the Mental Notion Society proudly presents
MAKEUP
MAKEUP: A Poetic Stageplay, Written & Directed by Nosa Osai. Visit the 1973 set of a movie as a group of people try to capture the success of blaxploitation era films such as Shaft and Superfly.
When a change in the script causes a ripple effect, five members of the cast and crew are forced to confront their image, as a husband and wife attempt to balance their hopes with their reality.
Witness the style, the sounds, the...poetry? Be prepared for a unique experience.
“MAKEUP” featured David Barlow ; Lauren Elleseg ; Jove ; Dylan Parkes ; and Tonya Smith.
When a change in the script causes a ripple effect, five members of the cast and crew are forced to confront their image, as a husband and wife attempt to balance their hopes with their reality.
Witness the style, the sounds, the...poetry? Be prepared for a unique experience.
“MAKEUP” featured David Barlow ; Lauren Elleseg ; Jove ; Dylan Parkes ; and Tonya Smith.
3 performances: March 15 to March 29, 2012, at Stage773 - 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago, IL 60657.
http://www.chicagostagereview.com/?tag=makeup
http://www.chicagostagereview.com/?tag=makeup
Costume Design by Wanda Cobar - http://www.wandacobar.com/
Casting by Je Suis Talent Inc. - http://jesuistalent.com/
Executive Producer: Jonald Jude Reyes
Director: Nosayaba Osai
Assistant Director: D. Maurice Waddell
A REVIEW of MAKEUP, by Diane Proctor Reeder (March, 2012):
A Play You Must See
Remember the controversial “blaxploitation” movies of the 1970s? This era, best remembered by baby-boomers, is the era started by the famous Melvin Peebles movie “Sweet Sweetback,” and continued with movies like “Superfly” and “Shaft.”
A dynamic young playwright, certainly too young to have remembered those times, has recreated them in a new play, Makeup, now running at the Stage 773 Theatre in Chicago. Nosa takes us on a breathtaking run through the seminal ideas of race, gender, domestic violence, along with the exploitation of popular culture and fidelity to one’s craft. In less than two hours, we see a man with values become a man consumed with “making it.” We watch two women bond with each other in a way that transcends race. We watch a crafty African American director, consumed with money, consume others—both black and white— in his quest for the almighty dollar.
Nosa brilliantly re-imagines the Shakespearean “choruses,” in which narrators commented on the plot as it was occurring. In a different take on the “chorus,” the actors themselves employ powerful spoken word poetry to comment on the plot movement and their own feelings.
Nosa was born in 1986, in the decade after the blaxploitation movies had their initial impact. But his meticulous research is evident; and his keen understanding of the era, full of stereotypes and angst and longing, is impressive.
Makeup is the kind of play you want to see more than once, just to process the rich ideas baked in a soundtrack that Nosa himself composed. He is definitely a playwright to watch!
Diane Proctor Reeder is an editor, author and playwright based in Detroit. [http://www.adiaryofjoseph.com/about_Diane.htm]
A REVIEW of MAKEUP, by Diane Proctor Reeder (March, 2012):
A Play You Must SeeRemember the controversial “blaxploitation” movies of the 1970s? This era, best remembered by baby-boomers, is the era started by the famous Melvin Peebles movie “Sweet Sweetback,” and continued with movies like “Superfly” and “Shaft.”
A dynamic young playwright, certainly too young to have remembered those times, has recreated them in a new play, Makeup, now running at the Stage 773 Theatre in Chicago. Nosa takes us on a breathtaking run through the seminal ideas of race, gender, domestic violence, along with the exploitation of popular culture and fidelity to one’s craft. In less than two hours, we see a man with values become a man consumed with “making it.” We watch two women bond with each other in a way that transcends race. We watch a crafty African American director, consumed with money, consume others—both black and white— in his quest for the almighty dollar.
Nosa brilliantly re-imagines the Shakespearean “choruses,” in which narrators commented on the plot as it was occurring. In a different take on the “chorus,” the actors themselves employ powerful spoken word poetry to comment on the plot movement and their own feelings.
Nosa was born in 1986, in the decade after the blaxploitation movies had their initial impact. But his meticulous research is evident; and his keen understanding of the era, full of stereotypes and angst and longing, is impressive.
Makeup is the kind of play you want to see more than once, just to process the rich ideas baked in a soundtrack that Nosa himself composed. He is definitely a playwright to watch!
Diane Proctor Reeder is an editor, author and playwright based in Detroit. [http://www.adiaryofjoseph.com/about_Diane.htm]