Performers YaliniDream (left) and Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai (right) act out a scene in which their characters pray to Mary Magdalene, portrayed by Adeeba Rana (center) during the “Say You Heard My Echo” event. Photo-illustration by Daniel Green.

Picture Ground Zero. A chain link fence strewn with teddy-bears, cards, flowers and records contrasts the dark blockade of a construction site, with soft whites and bright reds attempting to bandage the damaged scenery. A buzz of impatient commuters and diligent workers fills the scene until an interruption by three enchanting voices. Together, they say:

“In the city that never sleeps, we’ve got no time for memorial poems.”

One of these voices belongs to Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai, a Chinese-Taiwanese American writer and artist from New York. Alongside her are performing partners Adeeba Rana and YaliniDream.

Tsai presented her three-act play “Say You Heard My Echo” at the Stevenson Event Center on April 13 through the Cultural Arts and Diversity Resource Center, Student Union Assembly and Rainbow Theater. The show was produced by Tsai’s associates from Moving Earth Productions, the Asian-American Arts Alliance and director Jesse Jou.

The show explores the impacts of 9/11 on three fictional Asian-American women living in New York City a decade later. Their struggles with survivorship and faith prompt them to call upon three female religious icons: Mary Magdalene, Guan Yin and Aisha. The women undergo separate transformations as the years following 9/11 prompt change in their political, social and personal lives. The ever-present female religious figures act as mirror representations of the characters and help facilitate their fulfillment, guidance and enlightenment.

Tsai, who grew up in the culture of poetry slams in Chicago, has been able to take her love for spoken word around the world to places including Trinidad and China.

“Spoken word poetry at its very best allows people’s authentic stories, relationships to language and rhythms to shine through [in] a unique, culturally specific way,” Tsai said.

Act One illustrates the damaging effect of monotony and silence — a Catholic burlesque dancer’s survival mutes her expressiveness until she becomes immersed in the anti-war movement. The second act chronicles the unsettling downward spiral of a Buddhist Iraq War veteran and hip-hop emcee who suffers from post traumatic stress disorder upon her return home. The final act addresses the issue of families burdened by detention and interrogation as a Muslim librarian struggles to stay connected to her grandfather. Themes such as the fight for cultural pride and struggle for survival occur throughout the play and serve as a primary focus to connect these three female characters to their respective religious icons.

“I was playing guitar … and heard the words ‘say you heard my echo,’ then I saw an image of a woman being pursued by Mary Magdalene in New York City,” Tsai said.

Tsai’s goal is to show the depth of the experiences that marginalized groups undergo, with special investment in the personal aspects of her identity as a woman who is Asian-American.

“‘Say You Heard My Echo’ shows the breadth and depth of my own humanity through the work that I do … The honesty resonates with people far beyond myself,” Tsai said.

After the third act, the women came together just as they did in the introduction. Their presence together was representative of the power in diversity among different cultures as they brought restoration and healing and beckoned for action in unison, “Silence is never silent. All we have is time for renewal. Say you heard my echo. Say you heard my call.”

After the show, Don Williams, the director of Cultural Arts and Diversity at UCSC addressed the audience about the significance of a valued community through performing arts.

“Our goal is to receive a variety of scripts that deal with many cultures and there’s a lot of cultures that are never written about,” Williams said.

Williams is engaged in the ongoing production process of performances that celebrate diverse cultures.

“We here at the UC, especially Rainbow Theater, are always looking to seek Asian-American one-act plays,” Williams said.

“Rainbow! Rainbow!” echoed supporters in the crowd.

The previously barren stage found its emptiness overwhelmed by the powerful presence of everyone involved as a unified body. The performers of “Say You Heard My Echo” were surrounded by the embrace of laughter and liveliness by the student communities of Don Williams and the students of Cultural Arts and Diversity Resource Center, Student Union Assembly affiliates, and performers from Rainbow Theater.

“No matter how we feel on a given day, we’re never as spiritually or emotionally alone as we may feel,” Tsai said.

To follow Kelly Tsai’s performances and material visit yellowgurl.com.

As part of the African Student Union performance of ‘Africa, My Africa,’ members of the organization participate in a fashion show displaying a variety of styles of dress from Africa. Photo by Morgan Grana.

The spicy smell of stewed meat in curry sauce permeated the air. Red, green and yellow fabrics draped around the bodies of young women, contrasting beautifully with the all-white attire of young men. Rhythmic, pulsing, bass-heavy music played in the background.

The scene was set last Friday, when an audience comprised mostly of students almost filled Kresge Town Hall. The African Student Union (ASU) artfully shattered prevailing stereotypes and misconceptions of Africa, African-Americans and the African diaspora through its performance of “Africa, My Africa.”

ASU transformed Kresge Town Hall, bringing the bright colors, inviting tastes and drum-laden sounds of the multicultural African continent to UC Santa Cruz, proving that future ASU events will be a prime setting for cultural experiences you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else on campus.

Although the show was advertised to begin at 7 p.m., activities were not underway until about an hour later. The crowd didn’t seem to mind, however, as almost everyone immediately took a place in the long food line, clearly eager to sample the dishes whose smells were hanging enticingly in the air.

The warm smells and richly spiced tastes of curried lamb, sambusas (a staple dish in the Horn of Africa, somewhat akin to an East Indian samosa) and rice with bright green peas strewn over it kept the attendees happy as ASU members buzzed about in their bright and flowing clothes, preparing to give the audience the show they eagerly came to see.

