Transition

Straight & Nappy presents Straight and Nappy opened this past Saturday. I was so nervous as opening night approached. I had so many doubts. Would the material be strong enough? Will I alienate my audience? Will I bore my audience? Will I have an audience?

Last week was stressful and arduous. I took a temp assignment at the big ad agency as a receptionist on the creative floor. Creative is where the copywriters, artists, producers, and creative management staff works. I love being on the creative floor. Their jobs are not that different than what I have just been doing with my show except I don't have to get a client's approval.

After work, I took a bus to my friend Roz' place in Lakeview. Roz and her professional stagehand husband are in Europe and I am housesitting. I have been so busy working on Straight & Nappy that I didn't think about my housesitting duties. I hadn't packed or downloaded files that I needed from my roomies' computer. Plus I had rehearsal every night at Piper's Alley in Old Town.

Chicago, like most large cities, is a series of smaller neighborhoods that make up this behemoth city. The city is set up on a grid so it is easy to figure out how to get to an address. It is also a city will several train lines and busses but it takes forever to travel on public transportation.

The show was my number priority this past week so I decided to stay in Rogers Park at night take the train downtown to temp. Take a bus to check the lakeview address' mail after work. I would bus it to Second City. After rehearsal I would take the train back to Rogers Park.

I did that Monday through Thursday. Thursday and Friday was all about getting myself physically prepared for the show. I had to get a trim, a new shirt, new shoes, earrings, and a manicure. Everything went smoothly except the haircut.

I have been letting my hair grow for months. I decided that I liked being nappy headed. I loved the freedom of conditioning my hair and hitting the streets. It was follicular rebellion. I went to my barber Francis. I love Francis, who is from Ghana. He is smooth and dark with defined muscles but not a real big guy. I wanted to him to trim the ends so that while my mane was wild, it looked purposefully so. Francis decided that he needed to cut my hair...off. I couldn't believe it. That motherfucker cut my hair off. It didn't make me bald but my hair was significantly shorter. And all my curls were gone.

I was livid. I couldn't believe it. The hair cut was great. It looked fabulous but it was not what I wanted. I usually let my barber/stylist choose what style they think is best; this time I was very specific and he didn't listen to me. I went back to Francis the next day to voice my displeasure. He did what he always does. He smiled at me. Sat me down in his chair, pulled out his afro pick, and start raking my hair like it was fallowed ground. "Relax," he said in a deep and strong voice. Those strong African arms hypnotized me and placed me under his spell. He than began cutting more hair. I protested. "Relax," he said again. He explained that my hair was going to be fine. That this new haircut would be a better base for the look I wanted. Oh well, I looked good so I got over the hair loss. It's not like I could glue the hair shavings back on.


Friday night I started staying at Roz' place. Saturday was the big day. I slept in Saturday. I had stressed all week but not today. I still had to buy shoes, a shirt, get thank you cards, and print the progam information (bios and acknowledgements). I did it all in a couple of hours and got dressed for the night. I wanted to be funky so I bough some silver ear studs and wore my silver bracelet. Warm wishers called from Florida, Peoria, California,and Virginia.

Mom and Aunt Sharon arrived around 6pm to pick me up. We drove to Old Town and ate at Thai food.

Rebecca was nervous that night but I was so relaxed. I was ecstatically happy that we were actually going to have an audience for our show. All my worries and doubts were for nothing. There was a full house. The press came. My family and friends were there. I felt great. I looked great. There were a few glitches but the show was good, not great but not so bad either. We share a bill with a husband and wife comedy duo called Cathcart & Olson. Their show complimented ours. We are more "ethnic" than they are but their chemistry is a sight to behold.

I will write more about the show later. Their are some exciting events for Straight & Nappy including show reviews and a local television appearance. We are even featured in the current issue of Timeout Chicago Magazine. Look in the comedy section for the picture of me and Rebecca standing at a men's urinal with the caption "Pip to my loo..."