The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God is a bit of a mess–a big, ambitious, beautiful mess. Djanet Sears’ two-act musical drama, which is currently showing at the National Arts Centre, tackles an overwhelming variety of themes: grief, racism, spirituality, death, and motherhood are all explored onstage. Those with short attention spans, beware—the whole thing clocks in at nearly two and a half hours.
The play opens with a harrowing scene. Lorraine “Rainey” Johnson, a doctor and mother, tries futilely to save her five-year-old daughter Jainey, who succumbs to meningitis.
Three years later, Rainey, played with intensity by Lucinda Davis, is still trying to grapple with the trauma. She’s lost faith in her ability as a doctor. She’s also lost faith entirely, divorcing her pastor husband Michael (played by Quincy Armorer), and burying herself in a PhD thesis: “The Death of God and Angels: A Challenge to God.”
Set on Negro Creek road, a historic black settlement in rural southern Ontario, the story occurs during a 1996 controversy. Because people were uncomfortable with the name “Negro Creek,” the Holland Township Council tried to rename it “Moggie” road after a white settler. The anger this caused in the black community provides the backdrop for Sears’ play.
The ancestors of Negro Creek are a constant presence during the play. Actors clad in earth tones sing and dance onstage during scene changes and important moments. They use their bodies to visually represent the water of the creek. They are mourners during funerals and members of church congregations, an ethereal, graceful reminder the past exists alongside the present. “You can’t see them. Or hold them. But you can still feel them,” Rainey says of the dead.
The standout performance is Walter Borden’s radiant, mischievous portrayal of Rainey’s dying father, Abendigo “Ben” Johnson.
Ben and his crack team of elderly friends respond to the renaming of Negro Creek by visiting local houses and “liberating enslaved lawn ornaments,” mainly black lawn jockeys. Ben’s dream is to steal back an 1812 army jacket, which once belonged to his and Rainey’s ancestor—the jacket was seized by the government and hidden away in a museum basement.
“You’re the black panthers of Western Ontario,” Rainey says in exasperation when she finds out.
Ben is dynamic despite his sickness and filled with love for life. When asked if he believes in heaven he responds, “heaven is Negro Creek.” His outlook provides a counterpoint for Rainey’s hopelessness.
In the first act Rainey wears black. By the final moments she’s dressed in gentle blue; this play chronicles her journey back to life alongside her father’s path to death.
At the talkback after the show, audience member Melissa Redmond pointed out the theme of drowning in the play. From the story of Rainey’s great-great-grandmother who drowned in Negro Creek, to the haunting image of an ancestor with his hood down and hands up in the “I can’t breathe” pose, this theme of drowning, sinking, burial, and renewal is what truly holds this play together.
The production is not without problems. Rainey’s monologues and arguments with Michael verge on overly expository. The song and dance interludes between each scene are a bit unwieldy and some scenes seem to be cut off too soon. Some threads, such as Rainey’s apparent struggle with the mental disorder pica, are left unexplained and unresolved.
Despite its flaws, this is a beautiful production—a moving tribute to black Canadian history staged with love and passion.
