Norman Gee’s Literary Journey Explores Baldwin’s Quest for Identity

 by K. Marguerite Caronna

James Baldwin would have been 100 years old this week.

Photographs of Baldwin in quiet moments show his luminous eyes looking toward a horizon. He has made it to the mountain top, and with a prescient gaze has seen not the promised land, but a continuing vista of conflict and sorrow.  Baldwin wrote, “Freedom is not something anybody can be given. Freedom is something people take, and people can be as free as they want to be.”

His words echo with contemporary urgency. He speaks to us.

Director Norman Gee has curated, along with Neil Harkins and Richard Talavera, an assembled kaleidoscope of Baldwin stories. The Oakland Public Theater and PlayGround Innovator Incubator have combined to present “Inventory: James Baldwin Abroad,” first in SF, then in Oakland.

Taken from Baldwin’s letters, interviews, and biographies, the journey examines a decade Baldwin spent in Turkey, where he composed some of his most profound work. This collection, part of the Baldwin Centennial Project, has taken two years to come to the stage, and arrives right on time to commemorate the writer and punctuate our election season.

The simple set presents a small center platform with an elegant, brocaded chair—an exalted place. On each side, smaller platforms hold multiple cast members who embody Baldwin’s friends and colleagues.

The journey opens with Baldwin (Jake Fong) taking his seat on the chair, flanked by two train porters, foreshadowing Baldwin’s unending travels. When the journey ends, the tableau repeats.  Baldwin was tortured by his life in America, and sought respite from racism in Paris, and ultimately Istanbul.

At the start of each “chapter,” Baldwin’s words appear: “I am not your … Negro poet. Black Activist. Black queer. Holy Roller.” The projections build a framework for what he is not, transcending mere, convenient labeling.

Baldwin’s words reflect the many demons he observes and assesses—race, class, gender, cool, beauty. His profound and musical style creates a new, enthralling aesthetic. His sojourn in Istanbul offers him relief from distracting internal and external racket.

We witness his search for fresh identity abroad. Yet, he despairs: “American power follows you.”

The cast rotates through Baldwin’s connections, from his early friendship with playwright Lorraine Hansberry to historical figures such as Robert Kennedy and Medger Evers. We meet his detractors, his peers in the Civil Rights Movement, and his loves. The cast shines in their adaptation of various accents and astonishingly quick costume changes.

The changes create a churn of movement that keeps the story active through heavily worded passages, echoing the restlessness of Baldwin’s life abroad.

In this early PlayGround performance, not all the cast had quite gotten on their feet. Yet, like any journey, despite rough spots, moments of transcendence emerge. The play moves to Oakland on August 22.

The fast pace makes time go by quickly. And the star of the great James Baldwin shines brightly.

 

“Inventory: A Theatrical Literary Journey” by Norman Gee, with Neil Harkins and Richard Talavera, directed by Norman Gee, costumes by Nia Simone, lighting by Dr. Stephanie Johnson, sound & scenic design by Siera Yau, by Oakland Public Theater & PlayGround Innovator Incubator Program.

–at BAM Playhouse 1540 Broadway, Oakland. Info: baldwincentennialproject.com – from August 22 to September 1, 2024.

Cast: Jake Fong, Reg Clay, Preston Stone, Gyselle Garcia, Elena Ruggiero, Christian Jiminez, and Norman Gee.