The writing of blood pudding was supported by the New Forms Regional Initiative Grants Program (NFRIG), a program jointly funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation For The Visual Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts, administered by DiverseWorks and Mexic-Arte.

Pictured: Florinda Bryant, Zell Miller, 111, Stacy Robinson, Renita Martin, Djola Branner. Photo by Bret Brookshire

Frontera @ Hyde Park Theatre in Austin, Texas, Vicky Boone, Artistic Director,
Produced blood pudding April 9, 1998
Director: Laurie Carlos
Set Design: Leilah Stewart
Featuring: Djola Branner, Florinda Bryant, Renita Martin, Zell Miller, III, and Stacey Robinson

The performers were AMAZING/and Laurie directed the $#@! outta this piece. But then thats just how she do! MANN WE HAD SOOOO MUCH FUN…

my mam’ma is a downtown faucheaux,
her mam’ma earned freedom there
from a frenchman who liked his
berries
black.

in the book of coloured they had:
quadroon=1/4 Black rest white
octoroon=1/8 Black rest white
mulattoe=1/2 Black rest white
grif=1/2 Black 1/2 Indian
Creole=some Black some french/maybe spainard some Indian

and Black/which=what everybody really was.

my mam’ma creole/daddy grif
i be gombo.

mam’ma ran uptown when she almost grown
got herself a man as black as she could/didn’t want no=some-white baybays.

my ole Black daddy was Choctaw,
his mam’ma Bambara/got loose at
selln knock a man teef out drop
gerregerry in-kill quick/run
hide with they-from-here-first/neva
found name baybay to honor
Choctaw Black Bambara call he
Black for short
my daddy
move uptown from there.

play low down red light piano blues/in places red light don’t mean stop it mean come on in/my daddy
make that piano moan
make it holla to heaven
rock out of sight

my daddy taught me how to play

i was raised in honky tonks.
played piano befo my fingers could reach the keys
by the time my peepee-turned-ta-piss i had my own style:
alila mam’ma-alila daddy-some warrior-some slave
and the drum
making that piano ride the drum/what make
gombo. they call me docta gombo
i play the greatest review ever was-ever shall be,
got comics-sangers-shake dancers-snake charmers-dramatic
acts-female impersonators
and me
i close it off
for the best genius-talents of all time
“docta gombo and the all rights at the all nite inn”
you got to come by
got to come by see us/yeah.

*m’alle coupe canne, chere amie,
m’alle fait l’argent, mo tresor,
pou porter donne toi.
*(from a Louisiana Creole slave song
see”Africans in Colonial LA” gwendolyn midlo hall pg. 197,
translation: i will go cut cane, dear friend,
i will make money, beloved,
and bring it all to you)
copyright © 1998 Sharon Bridgforth

blood pudding is an interdisciplinary theatre piece which incorporates elements of ritual and festival in an exploration of the history of New Orleans and the cultures specific to this unique region. central to the story are the adventures of bull-jean, a Black lesbian folk-hero, through whose stories and actions the audience is compelled to re-examine the way our collective history has been shaped by those who would sooner see certain voices erased. crossing borders of ethnicity, Spirituality, and sexuality. blood pudding reflects the right of all people to claim their place in hertory-not regardless of, rather because of their cultural heritage, sexualities, and political stances.

blood pudding promotional art by Daniel Alexander Jones.