Obehi performing an improvisational piece about her first experience in NYC in December. Video Credit: Paul A. Notice.

It’s a beautiful, sunny day at Brewd Awakening Coffee House in Lowell, Massachusetts. My friend Obehi sits quietly sipping her chai tea. She is one of the first people I met when I moved to Lowell.

We met in Cambridge at Fire and Ice during a snow storm last year. I saw her perform a reading of Double Falsehood, one of Shakespeare’s unpublished works after my Speech and Movement Professer Jennie Israel mentioned the performance. When we met, neither of us knew we lived in Lowell. In fact, well into the first 20 minutes of our conversation, we still didn’t know. She was about to take the train back to Lowell, but I insisted we ride back together. We talked acting the whole way home. She mentioned she was writing a one-woman show. The snow kept coming down. I didn’t notice it.

Nearly six months later, I was producing and house managing her play, fufu & oreos, at the 119 gallery. Today I find myself sitting with her, laughing about old times and her most recent experience of performing in New York City. A native of Lowell, Obehi recently performed a new improvisational monologue at Black Ink Gallery, the first black-owned, black-run artist gallery in Harlem. Her performance was part of Michael Dailey and Gilbert Gandia’s opening art reception for “730 DAYS” (P.A.B.). “I had no expectations because I’m always improvisational, but I found the space itself was really intimate with a very Harlem-centric crowd,” Obehi recalls.

“A lot of the people from Harlem were taken by the fact that we were from Lowell, Massachusetts.” “That question came up a lot, she says.” “Not so much–who are you, but what is “Lowell?” Even my working artist friends from New York City asked how I met Mike Dailey and Gilbert Gandia and were impressed at how awesome it is that artists in Lowell are so tight-knit. “It was an awesome evening, “she reminisces. “Gilbert and Mike performed and I performed with them. I sang the hook and they looped it while Gilbert did some crazy, performance art with Mike. It was a fun, crazy evening and it went on forever. I feel like when you’re in New York City, you just meet awesome people and there is this convergence of different things and different people immediately. It doesn’t take long for stories to arise,” she muses. Obehi also explains how nice it was to see so much interest in Mike and Gilbert’s artwork and remembers being excited to see copies of Lowell Anthology at the Black Ink Gallery.

“I made contacts with artists in Harlem who were interested in my work. I always feel like I learn a lot when I’m there, “ Obehi explains. “Performance is all about atmosphere. It’s a learning process. I’m finding out now that I can do a stripped-down version of my play with just me and a microphone so I’m going to be contacting different venues in Boston. I’m sort of being a comedian who sings, as a friend put it.”

“I never thought of myself as funny until a friend of mine told me I was,” she continues. “Like, when did you know you were a writer? How did you know? “ she asks me. “When my high school English teacher read my journal,” I responded. RIGHT, she told you. Half of my play is comedy, she says. I found out I was a writer only a year ago when I was at an actor’s training workshop. We were journaling and the head of training said I was a great writer. A professor once told me in college, but I didn’t really believe him. But for this person to say my creative writing was good–it blew my mind. So now I’m a writer and I didn’t realize it, Obehi explains.

Seeing Obehi’s 119 gallery performances for two straight weekends and her rehearsal methods, I realized quickly that every performance was different in it’s own, unique way, incorporating life events such as things that had happened that morning. She creates every performance in a way that allows room for constant evolution within the play, while always sticking to a similar theme—”who am I and where am I from?”

I find the beauty of Obehi’s work is that it is never the same, yet it always conveys the human experience in an honest, humorous and humble way.

“There’s also a word for the withdrawn sigh that girls say, she exclaims.” “It’s called the “frog” and I do it all the time she says. Linguists have deemed that it’s not a speech impetiment. Like when Kim Kardashian will be like “Oh really? Uuuuuuhhhhhh”. We both laugh. I lose my contact lens laughing. This is how our conversations usually go.

You can catch Obehi in Medea with the Actors Shakespeare Project February 8, 2012 – March 4, 2012 at the Multicultural Arts Center of Cambridge (www.actorsshakespeareproject.com) and stay updated with her one-woman show at http://www.fufuandoreos.com.

You can catch Michael Dailey and Gilbert Gandia’s newest exhibit at Heath Gallery in NYC on February 4, 2012 from 7-11 p.m, along with musical performances by Streight Angular, Please Melt and PABXMFDJR: http://heathgallery.squarespace.com/

1/8/2012

Thank you Ashley Cantrell and Kristen Elisa for the photos of Acoustipalooza.

12/18/2011

On a frigid afternoon in December, a group of Lowellians gathered at Armory Park not really knowing what to expect.

During the weeks prior, there was much talk of a Lowell “Flashmob”event but details were few and far between. Invites were sent on facebook alluding to a “Flashmob Yankee-Swap” or “Flashmob Sunday” by an elusive John Smith aka (Santa’s Little Helper Elf, Community Advisor at Santa, from the North Pole, Alaska). His profile pic featured an animated cartoon Santa extending gifts in his hands.

Invitees were encouraged to bring a home-made gift: a piece of art, a mixed cd, etc. and assemble at noon in Armory Park.

Little clues were posted on the event page in the days prior: a video of The Police’s “Message in a Bottle” and Nena’s “99 Luft Ballons” but nothing could have prepared this group of gatherers what was in store for them.

That morning Santa’s little helpers were certainly on task. Members of MillCityFlashMOB were busily inflating balloons and tying postcards to strings, amongst other tasks to prepare for the event.

On that bone-chilling day, Master of Ceremonies Obehi Janice kicked off the event with her megaphone, exclaiming “Okay everyone, jump up and down if you’re cold! “Twirl around if your cold!” “Hug someone if you’re cold! This is about community!”

