It was surprising that such intra-racial bigotry existed , and many of those jolts are incorporated in Yellowman, now at the Karamu Performing Arts Theatre. Written with poetic precision and an almost primal sensuality by Dael Orlandersmith, this script offers two actors the chance for side-by-side tour-de-force performances. And this Karamu duo, under the tight direction of Fred Sternfeld, accomplishes exactly that.

As we watch Alma and Eugene grow up in a small South Carolina black community, we see how their respective colors and physiques (he’s “high yellow,” she’s darker and a bit hefty) influence their self-perceptions as well as their relationships with family and friends. Alma’s alcoholic mother berates her daughter at every turn, and Eugene develops a festering hatred for his duskier skinned father who seems to despise Eugene for the “pretty” skin tone he inherited from his mother.

Written in alternating monologues with intermittent passages of dialogue, the playwright fashions indelible descriptions of black women working the fields, sweating in the dresses they wear to preserve a shred of femininity. (But the dresses only succeed in making them look larger.) And later, when Alma moves to New York City, she describes how she walks differently in a place filled with new and seductive rhythms spilling out of nightclubs.

Somewhere in the middle of the play, one begins to chafe at the constant references to color—don’t these people have any other conflicts or issues in their life? But then it becomes clear that Orlandersmith is using the repetition as a poet or a jazz musician does, to play variations on a thematic issue that has a powerful and often insurmountable impact on the characters' psyche and outlook. And this is universal, since who among us hasn’t been rendered vulnerable in some way by how we look, and how we are perceived. Using that foundation, the play builds to a shattering conclusion that, while a tad overwrought, has its own undeniable strength.

As Eugene, Kyle Primous is amusingly believable as a goofy grade schooler and compelling as a young man harboring a roiling discontent. Kristi Little brings to Alma a shattering sense of personal emptiness, having been hollowed out by her mother’s constant carping. And together, they leverage each other’s neediness to create a sexual chemistry and a fierce bonding that threatens to torch Richard H. Morris, Jr.’s handsome wooden platform set.

Director Sternfeld, the maestro of the massive musical uber-production, here is working with about 76 fewer actors than usual. But he keeps every beat change razor sharp and brings out poignant dimensions of these two beautifully written characters.

This is a magnificent production, with nary a stick of furniture or a single set change to distract from performances that will stick in your mind for a long time to come.

AWARD - Rave and Pan - 2009 "Best of Cleveland Theatre" Awards
Christine Howey
Listed as part of the "10 BEST INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES" section

Kristi Little and Kyle Primous, Yellowman, Karamu House
These two actors made sparks fly as two people caught up in brutal intra-racial stereotyping and abuse. Directed by Fred Sternfeld, their seamless performances (they count as one awardee, if you’re keeping track) were shattering.

HONOR - Cleveland Scene - Not Quite the Halftime Report
Our critics look at the 2009-2010 theatre season so far

Christine Howey had this to say about "individual performances"
Kristi Little and Kyle Primous set fire to the Karamu stage in Yellowman, a play by Dael Orlandersmith that explored the intra-racial bigotry that mostly revolves around the skin tones of African Americans. Under the sensitive direction of Fred Sternfeld, Primous (playing a light-skinned man) and Little (playing a darker, slightly hefty woman) dealt with their own personal and family demons while trying to forge a relationship. Their passion and humanity were honest, visceral and unforgettable.

Every once in a while a theatre attendee gets the opportunity to experience an evening of wonder…..fine acting and well conceived directing of a thought-provoking script. Such an experience awaits you at Karamu, where Dael Orlandersmith’s ‘YELLOWMAN’ is being performed.

‘YELLOWMAN,’ a 2002 Pulitzer Prize finalist for drama, is a shocking, yet often humorous revelation of a long held but often painful tradition among blacks of the separation between members of their race based on the darkness or lightness of their skin. The playground ditty, "If you're white, you're right. If you're brown, stick around. If you're black, stay back," creates the core of the script.

As the playwright explained, “I wanted to look at the ramification of the hurtful insults used by lighter-skinned blacks against their darker-hued brethren: tar baby and ink spot and identifiers such as high yeller and redbone given to the lighter-skinned by the darker hued.”

The epithets, often spoken in South Carolina Gullah/Geechie, are the plot device that drives forward the views of prejudice, self-loathing and ghosts of childhood that the painful words leave behind.

On the surface, "YELLOWMAN" is the story of Alma, a dark-skinned African American, and her childhood friend, Eugene, a light-skinned black child. They transition from children to adults and fall in love. They face conflicts over their skin color and the resulting residue of family messages regarding “colorism.” But, the overall effects are much more than the storyline itself.

