Type of Listing
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Small Casts (2-6)
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Most Powerful Jujus
by Bernice Bronson
Audience participation play for 6 to 9 players. Open stage setting. One hour. $ 6.50
The storytellers of the ancient Yoruba tribe in Nigeria have a talking drum. By using a curved drumstick, and changing the pitch and rhythm of his sounds, a skilled drummer can "talk" in a special drum language based on the distinct tonal patterns of the tribe's spoken language.
The stories that grew out of the Yoruba talking drum deal with the elemental stuff of life--jealousy, hunger, fear, power--everything that fascinates young audiences. That's why they form the basis of such good participation theatre. In Most Powerful Jujus, the audience is divided into different tribes of animals--the grass-eaters, the meateaters, the reptiles, and the birds. They make decisions about important events, and have a stake in the outcome. Though the mode is fantasy--the animals talk and the twigs work magic--the dramatic events are powerful and real.
Poor Iyabo. The Yoruba orphan is forced to beg in the marketplace, and then meanspirited adults falsely accuse her of stealing. Accusers chase her, then appeal for help when the lose her.
"I just saw her--Where did she go?" "Have you seen her?" they ask several bystanders. Without missing a beat or a cue, the bystanders come screaming to life. "OVER THEEERE," shout 200 little witnesses, all primary students from Wiley Elementary School. "She's there, she's there," they yell, squealing on Iyabo. Never mind that the young girl has endured hardships not of her making and soon will be ostracized and seek refuge with animals. That is not the main point of this wildly popular children's play,Most Powerful Jujus. The purpose of Jujus--a West African word for a charm and the magic it carries--is to involve kindergarten, first and second-grade students in theatre. The entire time they're being entertained, they're also sharpening their critical thinking skills or, as they know it, putting on their thinking caps. The children unravel the play and determine its ending by listening, responding to cues, following instructions and using their imaginations. Along the way, the also learn some West African culture and geography.
The audience easily metamorphoses from tiny schoolchildren into powerful animals, portraying grass eaters such as elephants and antelope and meateaters such as the leopard. They commune with squawking birds and lisssssping reptiles and gobble up imaginary peanuts and watermelon for a dream feast. They also learn to work the magic of the jujus: "break a twig. Throw it to the ground. Stomp your hooves and bellow."
Along their theatrical journey, the children seem to develop a sense of justice, albeit one prodded by performers. They also developed a sense of magic and whimsy, as best explained by Wiley second-grader Matthew Johnson. "It taught me that you don't have to have twigs for your dreams," says Matthew, 8. "You can just have the dream and the desire."
Cathy Gant Hill
Greensboro, NC News and Record
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