tommy nakamura was the
coolest drink of water to/ever
get on the number 84 northbound.
i never missed my 6:30 a.m. bus
cause at 7:15
when we pulled up to olympic avenue
tommy nakamura would step aboard
black shades black silk shirt black slacks
shinny black ankle boots no jewelry no smiling
tommy would stroll down the aisle
like a cool breeze.
by the time the bus pulled off
i’d smile into a sweet sleep
having just seen beauty…
— Excerpt from con flama; (c) 2000 Sharon Bridgforth
I wrote con flama as a 1999-2000
National Endowment For The Arts/Theatre Communications Group
Artist In Residence at Frontera @ Hyde Park Theatre, Austin, TX,
Vicky Boone, Artistic Director.
con flama is blues in it’s sensibility and base history. It is jazz in it’s composition, communal telling and non-linear exploration of time. Set in Los Angeles in the 1940s –1970s, con flama gives glimpse to a Black gurl’s coming of age, through Ancestral passages and her family history. The gurl’s story unfolds as she makes her way through the cultural landscape of Los Angeles on the bus.
If you’d like to secure the right to perform con flama CONTACT ME.
The Set
Flexible.Setting
The bus, Los Angeles. 1940’s-1970’s.Running Time
90 Minutes.The Cast
3W 2M.
Majority of cast members should be singers.
Pictured: Zell Miller, 111 & Sonja Parks. Photo by Bret Brookshire.
Frontera@Hyde Park produced con flama
9/6/00 – 9/30/00 with support from: The National Endowment For The Arts, The Rockefeller Foundation Multi-Arts Production Fund and individual contributions
Director: Laurie Carlos
Composers: Lourdes Perez & Annette D’Armata
Set Design: Leilah Stewart
Dramaturg: Omi Osun Joni L. Jones
Featuring: Florinda Bryant, Zell Miller 111, Sonja Parks, and Ana Perea
Pictured: Zell Miller, 111, Ana Perea, Florinda Bryant and Sonja Parks. Photo by Bret Brookshire.
from age nine to sixteen i used public transportation to get from my home in Black, working class south central los angeles to school (and anywhere else i needed to go). since my high school was located near echo park, i was Blessed with the experience of cross-cultural travel every day/the experience of witnessing changing languages, smells, music, style and protocol as part of the everyday journey. during the course of a simple bus ride communities mixed, changed and intersected many times. this is the trip that i was thinking of when i wrote con flama/with language as the vehicle i wanted to explore the cultural landscapes of american life…Sharon Bridgforth
Penumbra Theatre Company, St. Paul, MN,
presented con flama as a main stage production 1/29/02 – 3/3/02
Director: Laurie Carlos
Composers: Lourdes Perez & Annette D’Armata
Featuring: Djola Branner, Aimee Bryant, Zell Miller 111, Mankwe Ndosi, Sonja Parks, Ana Perea, and Ambersunshower Smith.
With the bus ride as an organizing metaphor, con flama takes viewers on a narrative ride that speeds and careens one moment, slows to a halt-and-crawl when necessary, and other times coasts along at a steady pace. It is a demanding piece for performers and for the audience. For the performers, there is almost constant movement. For the audience, there is the task to learn (as one audience member described it), the grammar of the piece. Belinda Acosta, The Austin Chronicle, September 22, 2000. To read the article CLICK HERE.
“If a flood deluged your home, it would disturb not only belongings such as clothes, papers and photographs, but also bits of personal history and memories. In some ways, Sharon Bridgforth’s stream-of-memory play “Con Flama” is a result of such a wash-out – albeit better-smelling. A lyrical, emotional and humorous salvage operation, “Con Flama” uses music, movement and poetry – all echoing and refracting throughout the production – to tell a very personal story of history and survival, of good times and loss.” Rohan Preston, Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN). February , 2002.