The emotionally wrenching ending reveals the horrific results of the intra-racial conflict and how it can result in the destruction of individual personalities and life, itself.

Karamu’s production, under the adept direction of Fred Sternfeld, is mesmerizing. Though the script is a little long, the emotionally charged and often humorous intermissionless production does not allow the viewer’s attention to waver. The theatre mood is energized by the interactional African American pattern of “call and response” in which the members of the audience give spontaneous oral reactions to the speeches of the actors. The experience tends only to be available at African American church services and in settings, such as a theatre, peopled by a Black audience.

Kyle Primous (Eugene) and Kristi Little (Alma), give two of the finest local performances of the season. They are both impeccable in their acting and character development. Playing numerous roles, each hits the sound and movement of every character, from childhood images to adults of various ages. If there were local Tony awards to be handed out, the duo should be preparing their acceptance speeches!

Richard Morris, Jr.’s scenic design, consisting of wooden levels, creates the necessary stark background needed for the multiple settings required of the script. Though the lighting sometimes leaves the performers in the dark, the overall effect sets the right moods.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: Karamu‘s ‘YELLOWMAN’ is a must see production! The acting is superb, the directing spot on, the script reveals a part of the African American lifestyle of which many are unaware. Call now for tickets!!!!!!

AWARD -
Winner of 7 'Times Newspaper Tribute Awards for Outstanding Theatre 2009'
Roy Berko, Times Theatre Critic

Best of the Best - Drama
Play - Karamu
Director - Fred Sternfeld
Best of the Best, Performance; Performer - Kyle Primous
Best of the Best, Performance; Performer - Kristi Little

In a recent interview with American Theatre magazine, contemporary playwright Dael Orlandersmith was asked to comment on her propensity for portraying lives torn apart by poverty, racism and substance abuse. "There is humanity within a bleak story,” she suggested. “We find that humanity by exposing the darkness.”

Exposing the darkness is, quite literally, at the very heart of her critically acclaimed play Yellowman, currently on stage at Karamu Theatre. The characters that fill this drama are black, yet it quickly becomes clear that they are either too black or not black enough.

This play reveals the racial prejudice that exists within the African-American Gullah culture in the Sea Islands of South Carolina. Self-loathing is ingrained in generations of darker-skinned Blacks, who cannot escape the genetic ties to their slave stock. They despise themselves, but have a particular hatred for lighter-skinned Blacks—the “high yellows”—who they believe are afforded privilege because of their lightness and see themselves as superior as a result.

Although Yellowman is a drama, this play is written as if it was a musical. It consists of richly descriptive monologues that are variations on a common theme: the dark side of darkness. The monologues alternate between characters, woven together by connective dialogue and written as if they were jazz riffs.

Each has its own underlying rhythm—a musicality, a def poetry—that entices its performers to almost sing their lines. Words and phrases, often repeated for emphasis, are delivered as if they are half-notes and quarter-notes, and come adorned with melodic Geechee accents that add their own unique cadence.

Director Fred Sternfeld—no stranger to musical theatre—is sensitive to these rhythms and the creative potential of their synchrony. He allows them to play out and masterfully orchestrates the pieces and parts of this production. His actors, Kyle Primous and Kristi Little, are both accomplished choreographers. As the light-skinned Eugene and the dark-skinned Alma, they move gracefully and unabashedly on stage, as if engaged in dance.

Mr. Primous and Ms. Little play multiple parts as they narrate Eugene and Alma’s progression from childhood to adulthood, from being friends to becoming lovers. They are brilliant. Every emotion rings true. Every character is complex and distinctive. Their depictions of alcoholic and psychologically abusive parents are particularly riveting, and their Eugene and Alma are thoroughly endearing and engaging creations.

This play is about the African-American Gullah experience. Yet, who has not at some point in their lives attempted to physically distinguish themselves from their heritage? Who has not sought an identity that does not share a mother’s voice, reflect a father’s posture or repeat a family’s embarrassing immigrant inclinations? Who has not learned the hard way that escaping the darkness—whatever that darkness might be—is just not possible?

“Yellowman” by Dael Orlandersmith deals with racism within the black community. It’s an issue that resonates with the Jewish community as well. “Every culture has its racism,” says the African-American playwright.

“Yellowman” is being presented at Karamu House (opening tonight, Oct. 30) through Nov. 22. The critically acclaimed, award-winning drama was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2002.

