Opera Philadelphia and Davóne Tines present Langston Hughes’ The Black Clown

Finding hope in the darkness

The Black Clown is inspired by Langston Hughes' 1931 book, The Negro Mother and Other Dramatic Recitations. The “Black Clown” monologue surrounds a man struggling against crushing racial stereotypes. It is unsurprising that a musical artist as respected as Tines wanted to adapt this for the stage. Hughes' original stage directions stipulate using various musical genres within the piece including jazz, blues, and old school gospels like Motherless Child. The 2018 performance expanded the 555-line monologue into a 70-minute performance featuring jazz, opera, ragtime, and gospel. It incorporated gorgeous choreography, stirring vocals, and evocative yet stripped down visuals. It was stirringly complex yet emotionally enthralling.

Listening to Tines detail revisiting his project for Opera Philadelphia made me excited. Serving double duty as musical supervisor, he originally co-created the production with composer Michael Schachter, and director Zack Winokur. I wondered how it felt to re-stage such an emotionally raw piece about societal oppression during the country’s 250-year anniversary. He admitted to asking himself those same questions eight years after its last production, “why this piece? Why now?” But he talked about the importance of “making work that is socially conscious” and “evergreen.” He admits that creating art that addresses “sustained tragedy” might remain as prescient today as yesterday (as we can see, with the gutting of the Voting Rights Act, ICE’s increasing presence, and the heightened scrutiny of gender identity).

However, Tines also spoke to the hope in Hughes’ work. Although Hughes addresses “oppression as a closet and imposed clown suit,” he shows how we came out the other side. Tines feels that revisiting the text and those times is for a reason: “So that we can imagine ourselves into the future … [It] allows us to walk through 300 years of American oppression to see that we've survived past it and thus can and will and always transcend it.”

The story hits home

Tines is an incredibly brilliant and eloquent speaker on his passion project. Of course he received the Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, was an honoree of the National Education Association’s Human and Civil Rights Awards, and accepted the Chanel Next Prize.

Tines’ project means a lot to me personally. Langston Hughes crystallized my experiences as a Black American. Growing up, my mother frequently read his 1922 Mother to Son and let me pick his 1932 poetry book, The Dream Keeper, for my birthday. While these works are almost a century old, Tines' adaptation of Hughes remains timely and appropriate.

This new staging offers a redesigned set, new costumes, and new cast members with contributions from Chanel DaSilva (choreography), Jaret London (additional arrangements), Carlos Soto (scenic and costume design), John Torres (lighting design), Kai Harada (sound design), and Rachel Padula-Shufelt (wig and hair design). While it offers us insight into our past, it offers us hope for our future. Tines encourages all that feel impacted by our shared history to come and celebrate this performance. To remain resilient “we can't stand in silos to fight a common enemy.”

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