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 Recently, the Griot festival showcased a series
of plays pertaining to “women and trans people of
color”. The festival opened with “Three
Short Plays” by playwright Ira Jeffries. This production
explores the personalities of three different women and
the many hardships they have encountered. One character
in this short play is Martha Redding played by part- time
actress (outside of acting she is an inventory manager)
Sharon Bonaparte- Diop.
Sharon Bonaparte- Diop has been acting for almost twenty
years. The art of acting has caught her interest since she
attended City College, where she majored in Theater. Some
courses she was required to take are Theater History, Famous
Playwrights, and Speech.
Most actors and actresses have to go through multiple auditions
to receive a part. Sharon, however, skipped the nerve- racking
auditions and callbacks. “I didn’t go through
a regular process to get the part of Martha”. From
her college days Martha was already acquainted with Ira
Jeffries. The original actress for the part was a professional
and demanded to be paid. Since Sharon didn’t work
full time she was able to play the part for free. Jeffries
sent her a copy of all three scripts. “I was really
interested in the part of Martha so I called back immediately
and said I would do it”.
The character of Martha Redding lived through some very
traumatic experiences and acts very dysfunctional. She is
eccentric, but still likes to remain to herself. This character
is forced to deal with the death of her beloved husband
and losing her baby, Cenie. As an effect of these experiences
Martha makes conversation with ants and her dead husband.
Sharon seems nothing like her character; she is calm and
quiet. Although they don’t have similar personalities,
Sharon believes they are alike to some extent...“I
had an immediate connection to Martha Redding. Not because
I’m dysfunctional, but I’ve been married before
and know what that’s like. I didn’t lose my
son but, I had to send him away for a while and that was
hard. It’s all a part of life’s challenges”.
So what does Sharon do when her character’s personality,
views, and experiences have no relation to her life? “That
comes with knowing the character inside and out, and reading
the script over and over to get a feel for the character”.
She told me of a role in a play where she played a prostitute.
At first she was uncomfortable and didn’t know how
she was going to pull it off. People often asked her how
she would manage to play the part, because they see her
as an introverted person. “But when you’re acting
you can’t see anyone in the audience so you forget
about everything else…I want to get across what the
character is feeling”.
Other productions Shan was featured in include Yerna by
Frederico Lorca, and a play by Charles Gordon.
Scottie Davis (Delilah Brown and The bag Lady)
Scottie Davis has been in love with acting for her entire
life. From the age of eight, Ms. Davis was enthralled with
movie stars such as Bill Bojangles and his student, Shirley
Temple.
Scottie Davis is a professional actress and mime. She founded
the Salt and Pepper Mime Company, which is located in Fort
Greene, Brooklyn. While attending Adelphi University, she
received a B.A. in Theater and Magna Cum Laude. Davis is
also associated with the Educational Theater Association
and the Alliance of Resident Theater Producers.
In Ira Jeffries production, Three Short Plays, Davis plays
two characters. She plays Delilah Brown, a woman who during
World War II enlisted in the Woman’s Army corps. Ms.
Brown was forced to live through numerous acts of racism
and sexual discrimination.
During her monologue, she informs the audience that she
always had a fatal attraction to woman and constantly received
criticism for her unorthodox preference.
The second character played by Davis was The Bag Lady. In
this monologue the audience is introduced to an elderly
woman enclosed in a cell. While speaking to an
invisible social worker, the Bag Lady describes her search
for a friend. This search caused The Bag Lady to meet up
with a neurotic woman who she believes is her friend. During
the interview with the social worker, the Bag Lady describes
a relationship with her “closet friend,” Ole
Becky. When the neurotic woman turns on the Bag Lady, Ole
Becky comes to her rescue. The Bag Lady and Ole Becky have
no choice but to commit a criminal act. It is through this
physical interaction with the two women that the audience
finds out Ole Becky’s real identity.
Scottie Davis says she is related to neither of the characters.
“I’m not gay, I’m not a WWII veteran,
and I’ve never killed anyone”. However she does
share a strong personality like Delilah Brown. Davis also
shared that she did not favor one role over another. “The
characters are all related in the sense that their black
woman trying to confront the obstacles within their lives…
they all have a lack of support from men”.
To get in tune with a character Davis always does breathing,
vocal, and stretching exercises. She believes it is important
to become the character physically at first and then develop
the character’s voice. Outside of acting, Davis does
mime and strongly believes the two art forms are very much
alike. “Mimes communicate with gestures while actors
communicate physically and verbally… The greatest
of characters are mimes”. In addition once Davis gets
into character she prefers to be addressed by her character’s
name.
Davis believes the performance of Ira Jeffries’Three
Short Plays was a success. “Overall it went very well.”
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