IFA BAYEZA
Homer G. & The Rhapsodies in the Fall of Detroit
Lorraine Hansberry Theater, San Francisco, CA
"The
Judgment of Paris" is the first episode in the experimental serial theater
work Homer G. & The Rhapsodies in the Fall of Detroit, a hip-hop transformation
of the fall of Troy to modern-day Detroit. It seeks to explore the parallels
between one of the most enduring myths of social collapse and the crumbling
of big-car American civilization. The text blends African and African-American
storytelling techniques with traditional theater forms. In "The Judgment of
Paris," J.A. Shepherd, a retired bodyguard of Congressman Morgan Nevius, recounts
the disastrous wedding of Nevius' daughter to the son of an African dignitary
during the height of the oil embargo.
Playwright
Ifa Bayeza is a multimedia writer/producer. Most recently, she
was coproducer and senior writer in the acclaimed two-hour NBC
television news special, "Images
and Realities: African-American Men," which was extended to a series and nominated
for a Peabody and an Emmy. Other television credits include "You Gotta Pay the
Band: The Words, Music, and Life of Abbey Lincoln" (PBS), Fashion Focus for
This Week in Black Entertainment (BET), Black Filmmakers' Hall of Fame,
and Diff'rent Strokes. Her first play, Drink Water, an urban musical
fantasy for children, was produced at the New Federal Theatre. A member of the
Writers Guild of America, Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of America, PEN,
and Women in Film, Bayeza is a cum laude graduate of Harvard University. She
is currently artist-in-residence at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre in San Francisco.
Director: Clinton
Turner Davis
Set Designer: Clay James
Lighting Designer: Jeff Kelly
Costume Designer: Dara Sobel
Sound Designer: George Georges
Choreographer: Robert Moses
Featured Performers: James Brooks, Winifred H. Cabiness, Marcie L. Henderson,
Khari Jones, Peter Macon, Toran McGill, Lisa McTiller
Running Dates: February 7-March 10, 1996
