By CARRIE NEAL
A Seat on the Aisle
Indiana Repertory Theatre (IRT) begins 2024 on a strong and inspirational note, with the one-woman show Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer.
A lesser-known figure of the Civil Rights Movement, Hamer was an uneducated sharecropper from Mississippi who eventually became a prominent voting rights activist and public speaker. I’m embarrassed to say I knew nothing of her story, which deserves to be a familiar part of American history for all.
The story begins in Fannie’s kitchen, and at first it seems the tone of the piece is going to be chatty and familiar, just a woman talking to her friends. But we soon realize we are going to church in this play, both through Fannie’s eloquent orations that are very much like sermons (she was the daughter of a Baptist preacher, after all) and even more so because of her frequent, passionate bursts into song, which were a hallmark of her public speaking.
One of the few things I knew going in was that this was a one-woman play with music, and I was very much looking forward to hearing the vocal work of Maiesha McQueen, whose impressive resume includes Waitress on Broadway and the recent company of Come from Away in Gander, Newfoundland. But while McQueen’s voice was magnificent and absolutely lived up to all my expectations, the major surprise of the evening was that almost every time Fannie sings, she asks the audience to sing along with her. This undertaking met with mixed success at best; every time I looked around, it seemed that at the very most, 30 percent of audience members were singing along.
Maiesha McQueen as Fannie Lou Hamer. (Photo provided)
As Fannie, Maiesha McQueen takes us on a beautiful rollercoaster of a journey. She’s lighthearted and jaunty while she entertains the audience (and even bakes a cake!), but also digs deep to share the intimacies of her greatest sufferings with us. As audience members, we’re acutely aware of the privilege of going on this emotional voyage with Fannie, but we’re even more aware of the enormous privilege of voting – which too many of us have taken for granted.
As always, the impeccable scenic design at IRT is a treat, with credit going to Collette Pollard. Lighting design by Jason Pollard is particularly effective, along with stunning projection design by Mike Tutaj. His projections achieved something I’d never seen before: actually advancing the action of the storyline, rather than just serving as a backdrop. The three-man band comprised of Morgan E. Stevenson, Spencer Bean, and Dorian Phelps was uniformly excellent, and they also provided some energetic backup vocals.
Clocking in at a brisk 75 minutes with no intermission, Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer – written by Cheryl L. West and directed by Henry D. Godinez – is a worthy and uplifting way to spend your time during the dark days of winter. It runs through Feb. 4 on the OneAmerica Mainstage at IRT, and tickets may be purchased online at irtlive.com.
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