Rise: A Boyle Heights Love Letter
The world premiere of “Rise,” now playing at the Company of Angels, follows the decades-long story of a Black woman whose love for her community and the people she knew there fueled her refusal to ever leave her Boyle Heights home.
While nowadays, many of us think of venerable Boyle Heights as an almost completely Latinx community, playwright Kimba Henderson’s play reflects on the city’s much more diverse heritage that included many Japanese American, Jewish, and African American residents, as well as Mexican Americans.
Grettel Cortes Photography
Surprised herself to learn of this neglected multicultural history, Henderson was driven to tell how this extraordinary community shaped the lives of an African American family:
“In a time when America is wildly divided particularly along racial lines, I was stunned to discover Boyle Heights was a historically multiracial neighborhood which boasted a diversity that was organic and proved to be an advantage to many residents as they went out into the world.”
Justeen Butler and Miles Bryant
To give the play veracity, Henderson and Company of Angels conducted Story Circles with members of the African American community who had either grown up in Boyle Heights or had family from the area.
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“Rise” follows Emmeline—a Black woman played in her youth by Justeen Butler and older by Bernadette Speakes—from 1934 through 2015, who we learn visits Evergreen Cemetery every year during Obon, an annual Japanese holiday where ancestors are believed to return from the dead for one night to comfort their descendents.
Along with RaeAnne Carlson, Doug Kaback, Julianna Stephanie Ojeda, Sherrick O’Quinn, and Markum Stansbury, Butler, Speakes, and Bryant all play multiple characters as episodes stretch out across the play’s eight decades, each scene focusing on the loving interplay among the diverse set of characters.
Under the direction of Lui Sanchez, “Rise” concludes forcefully to make sense of the play’s many threads.
Playwright Kimba Henderson
Make sure to tank up on coffee beforehand so you can follow the changing decades and actors playing first one character and then another. Pay attention to clues in changing clothing fashions and briefly displayed dates so you can keep up with the shifting storylines. You’ll be rewarded if you do.
Founded in 1959 by a company of working actors looking to free themselves of commercial constraints, Company of Angels is L.A.’s oldest community theater. In fostering the city’s diversity and complexity, the theater sets itself the mission to develop emerging articles and create new work.
Rise runs through November 5, with performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.; and Sundays at 7 p.m. Tickets to all performances are $25; $15 for students and seniors (65+). Company of Angels Theater is located at 1350 San Pablo Street, Los Angeles. Go here for more information and tickets.
The opinions expressed here are solely the author's and do not reflect the opinions or beliefs of the Hollywood Progressive.
