Phreshly Squeezed

Let’s be frank – I’m not very big on the whole hip hop scene. I remember during one of my stints as an ice cream scooper (don’t ask, I really needed the money) for the Rogers Cup, I was with a colleague and to pass the time, he played a lot of hip hop and rap music off of his phone. I didn’t know any of the songs that he was blasting. He kind of figured and spent the next couple days trying to teach me the lyrics and the flow to some raps – I think I only got the chorus of one song down.

Anyway, fast-forward two years to where I figured that when I received an invitation to attend the Hip Hop Theater Festival’s “Deez Nuts” that I might as well give hip-hop another shot with my friend Julie. I couldn’t say that I wasn’t the least bit intrigued when I heard that the performance that I was invited to was a workshop production (where the act is put on as a work-in-progress), which was about The Beatnuts. Think about it: normally when you go to a theater, big or small, the piece is final and is the exact same as the night before, but here was something different. I would be watching trial and error; hopefully, it wouldn’t be so much error.

The crowd was intimate with not more than 120 people seated, and the rest of the small studio acted as the stage in the discrete Ohio Theater. Putting a spin to the method of telling of a story, I was presented with the process of how production staff would want to tell the story of the duo (i.e. script read-through), as well as their actual story. Was it well done? Yes. Was that the most attractive aspect of the show? No.

What I loved most wasn’t the story itself, but rather, the level of interaction amongst everyone. Engaging the audience with an attractive story telling method is one thing, but what this show did was engage everyone on stage, on the sidelines, and in the seats. For instance, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the sideline persons (i.e. the DJ in this case) have so much interaction – talking to the cast and to the audience.

Also, how many times do you get to see a work-in-progress? It’s fun, for once, to see something in its “rawest form” (as Clyde Valentin said when I interviewed him before the performance). Even if if I don’t see a finished product, at least I saw something that was just good at its core and that was striving to be better. When you think about it, that’s a process to which a lot of us can relate. Perhaps, that’s why the concept of a “workshop production” is so attractive.

Following the performance, guests were treated to an open-bar of wine and mixing and mingling. Press folks (I did mine before the performance) wandered to the back to do interviews, and others just left their mark on the black graffiti wall with silver markers. It was a great way to complete the fun evening.

G-Bo The Pro spinning the tracks

Signing the wall

Me with one of the Beatnuts, Psycho Les

The production team/cast (Clyde Valentin, Peter Oasis, JuJu, Sacha Jenkins, Psycho Les)

Group photo and wall signing photo courtesy of Michael Premo

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