'MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM' AT DIEGO RIVERA THEATER
BY MARTHA VALLEJO
STAFF WRITER

This collage, shot only with film, captures different views of Ross Farrar, a purist wo laments what he thinks is the imminent end of film photography. PHOTOS AND COLLAGE BY NINA ROBINSON / GUARDSMAN

August Wilson’s classic play “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” is based on the life of the sexually wild blues singer Gertrude Pridgett, also known as Ma Rainey. 

August Wilson wrote a series of plays, one for each decade of the 20th century “Ma Rainey” premiered in 1984 at the Yale Repertory Theatre and soon moved to Broadway where it won the New York Drama Critics Circle best play award.

City College Theater Department presented “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” opened to a small audience on Fri. April 20. The play was produced, acted and staged by students under the direction of Gloria Weinstock. 

Set in 1927 in a Chicago recording studio, the play explores the racial tensions during the 20’s and the struggle for identity within the African-American community. It portrays different characters and their painful experiences under difficult times.

In the opening scene, characters Sturdyvant and Irvin are record producers who are waiting for Ma Rainey to show. Arnie Warshal and Andy Shapiro play a convincing partnership.

In the first part of the play, an exchange between the four musicians Cutler, Slow Drag, Toledo and Levee pictures each their of own personalities and the hardships of segregation.

David Stewart performed Levee, the trumpet player, with high energy. This is a character the audience gets to know in more depth.

Striving to play his music and be his own man, he masks his deep demons with cheerfulness and mocks courtesy towards the white man. The shocking experience of seeing his mother’s rape gives this character the strength and drive that keep him going.

Toledo and Cutler are characters that know what to expect from life due to their experiences and maturity. Unlike Levee, with his dreamlike expectations, they know to take what life offers at the moment.  Lonnie Ford conveys an elegant and wise Toledo and Vernon Medearis delivers a charismatic Cutler. Both actors seemed at ease on the stage.

Deborah Flowers’ powerful performance captured Ma Rainey’s striking personality. Even though her time on stage only lasted a third of the play, her presence and voice gave the production a vigorous lift.

Ma Rainey is portrayed as person full of a life force who was aware of the painful limitations of her time and trying to make the best of it despite its constraints.

Andria Damita R. Batise plays ma Rainey’s lover Dussie Mae. She shares a romantic moment with David Stewart on stage. 

The play culminates in a tragic outcome. It expresses conflicts and suppressed anger, which when finally released change everybody’s lives for good.

The play could flow better with fewer monologues and by moving the characters along the stage more often.  Or a change of set can break the routine the monologues create. Overall it is a good production.

e-mail:mvallejo@theguardsman.com

STATE YOUR FASHION CITY COLLEGE
BY DESMOND MILLER; PHOTOS BY MICHAEL P. SMITH
EDITOR AND STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Summer breeze blows through City College.

Zhao Yiny Hua, 18
The Summer Girl

Summer is almost upon us and for some it is a time to bring out clothes that have been tucked away in favor of warmer garments.

Zhao Yiny Hua, has raided her closet for clothes that welcome the sun.

“I choose this dress because it reminds me of a summer day that is fresh after a long winter break,” she said.

Online shopping is the way to go for Zhao, who sports fashion from different online sites that offer great deals on clothes.

“I got my jacket, my dress and my necklace online,” she said.

Coming from a big family with lots of sibling, Zhao is not stingy with her seasonal fashion sense.

“I share my clothes with my sisters,” she said. “So they don’t need to steal them from me.”

Austin Ansbro, 19
A Recycled Fashion

Recycling is the way of the future. Plastics, paper and clothes are just a few things that go around twice. It seems that Austin Ansbro has accepted that future with open arms.

“I recycle my clothes,” he said. “Sometimes I fall asleep in my clothes. I usually get out of bed and rotate my shit.”

After living in San Francisco for about a year, Ansbro has yet to fully embrace West Coast style.

“I’m originally from Philadelphia and haven’t really bought any clothes since I have been in San Francisco,” he said. “Except shoes.”
With his layered look, Ansbro doesn’t feel that he has a true fashion statement.

“I don’t think of myself as fashionable,” he said. “It’s what other people see when they look at me.”

e-mail:dmiller@theguardsman.com

REVIEWS
BY DESMOND MILLER AND MICHELLE STROMBERG
EDITOR AND STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

DVD: Children of Men

While I think it’s best for you to know as little as possible before seeing this film, it really doesn’t matter. From the minute you sit down till the second it ends, which it does abruptly, you won’t be thinking about this review.
This movie best encapsulates how humanity may in fact come to an end, slowly, with enough time for everyone to dwell on it. Complete anarchy ensues, women can no longer conceive and you get to watch what happens when the world knows it’s dieing. Fertility is the anchor of this film but not the focus.The heart of the story is set on survival.
The lack of special effects is truly impressive. Of course,you still have all the same drama and awareness of what is happening but you don’t have to suspend your belief from one car crash to another or from one gun fight to another. It’s completely believable. That why it works. Netflix it today!

-Michelle Stromberg

Edger Wright and Simon Pegg have a knack for taking genre films and doing something new and fresh with them. With “Shaun of the Dead,” the two had a bloody-good time making a zombie flick that had more blood and guts than any I have seen in a long time. Now with their new movie “Hot Fuzz” they take aim at the buddy action comedy movie and blow it out of the water.
Pegg, teamed with costar from “Shaun” and close friend Nick Frost, investigates gory accidents in a small English town that are hardly accidental. The movie makes fun of movies like “Point Break” and “Bad Boys II” yet is able to weave a plot that is enjoyable, even with its overly British sensibilities. Jolly good!

-Desmond Miller