Reviewed by:

• Fannie Lou Hamer, Speak On It! by Cheryl L. West
• Chloe Johnston

The audience arrived at the performance to find the lawn cordoned off into separate sections. People sat on blankets and lawn chairs facing the stage—a truck that folded out to reveal a large image of what seemed to be a civil rights demonstration from the 1960s. In that image, a crowd of people close together provided a fractured reflection of us in the audience, all carefully spaced at least six feet apart. Around the truck were tables of volunteers signing people up to vote. It was October 6, 2020: twenty-eight [End Page 238] days until the presidential election, and the 103rd anniversary of the birthday of voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer. An actress emerged and proclaimed Hamer’s famous words: “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired!”

E. Faye Butler (Fannie Lou Hamer) in Fannie Lou Hamer, Speak on It! (Photo: Liz Lauren.)

Originally slated as the opening show of the Goodman Theatre’s 2020–21 season, Fannie Lou Hamer, Speak on It! was developed over several years by writer Cheryl West, director Henry Godinez, and actress E. Faye Butler. It had been scheduled to premiere the eve of the 2020 presidential election—a fitting tribute to a woman who gave her body and soul to the fight for voting rights. And yet no one could have predicted how resonant Fannie Lou Hamer would be, staged outside, for free, at the end of the summer in which Americans took to the streets to protest state violence against Black people in the largest social justice uprising in this country’s history. As Butler stepped onto the stage accompanied by the joyful sounds of music director Felton Offard’s guitar, she held a sign reading, “To Hope is to Vote.” A child near me, too young to read it, excitedly grabbed my hand and said, “Look, her sign says ‘Black Lives Matter.’” The idea that the protestors who took to the streets this summer were inheritors of Hamer’s legacy was apparent to even the youngest audience members.

“I got any witnesses out there?” Hamer asked us, and the crowd went wild. We were witnesses for sure, but of the present or the past? Not simply a biographical one-woman show, the play replicated the feeling of being present at one of Hamer’s rallies. We were pulled in, called in, called out, educated, and activated for forty minutes. Yet it was not clear if we were pulled into Hamer’s world or if she was into ours. “But look like I done either come to the future or ya’ll done gone backwards to the past. Say amen somebody,” insisted Butler as Hamer. The crowd gave her the amen. She acknowledged not only that she was speaking out of time, but that she was needed in this moment, decades after her death. “Seem like we gon’ get to knowin’ a few things this afternoon ’cause y’all got an election coming up that’s way too important to ignore.” We laughed through our masks.

The violence that inspired the recent protests is a violence with which Hamer was intimately familiar. The play does not shy away from describing the beatings she suffered in police custody, leaving her with permanent injuries. As she told the story of her assault, we saw her relive it: “One thing my parents always taught me was dignity, but we all know a black woman’s body ain’t never belonged to her.” As with any public testimony, it is the speaker’s willingness to revisit the trauma that moves us. Unlike at a political rally, the lights behind her shifted and the accompanying sound grew somber, escalating the tension. At the same time, the sun was setting behind the stage. We were simultaneously subject to manipulations of stage design and nature itself. Time passes. She relived her horror to teach us. [End Page 239]

When it had become clear...

审核人：

• 房利美路哈默，说吧！作者：Cheryl L. West
• 克洛伊·约翰斯顿

观众到达演出现场，发现草坪被封锁成不同的部分。人们坐在面向舞台的毯子和草坪椅上——一辆折叠起来的卡车展示了一幅似乎是 1960 年代民权示威的大图像。在这张照片中，一群人靠得很近，在观众中提供了我们破碎的倒影，所有人都小心地间隔至少六英尺。卡车周围是志愿者们的桌子，他们正在签名投票。那是 2020 年 10 月 6 日：距离总统选举还有二十八[End Page 238]天，也是投票权活动家 Fannie Lou Hamer 诞辰 103 周年。一位女演员出现并宣读了哈默的名言：“我厌倦了生病和累了！”

E. Faye Butler (Fannie Lou Hamer) in Fannie Lou Hamer，说吧！（照片：丽兹·劳伦。）

原定为古德曼剧院 2020-21 赛季的开幕秀，房利美·卢·哈默 (Fannie Lou Hamer)，畅所欲言！由作家 Cheryl West、导演 Henry Godinez 和女演员 E. Faye Butler 历时数年开发。它原定于 2020 年总统大选前夕首映——这是对一位为争取投票权而献出身体和灵魂的女性的恰当致敬。然而没有人能预料到房利美卢哈默的共鸣将在夏天结束时在外面免费上演，美国人走上街头抗议国家对黑人的暴力行为，这是该国历史上最大的社会正义起义。当巴特勒在音乐总监 Felton Offard 的吉他悦耳的声音伴奏下走上舞台时，她举着一个标语牌，上面写着“希望就是投票”。我附近的一个孩子太小了，无法阅读，兴奋地抓住我的手说：“看，她的牌子上写着‘黑人的命也是命’。” 今年夏天走上街头的抗议者是哈默遗产的继承者的想法显而易见即使是最年轻的观众。

“我那里有证人吗？” 哈默问我们，人群变得疯狂。我们确实是目击者，但现在还是过去？该剧不仅是一部传记式单人秀，还再现了出席哈默集会的感觉。我们被拉入、召唤、召唤、教育和激活了四十分钟。然而，我们并不清楚是我们被拉进了哈默的世界，还是她被拉进了我们的世界。“但看起来我要么回到未来，要么你回到过去。说阿门某人，“巴特勒坚持认为哈默。群众给她阿们。她承认，她不仅说得不合时宜，而且在她死后几十年的这一刻，她是被需要的。“看来我们今天下午要了解一些事情，因为你们即将举行的选举太重要了，不容忽视。

激发最近抗议活动的暴力是哈默非常熟悉的暴力。该剧并没有回避描述她在警察拘留期间遭受的殴打，使她受到永久性伤害。当她讲述她被性侵的故事时，我们看到她重温了它：“我父母一直教给我的一件事是尊严，但我们都知道黑人女性的身体从来都不属于她。” 与任何公开证词一样，是演讲者重温创伤的意愿让我们感动。与政治集会不同，她身后的灯光发生了变化，伴随的声音变得阴沉，加剧了紧张局势。与此同时，太阳正在舞台后面落下。我们同时受到舞台设计和自然本身的操纵。时间流逝。她重温她的恐惧来教我们。[第239页结束]

当它变得清晰...