Although Bei Bei ran away from her mother's bookstore, her mistakes always seem to draw her back, and most of those gaffes involve wrong choices towards men.
She knows that it's not the Book and Breakfast store that's actually pulling her back, but her invisible ancestors, her mother, who guided her through life. Bei Bei is angry with them.
In the midst of this outrage, I meet her and her family at Upstage Theater's production of Shay Youngblood's Talking Bones.
Showtimes are Saturday and Sunday at 3pm and 7pm, and Saturday, May 11th at 3pm at the theater, 1713 Wooddale Blvd.
“Talking Bones” is part of UpStage's “It's All About Family” season. Founding Artistic Director Ava Brewster Turner directs this Lorraine Hansberry Award-winning production set in a small Southern town.
“It's not specified what town it's in,” Turner said. “It's just a small Southern town.”
This is the perfect setting for this story, as the location of the town doesn't matter to Bay Bay, played by Elizabeth Irvin. Wherever it is, she definitely doesn't want to be there.
Her mother Ruth, played by Nachelle Houghton, constantly reminds Bei-Bei of her family's roots and the importance of hearing the stories of her ancestors, but Bei-Bei doesn't want to hear it.
Finally, Baybay's 20-something daughter Ayla, played by Lachey Akins, is tired of her mother's comings and goings and calls out Baybay for criticism. Ayla has lived with her grandmother since her birth and has seen her mother run off with men with bad personalities.
Meanwhile, it looks like Bay Bay is about to make an even bigger mistake when Mr. Fine, played by Kari Smith, comes knocking on the bookstore door.
“He wants to buy a bookstore and turn it into a nightclub, and he's trying to attract Bay Bay,” Turner said. “Ruth is getting older and before she dies she wants to sort things out for herself. She wants to leave her bookstore to her family and Ayla wants to keep things between them. I am an intermediary.”
Even so, our ancestors continue to speak. Ruth hears the voice through her hearing aid. Mr. Fine appeals to Ayla because Ayla also hears them and she thinks Bay Bay wants to leave them behind once and for all.
“Bay Bay is looking for love,” Irvin says of his character. “And she still has high hopes for movies and songs written about her. She's 40 years old, but she's still chasing her dreams.”
But our ancestors never stop whispering what is right and true.
“I don't want to hear Bay Bay, but I can listen to it,” Irvin said.
Ruth always listens.
Ancestors are the spirits of deceased family members. They are Ruth's superior power and she understands Bay Bay's frustration, but she thinks Ruth wants to keep her family together.
“She wants to keep them on the straight and narrow,” Horton said. “She wants to grow her family without rehashing her past.”
“Past” is the key word here. Because something happens to Bei Bei in her 20s and everything changes when it is revealed.
Meanwhile, Ayla is a poet who also works at Book & Breakfast. Raised by her grandmother, her heritage is important to her and so are the voices of her ancestors.
“Eila has strong ties to bookstores,” Akins said. “She also has a talent for writing and loves poetry. She has these visions and goes into trance states where she recites poems and visualizes things. And she does it all very Say it in a clear and artistic way.”
Is Mr. Bei Bei jealous of his daughter's writing talent? perhaps. Does she resent the relationship between her mother and her daughter? Not so much.
After all, she has left them several times, and if Mr. Fine is true to his word, she will leave them again. The problem is that Mr. Fine has made a career out of toying with women's emotions.
“He's done this before,” Smith said. “But the only problem is that he realizes that Bei Bei is different from the other women he has manipulated.”
Mr. Fine still employs Oz, a young, homeless but intelligent character played by Amir Hall, and uses his charm to his advantage by bringing flowers to Bay Bay during the day. Ayla senses Oz's brilliance, and eventually she begins to have a heart-to-heart with him.
Rounding out the cast is Kyla Bates, who stands in for Ruth.
“Ruth wants to leave this earth with a conscience, knowing that her place, the bookstore, is still there,” Bates said. “It's all about heritage and passing on a legacy. We associate this with what we have in our communities as Black people and African Americans. Listening to the stories of our ancestors and our families; Our generation has been doing that since time immemorial. I use my grandmother to draw myself into this character, in a way, when my grandmother prayed and received a response from the Lord. she says, “I hear you.” So the important thing is to listen to the guidance of whoever you believe in, whatever higher being you believe in, and let them guide you to do the right thing. ”
So did BayBay finally do the right thing? Well, you'll have to go to Upstage Theaters to find out.
Tickets are $25. For tickets or more information, call UpStage Theater at (225) 924-3774 or visit upstagetheater.biz.