Mojo Workin’

The educated, city folk among us will tell you everything happens for a reason. They easily cite scientific theory and logic and use cause and effect relationships as the basis for explaining the unexplainable.Others put their stock in religion. “Let go, let God” is their way of placing faith in a higher power that is either merciful or vengeful, depending upon which religious doctrine you adhere to.

Somewhere betwixt and between the two is a whole other belief system entirely. Here the skillful manipulation of herbs, roots, bodily fluids, and minerals puts power and control over actions and outcomes into the hands of those who practice and believe in it.”Hoodoo” (not to be confused with Voodoo) is an African-American folk magic system, with origins in the south, where one can goofer, hex, fix or lay down a trick for various reasons: from snagging a lover to breaking up someone’s relationship, from drawing money and luck to exacting revenge on others.

This mysterious force and its role in the lives of four individuals forms the basis for a fascinating new play, Hoodoo Love, running now through December 9 at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York’s Greenwich Village.Written by a dynamic new voice on the theatrical scene, playwright and actor Katori Hall, Hoodoo Love was originally produced as part of Cherry Lane’s Mentor Project 2006. Hall revised and reworked her play to its current stage with assistance from her mentor in the project, noted playwright Lynn Nottage, who describes it as a “gorgeously haunting play” and Hall as “an inventive and soulful writer.”

Hall sets this play in her native Memphis, Tennessee, during the depression when many southern Blacks were desperately trying to make their way north, away from Jim Crow and poverty. The story is centered on Toulou, a wide-eyed Mississippi girl who has fled the cotton fields and an unhappy home life to pursue her dream of singing the blues. What she lacks in worldly knowledge she makes up for in unbridled enthusiasm and hope.

Her hopes are also wrapped around a man in her life, Ace of Spades, a womanizing blues singer who regularly passes through town on his travels around the circuit of juke joints and dives across the south and midwest. He’s got her nose wide open, among other things, but try as she might, she can’t get him to settle down and make her the number one woman in his life.

To do that will require help and Toulou has it in the form of her neighbor, Candy Lady, a motherly figure and hoodoo woman who knows all about working roots, laying tricks and putting hexes on people. Having had about six husbands of her own, she knows all about collecting locks of hair and toenail clippings, or adding the right potion to someone’s drink to get them to stick around.

But magic such as that often has to be seen to be believed and Toulou isn’t immediately convinced. Complicating matters further is the arrival of her big brother, Jib. A man with a past who now calls himself a preacher, he has come to Memphis to see his baby sister and start a church there, although baby sis is skeptical. Jib is similarly wary of Candy Lady’s use of such heathen methods. As she tells him, “If you want salvation, go to church.” Her approach works if you want certain things to happen.

Hall has a brilliant ear for dialect and a manner of storytelling akin to poetry broken into four distinctly different voices. The play is not just a joy to watch, it is a pleasure to hear. Additionally, she created original songs used in the production. Hall is already being compared to August Wilson in her masterful use of the language, and while that’s nothing to sneeze at, she deserves her own recognition for what she brings to the table.

Her characters are real people we soon care deeply about, even those we may grow to dislike, and this small ensemble brings them all vividly to life. Keith Davis’s Jib is a scoundrel. All at once a smiling charmer while secretly scheming, he quotes and often misquotes Bible verse to suit his purposes. Kevin Mambo plays Ace of Spades with strength and determination mixed with pain and vulnerability, as the target of Toulou’s mojo. Angela Lewis’s Toulou is young and innocent, but never ignorant, and forced to grow up fast. Her transformation is believable and at times painful.

Highest praise, however, goes to Marjorie Johnson as Candy Lady. Fittingly the 2006 AUDELCO Award winner as Best Supporting Actor in this role, when she works her magic to help Toulou lure Ace of Spades, she casts a spell over the audience. It’s a mesmerizing scene.Director Lucie Tiberghien and set designer Robin Vest make effective use of the intimate space in the beautifully renovated Cherry Lane Theatre. Whether out of necessity or creative inspiration, actors make some entrances through the house, and in so doing, put the audience right into the story.

In my highest recommendation, I suggest you run–do not walk–to see this play.

Katori Hall talks about her play Hoodoo Love.

Hoodoo Love at the Cherry Lane Theatre LINK
Playwright Katori Hall LINK
Plays by Lynn Nottage LINK 1 LINK 2