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THE
GEORGIA VANCOVER'S NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
DID ANYONE EVER TELL YOU - YOU LOOK LIKE HUEY P. NEWTON? Wow.
Take a trip to the revolutionary spirit of a more passionate
time. San Francisco writer-performer Michael Gene Sullivan uses
his resemblance to Black Panther activist Huey P. Newton as the
springboard to a show that deftly combined personal memoir,
social history, and pointed political commentary. The result is
funny, angry, moving, and incredibly engaging.
Sullivan was just five years old when his leftist parents took
him on his first protest march, an anti-war demonstration on the
occasion of Lyndon Johnson's visit to Los Angeles in 1966. The
march turned into a riot, but Sullivan's family escaped the
fray, and young Michael was infused with the revolutionary
spirit, which got him into plenty of trouble (drawing a
Communist flag during Art Time did not go over well with his
red-baiting teacher).
As he got older, the frequent comments on his resemblance to the
black revolutionary inspired him to learn more about Newton and
the Panthers. The emotional core of the show is Sullivan's
attempt to reconcile himself to his idol's contradictions: the
same man who was so fearless in the face of government racism
and police oppression was also a crackhead who killed a
prostitute. Underlying this are unflagging reminders of the
racist legacy of the U.S., where most of the Founding Fathers
are slave owners, and where a cop pulled a gun on Sullivan as he
sat in his own car, suspecting him to be a thief because he is
black.
Sullivan portrays a range of characters with tremendous
emotional authenticity, and in the great sweep of history there
is always the intimate detail: in the heat of the L.A. anti-war
march, for instance, there's a beautiful moment when a father
gently blows cool air on his child's face. There is also plenty
of sardonic humor, particularly in Sullivan's "Tips for
Revolutionaries" ( one of them is "learn to
duck"). If you want a show full of love, brains, passion,
and hope, go to see this one.
Kathleen
Oliver
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