I was put on this earth to agitate, writer/director Tazewell Thompson has Ida B. Wells proclaiming in Constant Star, his absorbing play about the fiery, uncompromising journalist, lecturer, teacher and anti-lynching crusader for civil rights and women's suffrage. áUntil recent years, the life and work of this Mississippi-born daughter of slaves was largely missing from history books. One reason may have been because Wells irritated members of her own race who believed men, not women, should lead the civil rights battles.
Not just one but five marvelous actresses portray Wells at different times of her life (1862 1931). Thompson also has them interweave almost two dozen spirituals, beautifully sung a cappella, throughout the play in highly dramatic ways. Particularly electrifying is their rendition of "America" ("My country, `tis of thee") with a harsh and bitter touch reminiscent of "Strange Fruit," the anti-lynching song made classic by Billie Holiday. "Constant Star," Thompson's first play, is overly long and in its second act repetitious. But the force of Wells' character, her wit and determination, and her complexity shine through.
Wells was no fan of Booker T. Washington, the black leader who was careful never to offend the white power structure. áIn her view, his middle initial stood for (Uncle) "Tom," while her middle initial, she declared, stood for "Backbone" - "something which he lacks." Always controversial and contentious, Wells even quarreled with Susan B. Anthony, the white suffragette/feminist leader. Unlike Anthony, Wells married at 33 and had children. In a foreshadowing of the famous Rosa Parks incident in Alabama, when that tired black woman refused to leave her "whites only" seat and go to the back of the bus, Wells in 1884 refused to give up her "white ladies only" seat for which she had paid the first-class fare on a train in Tennessee. When a conductor dragged her from her seat she bit him. Later she sued the railroad and won $500, but the state supreme court reversed the ruling. Wells in her crusading lifetime was so prominent that President William McKinley invited her to the White House, but he did nothing to help her causes. Internationally known, she was the first African-American women invited to give public lectures in Great Britain. She called her Memphis, Tennessee, newspaper "Free Speech" and printed it on pink paper so it would stand out. But some dishonest shopkeepers would instead sell unsophisticated people the bawdy Police Gazette, which also was printed on pink paper. "It's about gender," Wells, ever mindful of the difficulties women faced in overcoming political obstacles, says early on in Thompson's tribute to her.
Portraying her - as well as other male and female characters who cross her path - are Tina Fabrique, Cheryl Freeman, Carolyn Saxon, Shona Tucker, and Myiia Watson-Davis. Paul Owen's brilliantly realistic set depicts the office of "Free Speech" with its printing press, desks, and typewriters. Rather than focusing only on her hard-won accomplishments, Thompson has succeeded in capturing the complicated personality of Wells, making her entirely human and even more deserving of our admiration.