The play centers on Alma, a dark-skinned black, and Eugene, a light-skinned black. Friends since childhood, they grow up together, fall in love, and decide to marry. But parental and societal pressures intervene, and the play ends tragically.

For director Fred Sternfeld, the heart of the play is about overcoming differences between people, whatever that difference may be. “Our differences always get in the way of our relationships with each other,” says Sternfeld, who likens the modern-day tragedy to “Romeo and Juliet.”
The title refers to the character of Eugene, Sternfeld explains. Within the black community, a light-skinned person is known as “hi yella,” a term that came about during slavery when white masters coupled with their black slaves. The light-skinned are viewed by darker skinned blacks as not “pure black.”

Sternfeld wanted to direct “Yellowman” because he feels it is a very important and socially relevant play. His own family and Jewish background also played a part. Sternfeld’s grandfather Meyer Nearing was a Socialist who at one time shared a cell with U.S. labor leader Eugene V. Debs. While growing up, Sternfeld’s activist parents were deeply involved in the civil rights movement. In 1970, when he was 14, Fred accompanied his parents on a Moratorium March in Washington, D.C., in protest of the Vietnam War.

As a result, Sternfeld has always been drawn to directing plays that dealt with social justice and overcoming differences, like “Ragtime,” “South Pacific” and “La Cage aux Folles.”

The nub of “Yellowman,” internal racism or black against black, finds its counterpart, Jew vs. Jew, in the Jewish community. The German Jews viewed themselves on a higher socio-economic level than their Eastern European counterparts, a subject, notes Sternfeld, that was explored in Jewish playwright Alfred Uhry’s autobiographical play “The Last Night at Ballyhoo.”

Sternfeld cites the controversy over building an Orthodox Jewish campus in Beachwood as a similar Jew vs. Jew issue. In Israel, there have been incidents of discrimination by lighter-skinned, Mediterranean Jews against their darker-skinned African Jewish counterparts.

As the only Jew in his South Euclid elementary school class, Sternfeld faced religious taunts from his classmates. Being short and curly-haired in appearance set him apart from the others.

Sternfeld’s first job out of college as a tech manager at a West Side high school (where he wore a Jewish star) also exposed him to ridicule from some non-Jewish students who drew swastikas on the wall.

“All racism stems from fear,” notes Sternfeld. Getting over that fear and ignorance and reaching a greater understanding is one of the goals of the production.

In a printed interview with the playwright in American Theatre magazine, Orlandersmith said, “If people see and observe black racism, it will help them come to terms with their own racism.”

Sternfeld feels that the play is important for audiences of all colors to see and experience. The play may be more allegorical for white and Jewish audiences, “but everyone can relate to how we overcome differences and how we treat people different from ourselves.”

Kyle Primous and Kristi Little play Eugene and Alma and all the other characters. Like their principal characters, Primous is lighter-skinned, and Little is darker-skinned. Both can recall real-life experiences that dovetail with the play.

Little, who describes herself as a brown, darker-skinned, “curvy girl,” says the play resurrects memories of growing up and personal feelings about not being as attractive as lighter skinned blacks. In her own family circle, which included light-skinned family members, lighter skin was perceived as prettier than dark skin.

In the play, Alma’s alcoholic mother, who is dark-skinned like her daughter, keeps putting her down for being “fat, black and ugly” and gives her potions to try and lighten her skin. Alma prays to God to be lighter. Wanting to be lighter as a child hit home for Little.

As a youngster, being fair-skinned subjected Primous to name calling by other dark-skinned children such as “hi yella,” “pretty boy,” and “light, bright, damn you’re white.”

In the play, Eugene’s brutal father, who is dark-skinned, resents his son for being light.

For Primous, the tragedy of the play is that the two main characters never say anything about race. Eugene loves the dark, big Alma and only sees her from the inside out. It’s the parents and society who push him over the edge. If you perpetuate the animosity and

hatred, terrible things can happen, says the Cleveland actor and dancer.

Internal racism remains an issue in the black community, yet it is rarely acknowledged or talked about, says Terrence Spivey, artistic director at Karamu House. It’s always been a black-and-white issue, not black-on-black, he notes.

It works both ways, Spivey explains. The darker-skinned think the lighter-skinned are more attractive, have it easier, and get the jobs faster, while the lighter-skinned perceive the darker-skinned blacks as more dangerous and intimidating.

Spivey hopes the play will raise awareness in the black community and force black audiences to examine their own attitudes. Spivey’s grandmother always told him that “the best medicine doesn’t taste good, but it’s good for you.”

“This is castor oil,” says Spivey.