Rhodessa Jones, a performer, a teacher and a director. The pieces that will be detailed in this blog are two of her solo performances.
Big Butt Girls, Hard Headed Women
Rhodessa got the inspiration for Big Butt Girls, Hard Headed Women when she began teaching aerobics to women in the San Fransisco Jail in 1987.
Big Butt Girls, Hard Headed Women, first performed in 1989, consists of a series of monologues and dance-like segments based on lives of the women she met while teaching in prison. The show follows the structure of an aerobics class, where Jones would introduce herself , demonstrate an exercise and even do some ‘cheering’. “All you bit butt girls, it’s time to get a booty for your body! What’s the use of having a bit butt if you can’t express yourself?” (Jones, 1989) Jones interrupts her routine periodically to play one of the women in her class or to deliver an interior monologue as the instructor.
The characters that Jones plays in Big Butt Girls, Hard Headed Women (as previously mentioned) were based on the real women she met in prison – they’re described in the Los Angeles Times as: “sassy Regina Brown, who was murdered on her third release from jail in one year and to whom the program is dedicated; wise and weary Mama Pearl, who all too many times has seen what has happened, what is happening and what is going to happen to her fellow inmates; Lena, who once dreamed of being a Broadway dancer before she got hooked on drugs; and Doris, a frightened, thumb-sucking first-timer, not much older than the children she has left in her mother’s care, who made the critical mistake of falling in love with the wrong guy.” (Churnin, 1991)
Hot Flashes, Power Surges and Private Summers
Hot Flashes, Power Surges and Private Summers was a performance trilogy based on Rhodessa’s life. The Hot Flashes section is based on her turning 50, and how womanhood is beyond 50, during this section of the performance Jones coaxed the audience into chanting “vagina, vagina, vagina!” to the theme of Bonanza.
I enjoyed learning about Rhodessa’s work, although it was hard to find info on her solo performances (hence the very small description of Hot Flashes, Power Surges and Private Summers). The things I can take from her performances for my own performance are; using a personal experience, as both of her pieces are based on things she’s experienced herself. Another thing could be playing different characters within the piece, just because it’s solo, it doesn’t mean the only character has to be me, I can play multiple – which is something I hadn’t considered before.
Works Cited
Churnin, N. (1991) STAGE REVIEW: ‘Girls’ Transcends Are to Heat Spirits: Theater: Rhodessa Jones examines forgotten lives of women in prison in powerful one-woman show. Los Angeles Times, 02 February. Available from http://articles.latimes.com/1991-02-02/entertainment/ca-119_1_rhodessa-jones [accessed 14 Feb 2016]
Jones, R. (1989) Big Butt Girls, Hard Headed Women.