“Bowl EP,” now at The Vineyard, is a triumph of queer art, performance, and theatricality that manages to be daring, provocative and heartwarming all at once.
Written and directed by Nazareth Hassan, the piece is set “in a skateboard park, in the middle of a wasteland, at the edge of the galaxy,” as noted by the program. (The Vineyard space has been transformed with an empty swimming pool with the audience on all sides.) In this abstract space, Quentavius da Quitter (real name “Quinn”) and Kelly K Klarkson are skating and trying to come up with a name for their rap group and the short album (EP) they want to create to promote themselves. The scenes are a series of blackouts, called “tracks” in projections, in which we see the developing affection between them. Quinn is a caretaker, more male identifying and often offering a variety of snacks, while Kelly is more rough-edged but also more gender queer, often referred to as “she.” Over the series of scenes, though, their bond and affection resonates through the simplest interactions.
At one point they drop acid, and the audience is taken inside the trip. Their hallucinations summon a kawaii (a Japanese artform expressing cuteness and an inherent innocence), costumed character that reveals itself as demonic and delivers a raging monologue that unearths Quen’s and Kelly’s dreams and fears and tells a version of their life stories, literally and metaphorically ripping their guts out. The trip ends, and Quinn and Kelly are back to trying to name their group.
The narrative takes a backseat, however, to the art and the structure of the piece. In many respects, “Bowl EP” is in the tradition of the Dadaist theater of the early 20th century and the work of artists like Tristan Tzara, who challenged both a corrupted world and the conventions of the theater. Tzara was railing against a world going mad through war, and how both society and humanity were on the brink of destruction. Hassan, more than a century later, is looking at the world — and in particular the social structures — that inhibit Black men from being and expressing themselves. Hassan marries Dada with Rap, seamlessly melding the genres to make something new and galvanizing. The effect is impressionistic, and it’s a fool’s errand to seek to understand in a linear way.
Rather “Bowl EP” simply has to be experienced, and the meaning reveals itself through the rhythms, the torrents of words, the skating, and the emotions of the characters. Ironically, Tzara would likely reject the effort to make traditional sense of the work or any efforts by a writer to define the experience for others. And therein lies the power of “Bowl EP:” only you will know what to make of it for yourself. As the Dadaists themselves said, “Dada means nothing. Everything is Dada.”
The cast is spectacular. Oghenero Gbaje is Quentavius da Quitter. He is warm, passionate, vulnerable and the heart of the couple. As Kelly K Clarkson, Essence Lotus is sexy and teasing and with an undercurrent of anger and frustration, gender unspecified. Together, the characters are seeking identity, perhaps fame, but more the freedom to be their authentic selves in the context of the world. They bite, hit, fight, and flirt, creating an intimacy that bonds them.
Felicia Curry as Lemon Pepper Wings, the kawaii character, delivers a monologue that is a tour de force. The character is the demon that Quen has created that attacks him and robs him of himself and which he vomits up after dropping acid. The monologue is a raging, rapid-fire description of the facts of Quinn’s life up to his death, but more poetically it describes the love between Quin and Kelly — and the inevitability, it seems, of their parting as their lives took different paths. Curry is a powerhouse performer with an incredible skill for articulating with absolute clarity that spins indelible images and mines the feelings of the story.
Like the Dadaists, Hassan’s work is disruptive and breathtaking, and an audience being overwhelmed by the piece is part of its artistry. Part roller coaster, part epic poem, the best advice is to give yourself over to the ride and see where it takes you.
“Bowl EP” | The Vineyard Theatre | 108 East 15th Street |Tues-Sat 7 p.m.; Sat, Sun 2 p.m. through June 8 | $45-$99 at Vineyard Theatre | 1 hour 40 mins, no intermission
