The four women onstage are trying to be serious, but they keep breaking into giggles. Then one says something in French, and they lose themselves to laughter.
One might expect a director to be frustrated with her performers’ progress, but instead Emmanuelle Chaulet smiles at the joke before patiently redirecting them.
These African women are demonstrating what it means to leave your home and move to a very different climate and culture. Using storytelling, drumming, singing, and dancing, they will tell the stories of their homeland, and their emigration and integration into the Portland community. This special presentation, called “Africa/Portland,” will take place on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 15 and 16.
The four performers are Susie Bulera and Yolande Matumbu, both from the Democratic Republic of Congo; Helen Machar from Sudan; and Aminata Doumbouya from Guinea. Also performing is Catherine Yomoah from Ghana. Some of their children will also participate, and local guest artists will add sound and visual elements to the production.
Drummer Annegret Baier, of the group Inanna, will perform African drumming with members of the USM Percussion Ensemble, directed by Nancy Smith.
Color slide projections of scenes of Africa by Horst Hamann and black and white photos by Marie Hamann will be projected on stage during the performance. In addition, an exhibition of black & white portraits of the five women and their children by Marie Hamann will be shown in the lobby of the theater.
Chaulet, the arts events director for theater and music at USM, conceived the event during her travels in Africa. She said she didn’t want a script, but rather a rough sketch of what the women would portray.
“It was the outline of two things: ‘What do you miss about Africa?’ and ‘What did you escape from?'” she said.
Chaulet recruited the women one by one through friends who are French interpreters for some Portland immigrants. She interviewed them in French and English, their second languages after their local dialects, and created an outline of a script. From this structure the women will perform their own words, including traditional songs and dances taken from African wedding and funeral ceremonies.
In their stories the women tell what they escaped-a forced marriage, war, poverty, polygamy, oppression. Most found more opportunities in Portland, yet they all miss their old homes in various ways. The production explores what home means, what is lost and what is gained when a person leaves one country to find a new home. It also gives a voice to women who rarely have had an opportunity to speak of their lives and their dreams.
“I wanted to get them to own it,” Chaulet said. “Really, I think, just to give them a voice.”
Doumbouya, a native of Guinea, said she is excited about having a way to share her culture with people here while learning the culture of her fellow performers.
“I am learning Sudanese and Congo culture,” she said. “I’ll be very happy if we do more of this.”
Matumbu said her biggest concern is the pace of life here in the United States.
“We don’t have time to make friends,” she said. “We don’t have our African friendships here. (In Africa), when I go to my friend’s house, I know it is my house.”
Chaulet said she is anxious to see the results, noting that an American audience may not be used to the slower pace of life reflected in the show.
“I’m wondering how the audience will react, it will be interesting to see.
“Africa/Portland” is presented by the USM Department of Theatre with the support of USM Cultural Affairs Committee, USM Child Care, and Emmanuelle Chaulet’s own Two Lights Theatre Ensemble. The event is also sponsored, and is a part of, the USM Convocation, “Diaspora: Meanings of Home.” Both performances are at 7:30 p.m. on the Main Stage in Russell Hall on the Gorham campus. Tickets are $10 for the general public, $7 for seniors, and $5 for students. Call 780-5151 for reservations. A reception with African food will be offered in the lobby following the Friday performance.
Arts and Entertainment Editor Scott Marcoux can be contacted at: [email protected]