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Peace Piece premiere: Big ambitions, big fun

February 25, 2009 at 1:52 pm by David Warner

Photo by Novajade

The multimedia extravaganza Peace Piece/ Take A Walk in My Shoes premiered last night at USF, and it was a kick. I’d spoken with two of its creators, Marisa Alma Nick and Tera “DJ Nova Jade” Greene, during a recent episode of ArtsSpeak and was impressed by their enthusiasm and ambition (40-plus performers, a documentary, national tours!). But I’d also worried a bit that its broad goals (fostering world peace, fighting for arts education) might yield a production that was just a little too earnest, a little too after-school special.

Nah. The show wasn’t perfect — it started a half hour late, there were some technical glitches, some of the text was more one-dimensionally hectoring than it needed to be — but there was also real visual imagination in evidence, too, and a fizzy, insouciant sense of playfulness that was, simply, a lot of fun.

Progressing through a series of danced and scripted vignettes, the action centers on a Mailman (Phillip Gulley), who seems to be both a conduit of prejudice and a harbinger of death, and on two sisters named Empathy (Nick) and Plane Jane (Carla Marie Rivera), who are torn apart. You can probably predict the message just from the names: When we lose the power of Empathy, civilization is in danger of self-destructing.

But on the way to that rather obvious point (made in a brothel-ish nightmare involving lots of red and black and dominatrix gear), there are some delightful moments. Some I loved: A violent/affectionate pas de deux for the two sisters; the brigade of female janitors (played by the NAO Dance Collective) who take revenge on a hilarious band of “corporates,” four women with towering beehives chattering incessantly on the phone; Ms. Benjamin Franklin (Faten Deek) on a tricycle leading a hapless trio of religious figures in hoodies; and my favorite, a number called “Disco Town,” which seems to be about nothing more nor less than the joy of dancing.

In “Disco Town,” the curtain descends almost to the the stage, and the company comes undulating out of the audience, holding penlights in the dark. Then they dive or roll onto the stage and continue dancing behind the curtain — and all we see is a line of feet in heels and sneakers. Somewhere along the line The Mailman is rolled out in drag on a giant red high-heeled pump, the curtain is raised, and we see shoes dangling from the ceiling — and oh, did I forget to mention the breakdancers (Da Originals)? Throughout the show, the soundscape by RHYMES WITH ORANGEz adds dimension and danceable beats.

Peace Piece will surely grow into something more polished and coherent over time, but it’ll be hard to beat the sheer positive energy that informed its premiere. Almost makes you believe in the possibilities of world peace — or at least the value of a good arts education. (Marisa Alma Nick, it should be noted, is a USF grad.)