Goddess Speaks
MICHAEL SMITH World Entertainment Writer, 05/13/2002
Catherine Adkins, artistic director of OKRep! is the play's producer and stage manager. Below and Bottom: Cyndi Caldwell portrays multiple characters from "Goddess Speaks." JOHN CLANTON, KELLY KERR / Tulsa World
One-woman show chronicles a journey through nine lives, 3,000 years
There wasn't a snowball's chance in you-know-where that Catherine Adkins or pretty much anyone else was going to make it out to see Cyndi Caldwell's one-woman show "The Goddess Speaks" when it premiered mid-December 2000 for a three-show run.
With a blizzard dropping about a foot of snow in the Tulsa area, residents were struggling for days just to push out of snow-packed driveways, care for children whose schools had closed and avoid slip-and-fall injuries.
They weren't attending plays, that's for sure. Another goddess of sorts, Mother Nature, had chimed in loud and clear to stop that attempt.
"My husband and I said, `Well, we love Cyndi, and we love Suzanne (Thomson, co-author of the play), but we're not going out in this,' " Adkins said, laughing as she remembered the whole mess. "We couldn't weather that storm. As much as I value both of those artists, I value my life more."
There was great disappointment for many people that only a few dozen people saw the original staging of "The Goddess Speaks," the journey of a woman facing her past as well as her future as a single mother while portraying nine different characters over a span of about 3,000 years
Adkins decided to see if her company, OKRep!, could help in remounting the production. When she was named the winner of the 2001 Jingle Feldman Artist/Scholar award, a $5,000 prize presented by the Arts and Humanities Council of Tulsa, she could afford to put her money where her mouth is.
"I proposed that I wanted to put my time and energy into remounting this work and giving it the opportunity to find an audience," she said. "It really is a very lovely piece."
The work is quite autobiographical for Caldwell, an actress who created a series of monologues for herself to use as audition pieces. She talked about divorce, being a single mother, an abusive relationship.
"It didn't seem that personal in the beginning, but it developed into the story of my life," Caldwell said.
Then she joined forces with Thomson, an author whose extensive historical research of medieval and other eras plays a role in "Goddess," as Caldwell performs the one-woman show by paralleling the events of her life with characters she portrays, including a Celtic warrior from 750 B.C. and a woman burned to death for supposedly being a witch.
Another character is an aspiring writer who has to keep her work a secret from her husband in the 1930s. One present-day character examines her life after years of extensive plastic surgery and constant dieting. Caldwell speaks from personal experience in the arc of this story, making a transition between characters with tales from her own life, which connect the monologues.
These are intensely personal works about women and empowerment, but it's not just about women, Adkins says.
"Although it's performed by a woman, and all the characters are women, it's about relationships," she said. "Relationships to a man or to nature or the world at large -- or the spiritual world."
Adkins, who serves as the play's producer, stage manager and "chief cook and bottle washer," describes the show as running the gamut of theatrical emotion, dramatic as well as humorous at times, and a tour de force for an artist.
"What a wonderful exercise for a solo artist, to have this opportunity: onstage alone, for more than an hour, and you're it, baby," she said, laughing. "It's sink or swim!"
OKRep! is planning an audience after-party following Thursday's performance, with beverages and light food offered as well as an opportunity to meet the creative talents behind the show.
Local clay artist Mary Schepers will have "Goddess" sculptures on display and for sale, as will a pair of clothing designers.
Michael Smith, World entertainment writer, can be reached at 581-8334 or via e-mail at michael.smith@tulsaworld.com.
What: "The Goddess Speaks," a one-woman show presented by OKRep!
When: 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. May 19, 8 p.m. May 23-25
Where: Nightingale Theater, 1416 E. Fourth St.
Tickets: $10-$12, may be purchased through Carson Attractions by calling 584-2000 or at Tulsa Drug Mart locations, Mabee Center, Maxwell Convention Center and at the door