Of the thousands of people in Albuquerque, only about 15 experienced the jazzy, brassy, eccentric, one-woman performance of "Up South" Friday night.
Marya Errin Jones, the creator and actress of "Up South," frolicked and tumbled around a small stage strewn with newspapers and churned up a unique blend of absurdity, puppetry, radio theater, mask manipulation and singing.
Inspired by Orson Welles' all-black production of Macbeth in 1936, Jones' play featured a young, black woman from Albany, Ga. winding up in busy New York City where most people could care less about her. She runs through immigration services, bumps into Orson Welles and lands a job as a radio broadcaster.
Jones' voice, above all things, was the show's brightest aspect. Strong and moving, her wide vocal range brought the small audience back to the jazz era and even further back to the spirituals from before the Civil War. Her original songs truly accented the theme of finding an identity and gave the performance a smooth line of continuity.
"My main goal in making theater is I want to make it for anyone," Jones said. "It's not black theater; it's not specific to a group."
Jones showed a good understanding and awareness of her varied audience.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Young kids laughed their heads off at Jones' voice changes and her use of Orson Welles' headshot as a puppet while middle-aged women chuckled and nodded their approval of her immigration services parody. Everyone laughed at the line first coined by Orson Welles, "Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch."
Her main influences in creating "Up South" were off-Broadway actor Bill Irwin, author and playwright Samuel Beckett, physical comedy duo, the Umbilical Brothers and absurdist Buster Keaton.
Jones said she decided to make "Up South" a solo act because it's hard to find people to do experimental work. It was a process of trial and error when rigging the puppets and seeing which voices worked and which didn't.
"Original work requires risk," she said. "I don't think I'm doing a solo performance. I think of it as a partnership with myself."
The show was first performed in June at the R.B. Winning Coffee House 110 Harvard Drive SE. Jones took the show on a tour and sold out a show at the Dell'Arte International Mad River Festival Edge Fest in Blue Lake, Calif.
"I've been working on this show for over half a year," Jones said. "Am I pleased with the outcome? I would like to say yes, but I would also say I'm never pleased. I don't think theater is about finished products. It won't ever be finished."
Finished or not, this unconventional, oddball joyride through a young woman's search for identity is worth seeing.
The last performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. at Out ch'Yonda, 929 4th St. Tickets prices are between $5 and $10. Call 306-1918 for more information.
