REVIEW: Letters to Kamala/Dandelion Peace (Voices Festival Productions)

Three actors, two pieces, one show. Voices Festival is currently producing a double-whammy: one part meditational history, one part immigration allegory, both by Rachel Lynett and running nightly at the All Souls Unitarian church on 16th St NW, perhaps more commonly known as the home of Spooky Action Theater Company. (Since it’s two separate pieces, each gets a score out of 5.)

Book

Letters to Kamala

Reminiscent of Ford’s’ Something Moving some time ago, Letters covers three overlooked historical women: Charlotta Bass, Charlene Mitchell, and Patsy Matsu Takemoto Mink, all whom in the afterlife address Kamala Harris on the eve of the 2020 election. As she becomes the highest-ranking woman (of any color) in United States history, Lynett frames these letters are wake-up calls to the both her and the audience to know which women came before her and were overlooked. As intriguing a prose this is, I could not help but detest the competitive nature in which the figures orated. While true that Kamala did walk a path trodden by thousands of revolutionary women to get to where she has, I reasonably doubt that someone as educated and prominent as the Vice President was somehow unaware of her precedents as of 2020. Precedents which resort to snide remarks and accusations of being a sellout, which avoid a sense of cautious celebration in favor of mild animosity. The spirits continually remind us that Kamala reached out to them for this guidance, and yet it felt like they had nothing constructive to say besides their own biographies. A missed opportunity for something profound. 1/5

Dandelion Peace

In the other bill, Dandelion is a traditional play featuring the same three actresses. In an unnamed DC community garden, tensions simmer. Anita, a dark-skinned Black woman, plants dandelions in her plot which she uses to make wine. Zuri, who is a lighter complexion, grows in a different plot her vegetal varietals, but detests Anita’s dandelion planting, seeing it as an invasive species bent on ruining the legal sanctity of the garden. In the middle is Moira, the politically-scheming steering committee chair of the plot who seeks to use this discord to sow support for the upcoming election. The allegory to immigration is heavy handed and tattered. Additionally, each incident comes at the expense of the darker Black woman — why? Anita is constantly gaslit into being the problem with no real conclusion. Zuri commits countless acts of property violence —even played for laughs — including a physical threat later on, yet it is Anita who is made to feel sorry and introspective following this. Her attempts to escape this situation are continually foiled for no apparent reason other than to spit in her face. The ending does so outright, showing character backtracking from Moira and Zuri that left me totally stunned in all the wrong ways. 0/5

Acting

Letters

The dramatic pacing of the first piece isn’t balanced equally, leaving Mitchell (Fatima Quander) to carry what feels like 3/4ths of all the dialogue (which is distractingly put through a New Yorkian filter). Kendra Holloway (Bass) and Mariele Atienza (Mink) are accentless, but occaisionally spiritless too. Caged deliveries provide a backbone to their biographical critique, but there feels like a missing emotionality. 1/5

Dandelion

Given an extra shot with an A-B-C plot and original characters, I still found it tough to empathize with anyone except Anita. Quander’s Zuri was bodacious and headstrong, but lacked charisma to remotely get on my good side as a viewer. Ditto with Mink’s Moira, who carries over the professionalism from her role in Letters but without the brandished authority to control the situation. 0/5

Production

Letters

The patriotism is present on the American bunting that drapes in front of a wrinkly projection of the Constitution, which is poorly rendered due to significantly delayed cue timing and hues that reduce the contrast of the performances. There is a motif of shuffling chairs around platforms that I did not understand, too, but on the bright side: the costuming by Brandee Mathies is decent and dated well. 1/5

Dandelion

Things brighten up a little when they reorganize the space to include vibrant plastic flowers for the second piece, courtesy of Heidi Castle-Smith, and Mathies continues their hot streak with gleefully grimy garden garb. 2/5

Viz

The program art is good at letting you know that there is two pieces, and what they are about, vaguely. But nothing is inspiring the imagination or sprinkling details of the art form in it, which was disappointing. 2/10

Verdict

Somehow both hollow and full of itself, the double bill of Letters/Dandelion scrapes you up trying to haphazardly tell marginalized stories. 7/40