Performing the Archive: At Buffalo- The Creation of a New Musical

Noah: Hello, my name is Noah Garon.

Rose: And I am Rose Adams.

Noah: Today we are going to discuss the presentation “Performing the Archive: At Buffalo- The Creation of a New Musical” which we attended Thursday night at the Coffman theatre.

R: This performance consisted of an educational speaker who used song and movement to build on her educational presentation about the black racial divide visible at the 1901 Buffalo NY World’s Fair as well as the process of using archives in creating a musical and bringing history alive.

N: Dr. Amma Y. Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin is a professor of theatre and African American studies and has been working for the last 15 years on making the archive on the 1901 Pan American Exposition into a musical.

R: This World Fair was interesting because there were 3 exhibits which depicted black people in different ways. The first was a group of “savages” from Africa. The second was called “The Plantation” in which people re-enacted the chores of slaves in the south. The third was put on by Mary Talbot and W. E. B. Dubois with the goal of showcasing the accomplishments of the educated black middle class in America.

N: All three of these depicted very different views on what it meant to be African and/or African American at the time. And different views always lead to conflict. The best form of this is in the song Sister Whatcha Sellin between educated middle class woman Mary Talbot and the iconic Aunt Jemima.

R: This song was about a possible interaction between these two women. We don’t actually have any records of them meeting, but they were in the same building at the same time, so that’s where the musical nature comes in.

N: In summary, Aunt Jemima comes into Mary Talbot’s exhibit and asks the question “Sister Whatcha Sellin?” to which Ms. Talbot responds that this exhibit is to teach the public about them, the two of them. Aunt Jemima doesn’t relate, and the divide between the educated and non-educated becomes quite apparent.

— -

R: The musical that this team is writing was based off of their research into the archives which consist of newspaper clippings, photographs and journals related to events at this World Fair.

N: Now the archives were recorded by white people with things written by the white people, and a lot of things were left out or include heavy bias. This is where the imagination of the writers comes into play. They get to fill in the gaps in history in an interactive way.

R: One example of this is a character by the name of Laughing Ben who was a former slave. The archives describe his unique tendency to laugh long and loud after everything he said. This is where the presentation became interactive.

N: Dr. Amma had us find pairs and then make eye contact and laugh. We laughed for several minutes, and then took note of how the laughing made us feel. Dr. Amma told us that by using that simple description of this man’s laughter, an actor was able to bring the archives to life.

R: In the Q & A session at the end, one gentlemen made notice of the feeling he got when he heard about this man who laughed all the time and with little provocation.

N: This man expressed the same things I was feeling during the laughing scene. The man and I are both Jewish and when we heard the laughs we immediately thought to family members and ancestors who have used laughter as coping devices for horrific events. I remember one holocaust survivor who used to laugh after her speeches in the exact same way for the exact same reasons.

After the show, when Rose and I were talking, I thought it was interesting that I could describe this reaction and thought, because I am Jewish, and Rose, who is hadn’t had those experiences, was struggling to put the words and feelings together.

R: Yes. I remember feeling confused about why this man laughed so much, and had a hard time interpreting this scene until clarification came during the Q&A session. It made me think of times in my life when I have been uncomfortable and have resorted to laughing or making other people laugh to avert attention.

N: Overall, this was a well-done and meaningful experience which opened an interesting dialogue between us.

R If you are interested the link to the musical’s website is: https://www.atbuffalomusical.com/

N: Also here you can listen to some of the songs as well! https://www.atbuffalomusical.com/music-page