Actors and UCLA students star in “WHAT IT IZ: The Spoken Wordical” Dec 6-7

“WHAT IT IZ: The Spoken Wordical” is a multimedia parody of a classic combines music, poetry, theater and comedy to spread the word about the impact of mass incarceration on families through two performances at the Geffen Playhouse December 6 and 7 at 6 p.m. Both nights will also feature an art installation with works by incarcerated individuals on view in the theater lobby.

It is the first production to be part of the new collaboration between UCLA’s Center for Justice and The Geffen Playhouse: Theater as a Lens for Justice. Through a current UCLA course, Director and Professor Bryonn Bain connects students and artists in this outreach initiative to bring system-impaired and formerly or currently incarcerated community members into the Geffen Playhouse both as audience members and storytellers. The performances are dedicated to the memory of Tyreese “King Thai” Malloy (January 23, 1979 – June 28, 2018) Co-writer of WHAT IT IZ: The Spoken Wordical

Geffen Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney had hopes that this initiative will allow for those “who are actively trying to restart their lives [to] get a chance to engage the play, have a moment that says, you know that thing you’re going through? I know it. Let’s have a conversation about it. And then, for those who haven’t experienced that, to look at folks differently.”

In 1900, author L. Frank Baum imagined a world where money doesn’t exist and women are all-powerful. More than 100 years later, the hip-hop generation — often criticized for its unapologetic embrace of American materialism and misogyny — presents its own adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Introducing WHAT IT IZ: The Spoken Wordical. This 21st-century urban parody remixes Baum's influential classic and continues the tradition of the 1970s Broadway musical-turned-motion picture The Wiz. The film starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Richard Pryor, Lena Horne and Nipsey Russell, and scored by Quincy Jones, was a beloved childhood favorite and an inspiration for the formerly incarcerated writers of this irreverent play. WHAT IT IZ has received standing ovations at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, the Longwharf Theater, American Place Theater, NYU, Yale and Harvard throughout its development over the past two decades.

For more than a century, audiences around the world have enjoyed the timeless tale of the Tin Man’s search for a heart, the Scarecrow’s search for a brain, and the Cowardly Lion’s search for courage. This time, Dorothy’s refusal to visit her father in prison causes her to be transported from the days of disco into a hip-hop era facing widespread fear of terrorism and school shootings, unchecked police brutality, hi-tech street hustlers and hilarious music industry shenanigans — all against the backdrop of the U.S. prison system, the largest in human history. Come meet a notoriously sexist “Platinum” rap star longing for self-love; a small-time hustler named “Smooth,” whose lack of knowledge of self prevents him from being smooth enough to avoid repeat arrests for the same crime; and a paranoid Black Panther wannabe "Assata" in search of her own self-determination after surviving the 9/11 attacks.

The extraordinary playwrights include national slam poet Jason Dorsey, who started writing in prison with his father, and Tracy Caldwell, a wordsmith who discovered the healing power of verse after becoming a single mother of three. Blackout Arts Collective (BAC) was a grassroots arts/activism organization responsible for the development of the show as it toured prisons in 25 states across the nation.

A diverse national network of artists, activists and educators, BAC used arts and culture to catalyze action around critical issues in innovative ways and inspire social change. In 2016, a UCLA Creative Writing Workshop at the California Institute for Women (CIW) adapted the script with original co-writer and UCLA professor Bryonn Bain. With dramaturgy by NYU professors Michael Dinwiddie and Imani Douglas, this production pays homage to time-honored stories and provides a launchpad for dialogue and action on the prison crisis.

ADAPTED BY

Evelyn Velador, Rianne Theriault-Odom, Wendy Staggs-Sharp, Genevieve Silva, Thamicha Sawyer, Brittany Richardson, Jessica Rauschenberger, Paige Linville, Nicole Lacey, Kendra Fells, Jennifer Claypool, Karen Ensaldo, Elizabeth Campbell, Ruth Brill, Bryonn Bain

WRITTEN BY

Christina Slue, Tyreese Malloy, Jason Dorsey, Tracy Caldwell, Baub Bidon, Bryonn Bain