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Felispeaks on bringing Black Irish writers & artists of colour to the stage

Updated / Tuesday, 14 Mar 2023 15:06
Poet, performer and playwright Felicia Olusanya, AKA Felispeaks
Poet, performer and playwright Felicia Olusanya, AKA Felispeaks

Poet, performer and playwright Felicia Olusanya, AKA Felispeaks, introduces the Transatlantic Commissions Programme, a series of readings of short plays by Black Irish writers and artists of colour presented in Dublin, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles this March by Fishamble: The New Play Company & Irish Repertory Theatre New York

I've gotten really accustomed to not really knowing what I’m doing. As an artist you pull things out of – not thin air – but out your consciousness, whenever there is writing ready to be birthed. I’ve got used to not having all my answers, but trusting the art that lives inside of me.

So, about a year ago when I got an email from Fishamble and The Irish Repertory Theatre, New York. I was excited to jump on the project even though I had no idea! Though I had worked with Fishamble before, and I kind of know what their vibe is, their professionalism and their work. I’d been part of workshops, working side by side with Fishamble, which were both poetry and theatre. I was running it with Gavin Kostick and it helped me pass on the knowledge I do have and be braver about my own work. That was interesting.

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Listen: RTÉ Arena on the The Transatlantic Commissions Programme

My work is in three roles, I am a poet and a performer and a playwright. Within this project I’m being challenged as a playwright. It’s risky of me to call myself a playwright – I’ve written one and half plays! But I am active in in the Dublin world of theatre making, in performance art, poetry and theatre. Wake by THISISPOPBABY for example, was really interesting for me as it was the first time I’d been performing somebody else’s writing as a performer. Up to then, Felispeaks as an entity as really focussed on writing that work and performing that work, staging that work and inviting people into my own world view. Whereas Wake was a challenge for me because I was introduced into Carys D Coburn’s world view and asked to embody performance offers. I think what was interesting about that was it gave me more freedom to hone my performance skills, without being fitted into an 'acting’ or ‘actor’ role.

I've got used to not having all my answers, but trusting the art that lives inside of me.

The project is being one of four writers, each creating 20-minute pieces with Fishamble and The Irish Rep. We got to work with mentor, Dael Orlandersmith. Dael is actually amazing. It is good to have a mentor who has, in a lot of senses, done it all. Dael is older, wiser, more knowledgeable and more secure in her craft. She has an air of confidence not just in herself as a mentor, but in me and I’m sure in the others as young writers. It was really inspiring. It didn’t feel like she was coming to teach us, but point us in the right direction: as to what we already had, already possessed.

When the story arrived it arrived. The title Bent came first. It means two different things. One, to mould or shape something into something that it isn’t organically. But also, something you have a natural ability to do or have an interest in. I thought those two things were strange and nearly contradictory.

The story is about a young girl who goes through a journey to try to balance her avatar. Who tries to balance the earth within her, the fire within her, the air within her, the water within her. Who, going through that journey, finds who she is and what her purpose is. Who makes that journey against other people, other well-meaning people, try to guide or inspire her in other directions: that they require her to do. In this work that is specifically a male guided energy. I really wanted to highlight masculine energy as not a negative thing or a villainous thing, but something that isn’t necessarily edifying. I think that nuance deserves a space to exist. At its core, it is a Black Irish story.

I’m on stage with two other people. I’ll be performing the avatar, with Esther Ayo James as the girl and Clinton Liberty taking all the male parts.

Everything I do is from the mind or entity of Felispeaks. It feels like this work fits well with that, but this also feels different. There is more theatrical structure around it.

The Transatlantic Commissions Programme features new plays by
(clockwise, from top right) Kwaku Fortune, CN Smith, Jade Jordan and Felispeaks,

But I’m very much looking forward to the work of Jade Jordan, CN Smith and Kwaku Fortune! I’ve no idea what the others are doing – and I’m very nosey. Well, I have had a sneak preview of one of the works – and it’s powerful! I can’t wait to see it take shape on a stage.

I’m really excited to see what the response is like to all of them. I am excited to see what it sparks in audience conversation. Dublin is a small city so I’m sure we’ll find out. Irishness is so nuanced. I’ll be interested to see what these works from Black artists and artists of colour does for the culture – here and the international spaces we’re going to. Culture Ireland is supporting us to get there. I wonder what the works will do.

The Transatlantic Commissions Programme, featuring new plays by Felispeaks, Kwaku Fortune, Jade Jordan and CN Smith, is at Project Cube, Dublin on 15th March; in New York at Irish Repertory Theatre, 132 W 22nd St, New York, NY on 20th & 21st March, in San Francisco at the Public Library, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco CA, on 23rd March, 2023 and the Public Library, Los Angeles on 26th March - find out more here.

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