Critic's Pick
Explore the space, the host implores as you enter the vestibule at First Lutheran Church. The more you explore, the richer the experience. So begins Traffick, the ambitious and multi-disciplinary theatrical experience from director Kim Popa and her merry band of social change-agents-cum-dancers from Pones Inc.
By now experienced fans should know what to expect, generally, from Pones at the Fringe. The group tackles weighty societal issues through movement and dance in unorthodox performance spaces. In a 2011 Fringe review, I commented that a Pones effort, Project Activate, was the greatest blend of content and setting that I had ever seen at the Fringe. Traffick is even better.
Most Fringe shows put content and performance above all else, mostly out of necessity. By nature of the festival schedule, troupes get precious little load-in time and very little storage space. The result is shoestring production value.
Popa runs full-steam the other way. It was great to watch Pones make the Emery come alive again for Project Activate. It was spectacular for Saturday’s opening night of Traffick at historick First Lutheran Church.
You can consider the church another cast member. Popa certainly does. Over the course of the hour-long show, the audience was divided into thirds and pointed in three directions to start the experience. The host/pimp (Derek Snow) didn’t think much of me as he went through the audience sizing us up. “That way,” he snarled.
I entered the sanctuary as three dancers used the center aisle of the church to explore the process of human trafficking: the forced recruitment, the willful objection, the punishment and the eventual acceptance. One of the show’s many original musical compositions echoed in the church’s main chamber. The lights were dimmed. The experience was haunting.
As I stood watching, I felt a person walk up beside me. “Beautiful, aren’t they?” she asked as the dancers portrayed physical restraint and torture. I struggled to come up with an answer. No matter. The woman walked away with a shrug. I was unwittingly given a role in the trafficking culture. And my reaction was dumb silence.
Next my group filed back into the main hallway. Performers were placed throughout the room, some pacing, some lying on the steps. One (the fiery Jyreika J. Evelyn Guest) was in the middle of a confession as we entered. With quiet, building passion in her voice, she explained to herself more than to us onlookers how she came to be there, to this moment in her life.
“You been stuck in traffic for far too long,” she lamented.
Downstairs, in a large empty room with a handful of chairs and a lonely stage light, dancers Ian Forsgren and Popa performed a sad dance of seduction for the sex traffic worker. Before they finished their piece, a solo performer (Montez Jenkins) took center chair and told his tale. He knows what he’s doing is wrong, but if he squeals, he’s dead. Simple truth. He’ll give them one more dance tonight.
I was so taken by the moment that I filed back upstairs later than the rest of my group. And in doing so, I missed most of the performance in a side room. “Join us in the sanctuary,” a performer beckoned.
With the whole audience back together in the main space, the entire cast used the church aisles, altar and pews for the last performance space of the night. I’m struck by how far Pones has come in the time since I first experienced their work. The troupe has undeniably grown in size, skill and ambition. And with Traffick, they absolutely nail it.
TRAFFICK by Pones Inc. will be performed 2:30 p.m. June 1, 8:30 p.m. June 3, 8:30 p.m. June 6 and 8:30 p.m. June 7 at First Lutheran Church (1208 Race St., Over-the-Rhine).
