Gee’s Bend

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

Watching Macon Pettway, (Eric Ware) sit in a rocking chair under a dim spotlight, ignoring his wife’s cries to let her in the house leaves the skin clutched and crawling. From inspirational fire sparked by Martin Luther King, Jr., Sadie, (Nikki E. Walker) crossed the river at Gee’s Bend, Alabama to register to vote, courageously taking a stand for Civil Rights, returning beaten and bloodied.

Stephanie Berry as Alice Pettway in the Denver Center Theatre Company production of Gee’s Bend. The heartfelt play by Elizabeth Gregory Wilder tells the story of women whoÕs GeeÕs Bend quilts were sown together by the symbolic thread of the Civil Rights Movement. Photo by Terry Shapiro

Early in their marriage, Sadie made Macon promise a lock would never be put on their front door. Angered over his wife’s deliberate disobedience, he broke his promise. Anger trembles through his Being uncontrollably. No matter how desperately she pleads, he sits in the rocking chair unmoved. For two nights she sleeps on the porch on her quilts while her children watch from an upstairs window.

Looking at it from his perspective, he has reason to be angry. In 1939, he was one of the first Blacks in the South to buy and own his own land, build and own his own house. Ownership stands as a pinnacle. Violence erupting from the Civil Rights movement, in his mind, threatens what he cherishes, what his father and grandfather could never have.

Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder’s award winning play, Gee’s Bend zeroes in on 1939, 1965, and 2000. Under the sensitive direction of Kent Gash and a powerful cast, the play unfolds for The Denver Center Theatre Company at the Space Theatre. Lisa M. Orzolek created an illusion of Gee’s Bend with a simplistic set. The suggestion of a river flows across the stage. Lighting designed by Liz Lee, and the power emulating from the characters fill in the gaps for the beautifully written script.

The quilts, developed as a matter of necessity for the poor isolated community, the quilts captured worldwide attention for their artistic beauty. When the quilts grabbed Wilder’s attention, she sensed the seed for a play. Spending time with the women in Gee’s Bend the concept grew beyond the quilts to the women themselves.

Centering on one family’s growth and development, rather than an entire community, offered insight into the community several different characters could not possibly do. In 1939 15 year old Sadie feels the Spirit descend and gets baptized in the river. In spite of the demands of a hard existence for a poverty stricken area, her mother, Alice, (Stephanie Berry) patiently teaches her two girls the correct way of quilting. Impatient, full of spit and fire, outspoken, curious, and headstrong, Sadie gives her Mother a run for her money. The younger daughter, Nella, (Daphine Gaines), wants nothing to do with quilting. In spite of the circumstances, she projects a sense of flippancy. Boys command her attention. Teen age squabbling exercises Alice’s patience while attempting to instill wisdom into the heads of her two headstrong very different daughters.

On the banks of the river, Macon woos Sadie. Shy, uncertain, remembering her Mother’s words of caution, he lets her know in no uncertain terms he plans on marrying her. Alice knows there’s going to be a wedding. She “sees the baby inside” before Sadie can admit to it.

It would appear from the outset, covering the period from 1939 to 2000 would be too much to ask of a one-act play. Wilder proves otherwise. The aging process of the three women in split second timing off stage is an incredible feat of stage magic.

Having land, a home to always come home to, and a front door without a lock gets buried deep within Sadie’s psyche. And yet she is the one who feels the fire of Civil Rights, the importance of being able to register to vote. Standing on a bare stage, convincing her sister to go with her to hear King preach, the overwhelming sights and sounds they experience reflect through the eyes of Sadie and Nella. Walker and Gaines so embody the characters you see what they see, sense what they sense, and feel what they feel.

In fear and trembling, Ware lets you into Macon’s fears of losing what is so precious to him. In confusion he watches his wife change from a shy dutiful wife to a woman of strong, determined character. Sadie never gives up on him, and more importantly, never gives up on herself, no matter how high the price.

The quilts begin to attract attention. People actually want to buy them, and the women are stunned.

Gaines’ transformation to a decrepit sick old lady with a wandering mind and a broken body is not only mind blowing but totally believable. Ironically, Nella has some of the funniest lines in the play treated with impeccable timing by Gaines. Sadie’s compassion for her sister reaches across the boards, wrapping itself around the audience. People call their quilts works of art. In 2000 the quilts hung in a museum in New York City. Berry’s transformation from Alice to Asia, Sadie’s daughter, is so beautifully accomplished it is difficult to believe the same actor performs both roles.

Their awe and amazement trekking to New York to see their quilts hanging in the museum takes the breath away. The stage is bare. Four white screens descend from the ceiling. Some wonder why pictures of the actual quilts aren’t projected. It would distract from the glory and wonder reflected in the characters’ eyes enlightened by the actors’ believability. The attention belongs to them: who they are, where they came from, what they went through, how they survived.

Asia depicts another element. A bright, engaging, ambitious young woman grabbing for new unheard of possibilities in the city. “Owning land and a home to always come home to” creates conflict between her and Sadie. The Civil Rights Movement of the ’60s Sadie fought so hard for, offers Asia a life outside Gee’s Bend. Sadie clings to the values instilled in her by Alice. The generational differences spark high-strung electrical currents between the two, while Nella’s humorous observations keeps the audience chuckling.

This is not a play to sit back and dare the playwright to entertain. It demands attention, but the attention it demands pays off with incredible insight, comprehension, and understanding of a small black southern town in Alabama far from the sophistication, opportunities, and freedom Colorado offers. In spite of previous books, and movies and documentaries, and speeches heard about the South, it is difficult to comprehend what Gee’s Bend life was and is really like. Wilder’s keen insight, laid it before me in 93 minutes on an elegantly bare stage with four stunning, incredible actors leaving me breathless.

Wilder had been thinking about the play when the Denver Center Theatre Company’s Artistic Director, Kent Thompson commissioned her to write Gee’s Bend when he was artistic director at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. On March 20 of this year, at the Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Wilder was presented with the 2007 M. Elizabeth Osborn New Play Award. Rightfully so. Black History instructors, sociology professors, American History teachers hopefully will take note and work this production into their current curriculum. No one should miss this production. Not one.

The quilts, by the way, are on display at the Denver Art Museum until July 6.