“It’s almost like I’m playing myself in a parallel dimension,” Tef Poe said of his role on the Black Rep stage.
He has made a name for himself as a rapper, activist, cultural critic and academic. This week, Poe will introduce the world to Tef Poe the actor when he makes his stage debut in their production of Ntozake Shange’s “Spell #7” at The Hotchner Studio inside the Edison Theatre.
“I didn’t come in as Tef Poe the rapper. I came in as the unproven actor that is trying to prove myself in this hemisphere,” Poe said. “And Ron [Himes] is not the type to give me the padded landing because I’m already doing something someplace else [music].”
Poe plays Eli, a bartender/bar owner poet in Black St. Louis that is the favorite haunt of black artists in the early 1970s. The play’s narrator, a magician named Lou, wants to use his magic to have these regulars embrace their artistry and their blackness.
“His bar is like a place for starving artists to congregate,” Poe added. “I can relate to that too, because I’m always trying to have an outlet for St. Louis artists. The ingredients that made Eli the person he is aren’t that different from the ingredients that made me who I am. It just all boils down to decisions. The template is the same.”
He finds so much of Eli in himself that he called the character a blueprint from another era.
“I get to have these grand monologues about poetry and words,” Poe said. “My relationship with poetry and my relationship with St. Louis gets explored a lot in this play. It’s based in St. Louis. That’s me. St. Louis and poetry and St. Louis and music. That’s my whole life. I relate to the basic premise of the story too, because we are still living it. The same stuff that Ntozake was writing about – the needle hasn’t moved that far.”
The striking similarities between himself and his character didn’t make the process of stepping on stage and presenting a role as an actor for the first time any easier.
“There’s this one monologue that I do where I’m talking about keeping my feet on the ground,” Poe said. I talk about being a poet and I say, ‘I am a poet. I am not a part-time poet. I am not an amateur poet.’ I can relate to that, because growing up, my parents didn’t’ give me the gasoline to be in the space that I’m.”
During that scene, Poe vividly remember his stepfather saying, “I don’t know what you going to do with your life, but it won’t be this stuff you’re out here trying to do now,” referring to Poe’s rap aspirations.
“I keep asking myself, ‘How am I going to respond doing this monologue as this other person while looking him in the eyes in the audience saying this?’” Poe said. “I’m triggering my real emotions. This might be the first time in my life where I’ve had the space to verbally say these things to him, but it’s through the guise of somebody else and somebody else’s writing.”
The process has been a learning experience that extends beyond the stage – and given Poe a new level of respect for Black Rep founder and Producing Director Ron Himes.
“It’s not just the talent that he has,” Poe said of Himes, who is also directing the production. “We are looking at a black man who built his whole situation from the ground up and has kept it going for over 40 years – the business acumen that it takes to really be self-made. To say, “You know what? Today we are going to do ‘Spell #7’ and nobody is going to tell me different – and have the means to make it happen. To do it on a world class level and do it how they truly want it to be – to not have to pander for fans, to not have to pander for attention. Seeing the powerhouse of a brand that it is, it is constant education if you are willing to learn.”
“Spell #7” also features Drummond Crenshaw, Robert Crenshaw, Jacqueline Thompson, Brian McKinley, Tyler White, Christina Yancy, and Camille Sharp.
And for Poe, his fellow cast members, the play, playwright and the company producing it prompted him to deepen his appreciation of St. Louis’ rich cultural history.
“Playing this role has reminded me of the rich legacy of entertainment that comes from here – from playwrights to poets to singers,” Poe said. “The blues, rock and roll – of all the things we don’t even claim that are so intertwined with our heritage [as cultural innovators]. I feel like when she wrote this character, Ntozake Shange wrote with a knowledge of that. You can feel those subtleties within the play and the character.”
The Black Rep’s presentation of Ntozake Shange’s “Spell #7” continues through March 8 at the AE Hotchner Studio Theatre on the campus of Washington University, 6445 Forsyth Blvd. Tickets are available at www.theblackrep.org/, or by calling the box office at (314) 534-3807.
