by Eintou Pearl Springer and put on by the Indigenous Creative Arts Network (ICAN), grabbed them by the throat with its intensity.

Patron of the event, Mrs. Sharon Rowley, said Springer’s unique brand of poetry has been an inspiration to audiences around the world, and compared her to the phenomenal woman immortalized by Maya Angelou, another great poet. Mrs. Rowley said the play is about Caribbean women who are particularly challenged. “Through each brilliantly crafted poem we feel the pain of the woman who suffers at the hands of her violators – incest, rape, domestic violence. But we also feel her love. She is a nurturer, a lover, a fighter and a survivor. Eintou is the voice for the voiceless. That is the power of her poetry.”
ICAN paid special tribute to Geeta Ramsingh, head of the Hindu Pachar Kendra in Chaguanas, who is one of the very few women who interprets and teaches the Hindu scriptures. The presentation was made to celebrate the silver anniversary of her ministry.
The performance began with Chant to Legba, performed by Eintou and Shanya Springer. Shanya went on to give a soulful performance of “Old Souls” by Dianne Reeves, dressed in a white headdress and flowing robes. The entire cast, Eintou Springer, Eunice Alleyne, Mavis John, Dara HealyShanya Springer, Kiah Mulrain and Khailah Bernard, then called out ancestral names as they moved through the audience. The intimacy of the space helped the audience feel as though they were a part of the audience. Each cast member recited parts of the Shades of I-She prologue.
Each poem in the first half of the show addressed a different issue faced by women. “The Daughter” spoke of incest by a father on his two daughters, the powerlessness of their mother to stop it because of society and religion and the continuing cycle of abuse, as one of the daughters later has a child with a man who beats her daughter. “The Runner” was the story of a woman who finally flees her home after years of domestic abuse, marital rape and infidelity, but has to leave her children behind. “The Prostitute,” which incorporated the music of Tina Turner and Rihanna, was the story of a child prostitute, put on the street and forced to give the money she earns from sex to her pimp and her tout.
Up next was “Stain,” a heartfelt portrayal of a woman’s attempts to wash herself clean of the sight, sound and smell of her rapist. In “Abortion,” a woman spoke to the spirit of the child she aborted, asking it if she didn’t have the right to decide what happens inside her. “The Scourge” was the spine-chilling story of a woman who decides to deliberately spread HIV after she is infected by her first and only lover. John sang “Don’t Let the Sun go Down on Me” by Elton John as she appealed to the audience to help her. “Babies, Bags and Baggage” was a commentary on how “beating, breeding and treating women bad” stretched across all classes, races and social boundaries. The final piece in the first half, “Speak Now!” had a powerful impace as the cast beseeched the audience to help those who were being abused behind closed doors and speak out.
In the second half, the poems told a story of redemption and empowerment. The half began with Chant to Oshun, sung by Shanya Springer. “Survivor” used stickfighting visuals, and the chants of the Kalinda to describe how women were brought from Africa and grew new roots in the Caribbean, bolstered by pan, calypso, and drum. “Woman, Mother of the Earth,” composed by Marilyn Jones and sung by John, reminded women that they have to keep climbing until they reach the top of the ladder. “Out of the Shadows” urged women to seek self-fulfillment and told listeners that women simply seek personhood and to escape the double curse of being black and female. The audience was all too happy to join with John in singing the chorus of the next piece, “Morena Osha,” by Andre Tanker. “Spaced” spoke of stepping into space and being tired because the air was so thin and hard to breathe. The men in the audience went wild during Eintou Springer’s performance of “Bois,” which asked if there were any men who could receive a woman’s submission without violence and suppression, and said there was no man worthy to climb on her bed, spoken in counterpoint to James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s World.” The younger members of the cast danced to “Endangered Species” by Dianne Reeves, referring to the status of empowered women who would sing no victim songs. Next, John sang “Will you still love me tomorrow?” by Roberta Flack as part of “Come Close.” “Sidestepped” was a woman’s story of stepping back to save her pride because her partner was scared of commitment. The final piece, “Jazz in the Callaloo” spoke of how making callaloo recalled the pain of being a black woman but listening to jazz reminded her that there is strength inside.
Atillah Springer said the plan is to carry the play on the road, wherever a space can be found. She said anyone interested in having the play performed in the community can contact ICAN at 461-8637, or find them on Facebook at Indigenous Creative Arts Network, ICAN.
Mrs. Rowley said the play was excellent and reflective of many things in T&T’s society that people don’t like to talk about. “It has taken us out of our comfort zone and I think we need to spread this word throughout T&T, and as they said, that’s what they intend doing. They did that 20 years ago and I think they need to repeat it.”