Participants were asked to tie their balloons around their wrists and write a personal message on postcard that would hopefully make its way to someone, somewhere.

While helpers were arranging and separating balloons and attaching postcards that had actual QR codes on them, Obehi Janice asked “So who knows everyone at this flash mob today?” Everyone was instructed to get into a circle.

While the “Funky Chicken” played, gift-givers were asked to pass their gifts to the right, then to the left,  then to someone wearing a different color as them.

“Now pass the gift to someone who lives in a different neighborhood as you,” Janice exclaimed. “Meet someone new, make conversation!”

Armed with biodegreable balloons, strings and postcards, about 50 Lowell residents then made their way down to Lord Overpass.

Obehi Janice used her leadership skills to get everyone to complete a square around all four sides of the Lord overpass.

Many cars passing by honked their horns and were met with cheer from the Mill City flashmob crew.

When you see Santa Claus, release the balloons, people!” exclaimed Janice.  And so, they waited.  Suddenly, Santa was seen making his way on bicycle below the overpass.

The crowd released their balloons and watched as 50 plus balloons crawled up into the sky carrying messages of holiday cheer. One postcard said “be gentle with yourself.” Soon the sky was filled with balloons and the crowd cheered.

After the release of the balloons, everyone headed to the Revolving Museum to open up a wide array of swapped gifts: a hand-written book of quotes, a poem, mixed cds, scrap-books, art-work, sculptures, etc. Gift givers took part in hot cocoa, cookies, and community.

Mauricio Cordero, Executive Director of the Revolving Museum, was the recipient of the hand-written book of quotes. “Having been so caught up with work and then to see this–people coming together to exchange their time, seeing people provide for one another in this kind of way and letting loose and laughing, I feel like for me personally, this is the beginning of my holiday season,” he said.  He then thanked everyone for coming and invited everyone back to The Revolving Musuem’s 2012 opening reception on January 6, 2012.

“This event was totally fun. I got some lovely, dilly beans from Santa Claus and we released the balloons into the air. I got to write a special message and it went away in the wind so hopefully a middle-schooler will find it,” said Lowell resident, Kristen Angelos.

“This was an amazing turn out. I wasn’t sure exactly how many people were going to show up, but everyone made it awesome. All the balloons going off all at the same time—it was a beautiful sight. The music was cool and everyone that helped out did an awesome job and I’m just so happy that a community can come together and share such an awesome experience. I loved it. I absolutely loved it,” said Sam Antonaccio.

Obehi Janice, the event’s MC commented by saying: “This was amazing. And I got to use a megaphone but I’m a little upset that no one believes in Santa Claus, she laughed. No really, it’s just nice to see such spontaneity and all good things associated with this wonderful, holiday season.”

Two days later, a resident on the Southshore found one of the postcards.

For more information about the Mill City Flash Mob event, please visit: http://www.facebook.com/MillCityFlashMOB.

http://www.vimeo.com/34063935

For information about the show, go to fufu & oreos.

Obehi Janice delivers a thoughtful exploration of the identity struggles she has faced in her life during the 90 minute performance of “fufu & oreos” at the 119 Gallery in Lowell, MA. The show opened on May 13 and will end with performances on May 20, 21 and 22. Throughout the show, Obehi sings, tells anecdotes, and performs skits related to memories of events in her life which shaped her identity as a black-American-Nigerian-Christian woman.

Obehi’s serious exploration of identity in the form of humor keeps the show light and fun. She tells stories from childhood about experiences in the hair salon in which her mother worked. In one story she says, “I knew I was black but I didn’t know I was dark.” She explains that at the mall in which the hair salon was located, she had an unusual experience with a stranger she encountered who proceeded to ignorantly “explain” why her skin was dark. The witty songs, skits, and stories continue non-stop.

     
Photos by Doug Sparks.

The black-American versus Nigerian duality Obehi explores through the “Rima and Rose” skit provides a particularly fresh perspective that really complements the more well-known conflict of black-American versus a white-American dominated culture. In this skit, a very verbose black-American television host gives a lengthy introduction to her Nigerian guest who explains fufu, a Nigerian dish made of pounded yams. The more reserved Nigerian guest demonstrates how fufu is eaten with the hands and tells its significance: “It fills us and we eat it together.” She also posits questions about the ingredients in Oreos, such as vanillin – an artificial flavor, common in American products but not to be found in fufu. This exploration leads into Obehi’s story about her decision to become a vegetarian, a “stamp of whiteness.” Not to mention that she eats fufu with a fork, “which is very wrong.” These statements make the audience think carefuly about which dualities Obehi is exploring at a particular time or if she could be exploring more than one duality at once – is it Nigerian versus American, Nigerian versus black, black versus white, or white versus Nigerian?

Photo by Doug Sparks.

Obehi ends with a humorous song about the men she likes of different ethnic origins and their qualities,
including white men and computer hackers, which not only reveals her possible taste in men but ultimately
summarizes the discoveries she has made about herself in terms of accepting her own varied identies.

In the Q & A afterward, Obehi gave some poignant advice about others experiencing similar identity crises by saying the way she dealt with the situation was by “finding [her] voice and speaking out loud about it.” The creation of “fufu & oreos” represented two years of work in continuing to develop her voice so that she could present it to a wider audience, after performing her first draft at Georgetown University her senior year of college.

On Saturday, the performance was followed by a delicious traditional Nigerian meal, complete with fufu and Oreo cookies. The food provided a tangible way to connect with the imagery presented in the show and to try out the the fufu talked about throughout. The night ended with dancing and socializing, showing that the fufu indeed brought people together.

Food and dance followed the show to complete the night.