Zoya Bootwala

Rose-Ingrid Benjamin and Katie James created something so sacred for the stage with this show. Not a dry eye at the end, I can’t believe all the directions my heart was taken in just an hour.

First of all, Rose is an incredible performer who can switch from monologuing, in both French and English, to singing, in both French and English again, to spoken word without any awkwardness and at the speed of switching radio channels. Katie’s constant musical background was so good at uplifting the emotion of the moment, and her one spoken scene cracked me the hell up.

This is such a powerful story, and we’re honestly the most fortunate people that Rose chose to be vulnerable with us. I’ve never seen this depiction of how the meaning of ‘devotion’ changes as commitment to religion changes but also kind of stays the same as a practice of devotion toward life and doing the loving thing. The imagery of the altars that include both the remnants of love and the harm we choose to find love in will stay with me.

Such a gem of a show, 4 hours later I’m still floating in Westbury Theatre listening to Rose sing to their doll.

The show opens with the call “I AM A REVOLUTIONARY!” that introduces us to the radicalization of Afeni Shakur. Through this show we learn how powerfully she responded to that call, and it’s a call that echoes back to the audience as a responsibility in an anti-Black world.

There was no better person to tell this story than a teacher! Onika Henry, how did u memorize so much dialogue including LITERAL COURT DOCUMENTATION?? Honestly if this show was a podcast I would listen to it daily, her oration is just incredible!

Both her and Adam Bailey have brains the size of all the information we never learn in school or mainstream discourse. The way this story was told was full of honour and the spirit of truth-telling that you read in books like Assata Shakur’s autobiography or The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P Johnson.

I heard Onika Henry talking about Inner City High School and how the beginning of their legacy was Popular Theatre/Theatre of the Oppressed and honestly that history makes me appreciate the effort in this show even more. I feel like there’s such a cool meta-narrative in making art about a revolutionary legacy while also enacting justice by creating opportunity within art through programs like Inner City High School.

If you ever see this lol hmu ([email protected]) because I’m SO curious about your source material! Please watch this show!!!!