"Warriors Don't Cry" Review

          This past Wednesday, I was lucky enough to watch “Warriors Don’t Cry” at the Bushnell. It was a one-woman show retelling the experiences of Dr. Melba Pattillo Beals as a part of the Little Rock Nine. It was unlike any other show that I have experienced, and I enjoyed it immensely. Because it was a one-woman show, the actress had to play various parts one after another. The amount of time that probably went into developing each character’s motives and personalities was huge. She described after the show how she had to hold her body a little different for each character so the audience could understand which character she was. For example, when she was playing Beal’s grandmother, she hunched over and constantly used her finger when she spoke. But when she was acting as Danny, her bodyguard, she stood up straight and tall. Through these characters, she was able to make a tough topic relatable and informative to the younger generation.  
          Overall, I think her performance was very effective and well thought-out but there were some parts of the play that could have used some changes. For example, there were many parts of the play where she spoke very quickly. This made it hard to understand what she was saying. It also threw me off a little because, in the time that I was trying to figure out what she said, she had already moved on with her lines. Another thing that surprised me was that she said that she had performed this show for four years, but she still stumbled on at least three or four of her lines. There was also a few things that affected my enjoyment of the show itself. For example, from where I was sitting, you could see the blue work light that was offstage and as the curtains moved, the light was shining brightly. I did not understand why the crew just did not close the curtains on the sides because there were no actors that had to enter or exit the stage anyway. Also, on the back curtain of the stage, there was a projection of windows which I thought did not add anything to the set. All in all, it was a successful and difficult production that she was able to pull off pretty effectively. I enjoyed it a lot and was able to learn a lot about a topic and point of view that is not really discussed in the history books.