After the audience was finally seated with their bellies full, the room darkened. The sudden pounding of a lone drum sounded off the first half of the performances, which were devoted to recognizing the diversity of life, identity and culture in multiple African nations — nations represented by the 17 ASU members.

The drummer addressed the audience: “Where did it all begin?” The audience members were then exposed to snippets of culture from across the African continent through live musical performances of renditions of songs from Mali and Sudan. The crowd erupted into cheers and ear-splitting clapping at the song’s final note, and a proud motherly voice shouted, “That’s my Shadin!” from the front row, causing the on-stage vocalist to crack a wide, proud grin.

The event continued with spoken word and poetry readings from different ASU members, evoking with their words issues like media portrayal of Africa, the meaning of specific and pan-ethnic African identities, the African diaspora, the struggles of immigrating to the United States, and other important topics that deserve conversation and attention. The speakers’ poetic and passionate words were received by quick, successive snaps from the audience — a common method of showing appreciation and respect to a spoken word poet.

The loudest cheers and sounds of encouragement, however, came during the fashion show. ASU members strutted across the stage in colorful and stunning attire that was representative of several African regions, including Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia and others. The models caused the audience to erupt in shouts, hoots, hollers and smiles of appreciation as they two-stepped and shimmied across the stage to the drum-heavy music that accompanied the show. The performers’ clear and emanating confidence reflected the fact that they had been working on the show for three to four months.

The finale continued in a musical vein. Several ASU members, still clad in their cultural attire, performed a dance that they also performed at this year’s Multicultural Festival. The crowd was brought to their feet, clapping furiously as the performers took their final bow.

ASU’s first cultural show, which member Iman Barre hopes will become an annual event, left audience members perhaps a bit more aware about the African diaspora than when they first took their seats. Recently formed as an organization on campus in fall 2011, ASU hopes to thrive for many generations of students to come, and continue to create enlightening, fun and open spaces where diverse cultures can be explored and appreciated.

Mayda del Valle, the headlining performer at Rainbow Theater’s Birth of Word production, performs one of her poems at the Oakes Learning Center on May 3. Photo by Catie Havstad.

Students gathered and they listened. 

Birth of Word, a spoken-word event that took place on May 3 at the Oakes Learning Center, brought students from all over campus to share and celebrate various interpretations of the versatile art form. The event showcased a wide variety of expressive performers, including Mayda del Valle, a nationally renowned poet who headlined the event.

Produced by Rainbow Theater, those behind Birth of Word hoped the event would bring together spoken-word artists from multiple walks of life. This proved to be a wearing task for the event’s organizer, third-year community studies major Camille Brown, who described the process as the “most stressful thing I’ve done” — though she she also described it as a “blessing” and a worthwhile task.

“We’ve been socialized to be silenced for things and not talk about what’s most important to us,” Brown said. “Now we have students from this school, students from high school, students from Berkeley, Mayda de Valle, who are all coming here and talking about things that matter to them the most and having other people listen and later … discuss and learn more from each other. It’s a great way to build connections and community.” 

Energy ran high among the crowd as performers presented different interpretations of the spoken word. Groups like the Funny Boners enriched the show with their comedy, while others like the Youthspeaks Teen Poetry Slam Team and the UC Santa Cruz Slam Team filled the room with spirit and passion.

Jackie Martinez, a fourth-year theater arts major, served not only as master of ceremonies for the event but performed as well. She and two other girls acted out a segment of “Taggin’ on Blue,” a spoken-word play about Central American culture in the United States. Martinez highlighted what she thought was Birth of Word’s most significant message.

“The key message that we want our audience to leave with is the freedom to express, to embrace these different types of movements … that a lot of Santa Cruz doesn’t see,” Martinez said. “We have a lot of organizations here that do put on events … [but] there are hardly a few that just have music and food [that just enjoy] the vibe.”

Co-hosting with Martinez was Lisa Evans, a third-year history major from College Ten. Evans, along with many others who attended, emphasized the importance of expressing oneself.

“Expression doesn’t just have to be spoken,” Evans said. “Words are valuable … that’s what the big thing about this is — expressing yourself regardless of [how] that is. If it’s through music, if it’s through dance, if it’s through speaking — just making sure that you get your voice out there and express yourself.”

Evans said that events like the Birth of Word hold power.

“I really appreciate spoken word,” she said. “I think it’s a really powerful medium for talking to people and connecting stories that often don’t get told … there are a lot of vehicles on campus for [spoken word] but I think it’s really cool to showcase them all and bring in [groups from different areas]. It allows a lot more connections that might not necessarily happen.” 

Music also found its way into Birth of Word. James Green, a sixth-year community studies major, performed for the first time at Birth of Word with his band, The Tonalities. Green has been involved with many Rainbow Theater productions, assisting in sound design and organization.

“We look to promote student organizations that have something to say about spoken word, present themselves, or open themselves up to this community,” Green said. “[Birth of Word] is a collaborative space for different ways of interpreting spoken word, whether it is through … music or through dance, [which is] a different way of looking at spoken word.”

Green reflected back upon Birth of Word as he spoke about Rainbow Theater and what he thinks its ultimate purpose is.

“If it all comes back to the Birth of Word,” he said, “how we interpret [spoken word] is the theme, and how we celebrate it is what we do.”