Ida’s Journey in America - Jazzy K Productions, LLC

Please Take Note. This repeated refrain echoes through the auditorium at KC Oasis announcing that Ida B. Wells is in the building. If you are unfamiliar with this historic figure, “Ida’s Journey in America” will introduce you to the biography and journey (as the name implies) of this teacher, journalist, activist, suffragette, researcher, and 19th century multipotentialite.

Please Take Note. This performance is a journey indeed. From her meager beginnings as the daughter of enslaved parents through her education, finding her voice as a journalist, waging legal battles against segregation, to fighting for women’s suffrage, this performance covers it all. While the content is full of historical information, it is delivered in a manner that makes these problems feel just as real and alive today as they were then… because they are. And the delivery is not a stodgy recitation of historical facts, but a transcendent embodiment of this historic character through very real and palpable emotion.

Please Take Note. The show is written and performed by Karen E. Griffin (KE), a dynamic art quilter, textile/performance artist, international storyteller, and 21st century multipotentialite. KE’s embodiment of Ida does not feel like an actor performing a script. Rather, it feels as if KE has researched her subject so well and integrated the story into her personal emotion that she speaks improvisationally allowing the historic content to resonate through her contemporary experience as a black woman. This is not an actor donning a character; it is a poetic and embodied response to the historic and systemic racism and sexism that kept Ida B. Wells from her due recognition in history.

This last point leads to one of the most powerful moments of the performance. Having arrived at the end of her life, Ida pages through a book on African-American history and cannot find her name. KE demonstrates this response through pantomime turning pages of an imaginary book in a choreographic tableau. While Ida dedicated her life to articulating the atrocities of racism and sexism in America, this book completely neglects her life and work bringing us full circle as to why KE decided to develop this piece.

This is not just an entertaining performance but a story that all of america (sic) needs to hear right now. Get your tickets to “Ida’s Journey in America” at KC Oasis and Please. Take. Note.