In House Freestyle |
IN HOUSE FREESTYLE
Serious about being funny
Although African-American comedians have long been an integral part of America’s pop culture — through stand-up, Saturday Night Live, and the big screen — some local artists felt the need for a local black comedy troupe that would tackle hard-hitting issues. As Ghislaine Jean puts it, “We wanted to get together and do some of the art and comedy that we don’t get a chance to see here in Providence.”
And thus In House Freestyle was born, in the living room of Jon Mahone’s house, in July 2003. Although the group disbanded after that initial summer, Jean went on to start a theater troupe, the Cornbread Circle, at the Met School.
It was there that 14-year-old Trina “TK” Korlie, now 17, discovered she loved performing, and Jean asked her to help re-start In House Freestyle, with Yakim Parker jumping on board in January 2004. Over the next 18 months, two more performers came and went, until the troupe settled into its current quartet of Mahone, Jean, Korlie, and Parker.
Taking on tough topics — including racism, religion, pollution, police brutality, the prison-industrial complex, and being “slaves in the corporate kitchen” (with respect to the food we eat) — distinguishes IHF from other local performance groups. “When do you ever hear an authentic voice raising these issues?” asks Mahone. “You’re not getting it from the [everyday mass] media. We want to be able to say and do what we want, no matter what. Some communities may be offended, but our community knows what we’re talking about — they understand it.”
Parker adds that IHF’s performances are based on the personal experience of its members: “It’s happening at this moment and it may happen again. We get people to think before they prejudge what somebody’s going through or what somebody’s actually dealing with in life. Hatred has no color line; anybody can catch it.”
Jean calls the material “specific to the black core experience. It’s very much directed to uplifting that particular group of people. And having it be presented by those people makes it more communal.”
(You can catch In House Freestyle on Friday, April 20 at the Beneficent Congregational Church, with a buffet dinner from many local ethnic restaurants preceding a one-hour show. The IHF season closes June 22 at the Met School’s Black Box Theatre, as part of a three-day Juneteenth celebration.)
Indeed, despite some heavy themes, IHF shows — which have also taken place at Perishable Theatre and New Urban Arts — attract many families with young children. The children respond to the sillier parts of the show, Jean explains, and to the broad physical humor and dance woven through it. Kids and adults alike have their favorite characters. Mahone’s “Blueberry Johnson,” a ’70s soul lounge singer who delivers tunes such as “Cocoa Ain’t the Only Thing that’s Hot at Christmas,” is one. The trio of “Granddaddies,” played by Mahone (Cliff), Parker (Willie), and TK (Jimmy Jazz), are always popular.
“Each granddaddy has his own personality, but each also has a lot of wisdom,” Mahone notes. “You have to really listen to what they’re saying.”
IHF’s members came to performance through different paths. Parker, 25, was “born into dancing; taught into talking and acting; doing music since the early ’90s.”
After high school in Pawtucket, Jean, 24, went to college to major in music and dropped out to do spoken word and theater. She met Mahone in 2001 (they were married in February), and the couple formed a rap/hip-hop group, Riders Against the Storm, in early 2003.
Pittsburgh native Mahone, 29, was in several theater productions at Brown and graduated in 1999. He worked as a youth organizer at Direct Action for Rights & Equality for two years, earned a master’s in education, and continues to teach and consult at local high schools.
In 2005, IHF received a Rhode Island Foundation grant to produce a video of its work that will be presented later this year through the group’s own Just a Step Productions. IHF members want to eventually use the film as an educational tool in local schools.
In trying to distill the essence of an IHF performance, Mahone stresses that “it gives people the opportunity to feel good about something and feel encouraged, because it’s a reflection of themselves.” Jean adds, “We speak out for people who aren’t being heard — we want to be a voice for people — our people.” Parker puts it simply: “We’re making real life real funny.”
_Johnette Rodriguez
