In the Red and Brown Water

1. Based in Louisiana in the town of Bayou, In the Red and Brown Water is a play based on the life of Oya, a young teenaged girl aspiring to be a talented runner with numerous obstacles in her way. She has to deal with her ailing mother, Mama Moja, falling in love with Shango and desperately trying to escape the projects. Her mother dies and Shango goes off to war. Oya also has to face the realization that she cannot have a child. All the drama and depression builds up and she cuts off her own ear as a sign of passion. The difficulties of her life shape the plot and overall development of the performance. Other supporting characters include Elegba and Aunt Elegua.

2. Her escape from the projects was her running. Track was going to be her ticket out of the poor living situation. This seems to be the most important aspect of her life. She is even offered a scholarship from the Man From State however, Oya declines the scholarship. That decision caused a chain reaction of events to follow. She put her chance of escaping the projects at stake. Her dream was becoming a track star, but sadly she never did. Her mother’s illness and complicated relationship with Shango holds her back. Once Shango leaves for war, she is left helpless and was not able to create the family she wanted.

3. While many of the actresses and actors had compelling performances, I was most captivated by the character of Shango. He was the bad boy from Bayou and was difficult to understand. The audience could always tell how Oya was feeling, as well as Mama Moja and other supporting characters. Shango, however, was quite the opposite. I could not tell how he was feeling about his relationship is Oya. He focused on purely lust for the first part of their relationship and then departed to war. When off at war, he got another random girl pregnant and did not give the family to Oya that she wanted.

4. The actors and actresses performances were very compelling throughout the whole play. The only critiques that I could find were in the actual script itself. I noticed scattered throughout the audience were senior citizens as well as some younger children in the mix of college students. This made it quite uncomfortable with how vulgar and sexual the dialogue became at times. The curse words being shouted by the cast were a bit over the top. The only other critique I had was in the title itself. The water had no significance (or none that I found) to the plot itself. The red represented the blood and brown the skin color, but where was the water?

5.  While I have never been to another performance put on by the students at Penn State, I have been to three Broadway plays in New York City. The production on Broadway always blows me away.  Although I cannot compare this performance to any Broadway production, for what they had access to, the stage crew and production team did a very good job of putting on the play. I do not know how other productions are put on here at State, but I am sure they are similar to the above average quality of In the Red and Brown Water.