Written and Performed by Bryonn Bain
Directed by Mei Ann Teo
NAACP Sponsored National Tour - Summer and Fall 2010
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Weaving together the critical and comedic voices of his Caribbean immigrant family and a California poet and choir boy sentenced to Death Row at 17 years old, this multimedia solo performance tackles America's unresolved contradictions with a virtuosic sense of humor and breathtaking lyricism.
"As someone who served time -- or rather, let time serve me -- I know this ("Lyrics from Lockdown") is such an important production. You see what happened to Tookie Williams. We can't stand by and let the same thing happen to Nanon. We're living in serious times. We need everyone, and especially our artists, to be thinking. Too many people out here are living their lives, running around, or on the radio today saying any damn thing -- without thinking. That's why we have Bryonn..."
Abiodun Oyewole
The Last Poets
World's first hip hop group
Critics hail Lyrics from Lockdown "Usually poetry doesn't do it for me-I just don't "get it". Bryonn Bain, however, gave me shivers more often than any other artist has been able to achieve. From comical conversations with the devil to existential ponderings on his child's scribbling, Bain is able to turn a simple story into an exposition on the human condition, touching not only our universal desire for freedom and justice, but our search for the beautiful in the ugly, the self in the system, and the divine in the mortal.
'Lyrics' has played to sold out audiences across the country and most recently in California. Here's what theater critics and fans from Napa Valley and San Francisco are saying:
'Lyrics From Lockdown' has a sense of transparency--and clarity--unusual to any performance piece, and to Hip-Hop. Both point towards a simultaneous layering of narrative and performative action; personal and social issues; music and speech; past, present--and hope for the future.
Bryonn Bain's work, staged by Mei Ann Teo, goes further towards this kinetic ideal, without stinting on its component elements or relying on gimmickry, than many another, more famous pieces. It's sui generis, defies being typed... The vignette dealing with Bain's Calypsonian father is worthy of expansion as a whole show unto itself." - Ken Bullock; Berkeley Daily Planet, San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle
Such themes are bound to engage any audience, and arouse even the most indifferent stoic. If you have a heart, Bain will reach right past it to your soul. Expect a reawakening. The lyrical, musical, and theatrical adventure that is "Lyrics from Lockdown" is a power-punch of artistic expression that left me stunned and begging for more." - Zach Benton; www.thebackstagedoor.com
"I just have to tell you...the show was the sh*t! Bryonn is the sh*t (he is a lyrical genius!!!). The direction is the shi*t. Girl, that's a lot of good sh*t. My girlfriends loved the show too! We're ready for the next one!" - Carlyn Ferrari; Lyrics Fan
Don't miss Lyrics from Lockdown!
