"River See," the newest work from genderqueer playwright Sharon Bridgforth, will debut June 19-29 at Links Hall, 3111 N. Western Ave.
"River See" is set on a juking boat in the Mississippi Delta and tells the story of See, a young woman about to embark on the Great Migration.
See is played by actress Sonja Parks, recently named "one of the seven artists you must see" by American Theater Magazine.
"Essentially, 'River See' is a series of blues stories that are told by one character," Bridgforth told Windy City Times. "In these stories, See is telling us about her family history, her ancestors, her community and family."
Her stories conjure a world of blues women, queers, deviants and seers, Bridgforth said.
Although the work is not autobiographical, Bridgforth said she drew from her own history and ancestry to create See's vibrant story.
"It came from my own bones and blood and life experiences," she said. "I am a child of the Great Migration, and I feel as a writer I am most interested in using my journey to celebrate and learn about my own family history and ancestors as a way to bring people from lots of different backgrounds together."
River See also includes queer elements that come from Bridgforth's life experience as well.
"In the world of all of my pieces queer people are healers, people who swirl magic both in the juke joint and at the crossroads," she said.
"The queerness is in the bodies of those that perform. I am composing the piece live and I am definitely queer and identify as queer gendered. The queerness is all in and through the world of the piece."
A theatrical jazz production, Bridgforth said that, in addition to Parks, there are performers contributing to the improvisational backdrop.
"The way the piece becomes jazz, is in the performance," she said. "I developed a series of gestures which are requests, communicating signals to the singers and dancers that are cast members and to the audience. Together we create what I call a moving soundscape and that is the jazz of it."
Bridgforth said the audience will be part of the production, but doesn't want anyone to be intimidated out of attending out of fear of being pulled up on stage.
"I want audience members to know that we are inviting them to participate in the performance and what their participation will look like will vary," she explained. "Basically, people can choose how they participate. For some people that will be by giving us their attention, by witnessing what is going on, and some people may be more active."
Bridgforth has been working on "River See" for more than two years with Links Hall, whose staff and board are executive-producers and lead commissioner of the work.
She received a 2012 MAP Fund Award and a 2012 National Performance Network Creation Fund Award for the work.
"Through these last couple of years of development I've basically experimented to not only develop the text but to figure out how to make the piece live," Bridgforth said.
"River See" workshop experiments took place with artists and community members on 18 different occasions across the country during the last two years.
In addition the Chicago performances, Bridgforth has performances coming up later this year in Boston and Miami, and said she is hoping to book tours in other cities as well.
Bridgforth is a former Chicago resident, having lived in the city most recently in 2010-2012 while serving as a visiting multicultural faculty member at the Theater School at DePaul University. Bridgforth noted she has been coming to Chicago since the 1990s with different productions and she was also born in Chicago.
She currently resides in San Francisco and is a resident playwright at New Dramatists. She is also the Spring 2014 Playwright in Residence in the University of Iowa's Playwrights Program.
Tickets are $10 students and $20 general admission. The Thursday, June 19, preview takes place at 7 p.m. The June 20-29 Friday and Saturday performances take place at 7 p.m. The Sunday performance will be held at 3 p.m.
Call 773-281-0824 or visit www.LinksHall.org .
