Hot Flashes was the first half of an evening called "Divas of Performance," brought to the National Black Theater Festival by San Francisco-based Cultural Odyssey. A mainstay of that company, Rhodessa Jones uses her 50th birthday as a pretext for celebrating the mixed blessing -- and the scorching curse -- of menopause. Clad in flaming red vinyl, Jones has exuberance to burn. She coaxes the entire audience into chanting "Vagina, vagina, vagina!" to the theme of "Bonanza." Along with her current "power surges" and "private summers," Jones has us sharing the experiences of her youth and her special mid-life delight in her daughter and granddaughter. Hot Flashes is an orgy of lightheartedness and attitude, mixed with family-snapshot wholesomeness.
At the center of Jones' charm is a sensual arrogance that equals anything I saw from the studs in Diary of Black Men. "I can take you there," she declares, "and I can drop you off!" The best part of menopause, she's telling us, is her liberation from the dictates of her hormones after a lifetime of tyranny. In another parallel to Diary, she passes out peace offerings at the end of her performances -- candy kisses instead of roses. While Hot Flashes wasn't a profound, transformative experience, I confess I succumbed to Jones' sweaty, sleazy, feisty allure.
