Shasta Geaux Pop, a mesmerizing stage production combining edgy humor, social commentary, blazing Hip Hop, dynamic performance art and hilarious audience participation choreographed by the titular star, is the work of three brilliant women. Only two of them are real. It comes to the Contemporary Arts Center Thursday and Friday.
The show’s director is Charlotte Brathwaite, whose voluminous resume is matched by her creative vision, exploratory nature and immense talent. The show’s creator is Ayesha Jordan, an equally gifted performer, writer, lyricist and vocalist who is comfortable anywhere within the range between drama’s emotional depths and comedy’s spiky heights. And the show’s bright star is Shasta, Jordan’s musical alter ego, a dichotomous collision of impervious self-confidence and crippling insecurities who cajoles and exhorts her audience to join her, metaphorically and literally, on her improbable yet completely plausible path to the top, which may involve a presidential bid.
When Jordan talks about Shasta (whose middle name is pronounced “goes”), she refers to her in the third person, as if she is her co-conspirator rather than her creation. In a very real sense, she is both. “I like to refer to her as my very dear friend whom I manage, or try to manage. She’s out of control,” Jordan says. “Shasta birthed herself out of a necessity to help me fix the issue of being an actor, artist and performer.
“There was just a need to respond to pop culture. There’s so much that goes on that’s kind of ridiculous and over the top,” Jordan continues. “Back when Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie were constantly getting arrested, it seemed like trouble just helped them make more money.” That inspired Shasta’s first hit track, “Drunk and Famous.”
Shasta has also become Jordan’s conduit to directly or indirectly discuss social, cultural and political issues; check Jordan’s web site (ayeshajordan.com) for the Shasta 4 President 2020 video series for a taste of her political aspirations. It’s all part and parcel of Shasta’s role as a diva-in-training.
Shasta Geaux Pop is the first full-length presentation featuring the Pop princess. She has made plenty of previous appearances, but in lower profile venues and circumstances. “A lot of her other performances most people didn’t see because they were in some obscure places,” Jordan says. “Everything else she’s done has been smaller snippets of performances or in some basement/speakeasy/friend’s bar.”
Jordan and director Brathwaite met 12 years ago in Amsterdam, where Brathwaite was studying at the city’s School for the Arts and Jordan’s then-partner was enrolled in the master’s program. Brathwaite invited Jordan to be a part of the student show she was creating, which they wound up co-writing. Eventually the pair, who had maintained their friendship throughout their travels, found themselves in New York at the same time.
“She asked if I would direct a show she wanted to make called Come See My Double D’s — the double D’s were divorce and death,” Brathwaite says. “So we did that show. She had been doing Shasta for awhile in clubs and stuff, she would dress up and do these fun little acts. I hadn’t really seen it at the time, but I went to one and it was amazing. I love working with her. Ayesha is just this bright shining light of energy.”
Together, Jordan and Brathwaite designed the interactive performance, which they both describe as “a guided party.” Shasta mingles with the crowd like a host at a cocktail party, engaging and entertaining the audience directly, while singing her songs and making sly comments and references. Much of the show is scripted, particularly the songs, with lyrics by Jordan and music by Justin Hicks and Jo Collura (aka DJ Avg Jo), but there is plenty of room for improvisation and topicality.
“There’s music, there’s drinks, there’s typically someone greeting folks, passing out candy,” Jordan says. “Once everybody’s in, the grande dame makes her entrance. Shasta starts speaking to people and singing — we have a song called ‘The Existential Thrust’ — and the night jumps off.
“It’s a delicate balance between pulling people into the world and not overwhelming them. People hear ‘interactive’ and it’s, ‘Oh, God, don’t ask me to do anything.’ We try to make it integral to the performance so you want to do it. It’s really truly fun. There’s room for things to shift and change.
“At any given moment, anything can happen,” she continues. “At our first performance at Under the Radar (a festival), Shasta was going down the steps and totally tripped and fell flat on her ass. That was an immediate moment, and she pretended like it was supposed to happen. That led into a song called ‘Insecurely Me.’ ”
There is a cast for Shasta Geaux Pop, beyond the diva herself, that includes Brathwaite, Hicks, Collura and Ahkmose Ari (aka the Compliment King). Obviously, Shasta is the center of this staged universe, and she has a few themes to explore. “By the nature of who we are, a lot of our collaborations end up focusing on women, specifically black women, and empowerment and being able to talk about things you don’t often see black women talk about in large-scale formats,” Brathwaite says. “They’re not overtly political, but they do have an undercurrent of politics and feminism running through them.”
Says Jordan: “Feminist is a popular term right now, but I personally don’t use it. At a certain level, it can box you in. But we are trying to push certain things within that framework. I just want women to be empowered and not have to succumb to the whims of a patriarchal society and where that puts us. That’s one of Shasta’s purposes, to create that sense of ownership and self, and the ability to do what you want to do and see the world without regret.”
SHASTA GEAUX POP takes place 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday at downtown’s Contemporary Arts Center. Tickets/more info: contemporaryartscenter.org
This article appears in Oct 18-25, 2017.