Apr 25, 2008

'Down There' uplifting theater

By John Angell Grant / Theater Reviewer

Liberian-born Bay Area actress Sia Amma put herself on the theater map a decade ago with her one-woman show "In Search of My Clitoris." That play tells the story of her personal experience undergoing ritual genital mutilation at the age of 9, back in Liberia.

Amma continues to perform that show from time to time, but no longer regularly. She said in a recent conversation that revisiting the experience in performance is a difficult and draining endeavor.

On a lighter note, Amma is currently staging a more comedic one-woman show, "What Mama Said About 'Down There.'" This play is based on interviews she did with various women, who recount what they were taught about their sexuality (if anything) by their own mothers.

A production of "What Mama Said About 'Down There'" is running at Our Little Theater, a 25-seat venue behind the Hilton Hotel in San Francisco. It's one of the tiniest theaters I've ever been in, but the vibe is great, and makes for a warm and intimate experience.

Amma begins "What Mama Said" by talking with audience members and asking them what they learned from their mothers about their own sexuality. This interaction immediately knocks down barriers, and opens up intimacy in the room.

As it turns out, many mothers communicate awkwardly and ineffectively to their daughters about sexuality. Amma observes about the United States that although sex seems to be everywhere in the media and in public images, people don't talk about it well, if at all.

The night I attended her show, one audience member described her Brazilian mother's description of her sexuality as a house to be respected, like the house you grow up in.

Amma then asked audience members for the names their mothers taught them for "down there." An array of epithets ensued that were strange, fascinating and entertaining.

"What Mama Said" consists largely of a dozen segments in which Amma plays women she interviewed on the topic of what their mothers told them about "down there." In the end, the show is a variation on "The Vagina Monologues."

In one segment, Amma portrays an Englishwoman who demonstrates with her fingers the amusing set of lessons a nun gave her years earlier at boarding school on the proper ways to cross one's legs, and the dangerous results of not doing so.

In another scene, a Hindu Indian woman compares her conservative sexual upbringing with that of her Berkeley-born daughter. Elsewhere, a young woman from Marin recounts the birthday shopping trip her aunt took her on to "Good Vibrations" in San Francisco, and the present her aunt bought her.

In a later segment, a woman from the Bronx tells of her mother's obsession with cleanliness, and the ensuing dangerous medical episode with fabric softener. Some segments in "What Mama Said" derive from interviews with women who came to see Amma's shows, and stayed after to talk.

Some of Amma's characters are more distinctly performed than others, and in some of the segments the concluding moments could be stronger. Generally, it's an entertaining and thought-provoking show.

Amma said this play gives her a chance to recover from her personal traumatic experiences, when as a child her mother and other women, out of love, led her to a genital mutilation ritual. Amma performs one segment about this episode in her life.

"What Mama Said About 'Down There'" is a different kind of show than you're probably used to. It's a much-needed healing and educational sex positive experience.

Rating: Three stars

E-mail John Angell Grant at jagplays@yahoo.com.