Cristen Young (Viveca) and Ensemble (Alicia Zheng, Edima Essien, Bianca Lipford, Carl L. Williams, Kayla Earl, Sally Imbriano, Sylvern Groomes Jr., and Oscar Salvador Jr.) Photo by William T Gallagher Photography.
With 27 songs crammed in a 90-minute show, “The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin” at Creative Cauldron sweeps its audience through three decades about as quickly as humanly possible. The musical, which follows Viveca Stanton (a semi-autobiographical representation of the playwright Kirsten Childs) as she comes of age from the 1960s to the 80s, won an Obie Award for its original Off-Broadway production in 2000.
…a thought-provoking celebration of Black womanhood…a gutsy production…
Viveca, or “Bubbly,” as she is more frequently called, is the only character in the play who does not also serve as part of the ensemble. The rest of the players, much like a Greek chorus, alternate through different roles as Bubbly’s parents, friends, significant others, or other members of her life. As a memory play of sorts, Childs’ book, which documents Bubbly’s upbringing as well as various traumatic racist experiences that affected her worldview, is not quite linear. “The Bubbly Black Girl” acts more as a collection of scenes with Bubbly at the center. There are certainly other named characters who appear more than once, but they are rare and often simply act as plot devices and are not fleshed out. From elementary school to adulthood, the audience witnesses Bubbly miss out on a leading dance role due to colorism, experience racially-charged police brutality, and be impacted by various other incidents.
The show is at its most compelling when it is considering concepts of Black womanhood. Particularly when representing Bubbly’s childhood, “The Bubbly Black Girl” forces discomfort into the audience. The carefully-built and energetic ensemble of actors lean into this discomfort—they look audience members in the eyes, get in their faces, and ensure that every audience member feels as though they, too, are performing in a way. Bubbly is living discomfort every day of her life through micro-aggressions and more blatant racism, and the ensemble brings the audience along with her. However, this concept-driven model means that the play’s scenes are not fully sealed together. “The Bubbly Black Girl” falls victim to many common memory play frustrations: several interesting plot lines are completely dropped (why did Bubbly go back to dance after emphatically quitting at a young age?) and other characters only exist to further Bubbly’s story. Although the original music is impressive, with a number of complicated harmonies and layered lyrics, some songs feel out of place in the story, even if they fit in conceptually. “Sticks and Stones,” sung by the ensemble, explores the impact of derogatory terms. In the song, each ensemble member utters several slurs regardless of their identities. I found it interesting that homophobic slurs were used in this song despite the play’s lack of interaction with sexuality outside of a typical gay best friend.
The Creative Cauldron production, directed by Angelisa Gillyard, certainly uses all of the space it can. In an intimate black box theater, Gillyard stretches her actors to every corner of the stage (and even the lobby), using a simplistic set to realistically convey a bedroom, an outdoor event space, an audition room, and numerous other settings. Scenic and costume designer Margie Jervis uses projections to assist in this imaginative work, displaying common shapes and colors of each decade while complementing them with typical, period-accurate clothing. Choreography by Maurice Johnson also helps place the audience in the show’s various decades, using echoes of (and direct references to) common period dances.
Despite the plethora of high-energy choreography, the ensemble showed no signs of slowing down. Each member brought a distinct personality to their various roles, at times even interacting with the audience at the beginning of a scene. Carl L. Williams as Father and Kayla Earl in a number of roles navigated the score with ease, savoring their solo moments and showing great vocal prowess. As Bubbly, Cristen Young (the only mic’d cast member) was often lost in the music, rarely moving out of her head voice and keeping a steady, soft volume even in her several solo power ballads. When harmonizing with the group, it became difficult to hear her part, diminishing key emotional beats. However, Young was extremely convincing as an elementary and middle schooler (an extremely difficult feat) and shone in moments where Bubbly exhibited her love for dance.
“The Bubbly Black Girl” is a thought-provoking celebration of Black womanhood and being true to oneself, but it also serves as a crucial reminder of the large swaths of changes in how the United States views Black female bodies over time, as well as how much further there is to go. Gillyard leads a gutsy production that unfortunately does not quite hit the emotional highs and lows.
Running Time: Approximately one hour and 30 minutes with no intermission.
Advisory: Brief use of a prop weapon, adult language, depictions of violence, racism, sexual references, and mature themes.
“The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin” runs through June 9, 2024 at Creative Cauldron, 410 South Maple Avenue, Falls Church, VA 22046. For more information and to purchase tickets, go online.
