Stage Profile: Rise, fall of black entertainer in America
Darian Dauchan's biography isn't short on superlatives. It describes the accomplished solo performer as "a combination of high-energy verbal velocity and jazz-like vocal variations, mixed with humor, pain, passion and truth..."
In "Entertainer's Eulogy" at TheatreWorks, writer and actor Darian Dauchan portrays a minstrel performer, a soul singer and a boxer to show the evolution of the black entertainer in America.
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This weekend, the New York-based actor, playwright and poet takes the TheatreWorks stage for Playhouse on the Square's Solo Works performance series. His recent piece, "Entertainer's Eulogy," chronicles the rise and fall of African-American performers through the lives of a minstrel artist in 1918, a soul singer from 1976, and a boxer in 1989.
Dauchan, 29, has written two other solo plays, one about black war veterans and the other about politics in the media.
Q: Your play, "Entertainer's Eulogy," looks at the trajectory of black performers throughout the 20th century. What do they have in common?
A: In general, there's always a struggle with how we present ourselves with regards to the stereotypes we're dealing with. There's always a battle between our own identity and the exploitive nature of what we do. For the three characters, they are all fighting for this notion of integrity.
Q: Are your characters based on anyone in particular?
A: I love to do research, and it's always important for me that the language and dialect is distinct to the time period. The first character, the minstrel, is loosely based on Bert Williams and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, both big names in vaudeville. For the 1970s period, I read a biography of Marvin Gaye. I'm a big Motown person. And from the 1980s, the boxer is a hybrid of Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali.
Q: How does fame affect black entertainers in particular?
A: I think it was W.E.B. Du Bois who spoke of the double consciousness of African-Americans. That you are always looking at yourself from the outside to see how you're being perceived. We're always battling ourselves in the choices we make, and fame amplifies that.
Q: Is that still true today?
A: It's strange, but I wrote "Entertainer's Eulogy" a couple of years ago, work-shopped it, and now that it's debuting, lo and behold, Michael Jackson passes away. It's just taken on a whole new meaning for me.
Q: Michael Jackson had an identity crisis his entire life.
A: In his day, there was nobody cooler than Michael Jackson. But you can get to this place where you have thousands of people adoring you and then with the drop of a hat, people turn against you.
Q: You've described your work as a cautionary tale. Who are you cautioning?
A: Somebody once said that madness is making the same mistakes over and over. As a history buff, I like to look at the things we keep repeating. I guess it's a cautionary tale for everyone. I'm also adamant that we don't play the victim. You can't just blame the media. The individual chooses to do drugs, and take certain actions. In entertainment, the egos themselves are excessive.
Q: You've been a competitive spoken word poet for three years. Has that influenced your performance style?
A: Spoken word forced me to get more comfortable in my own skin. I'm used to falling into a character, but when you're reading poetry it's you and your words. Still, there's even a persona involved in that. There's Darian and then there's Darian the Poet.
Darian Dauchan: "Entertainer's Eulogy"
At 8 tonight and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at TheatreWorks, 2085 Monroe. Tickets are $20. Call 726-4656.
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