Cooper Bates - Takes Me Back To The Many Amazing Artistic Finds Out North Brought to Anchorage

 Here's Cooper after the performance.  

One man for a bit over an hour.  Telling the story of a black man who grew up on a farm in Kansas, where all the other families were white.  

After high school, he heads for Dallas to enroll in acting school.  

Every now and then there's a black out for - not really sure, maybe five or ten seconds - and then the story continues.  

On the one hand, this is the kind of story we rarely used to get to hear - a first hand account of growing up Black.  On the other hand, it's the kind of story people are working hard to suppress in various states.  While Anchorage pushed back against the Mom's For Liberty School Board candidates at Tuesday's election, comfortably reelecting the incumbents, MatSu has set up its own book review committee.  

Out North, for years, brought up relatively obscure, but brilliant acts, that challenged my brain to think bigger and different, many if not most with an LGBTQ (there was no + on the list back then) flavor.  This performance tonight reminded me of those stimulating evenings.  And with Cyrano's having moved into what used to be the Out North theater, my brain is still confused.  It's like two good friends having merged into one person.  

But let's get some basic information up for those who might want to see Cooper perform - and everyone reading this should.  

The performance is called Black Out.  It plays this weekend and next at Cyrano's Playhouse - the old Out North Theater, the Old Airport Heights library building, 3600 Debarr, kitty corner, almost, from Costco.  

I hope people share this post, or at least this event, widely.  This is great story telling.  Tonight's audience was pitifullysmall - about 10 people who hardly reflected the diversity of Anchorage.  At one point in the story telling, the aspiring actor has concerns about only playing Black characters, mostly white stereotypes of Black criminality.  But he even has doubts about being cast as Jackie Robinson because he's Black.  His acting mentor tells him about how the kids who watch him act will be inspired by watching him in that role.  None of those kids were in the audience to be inspired tonight.  [The program says for 14+.  The ticketing website says 16+.  Rape and suicide are covered in the play, but I think parents can judge whether their 15 year olds can deal with that.  But they weren't there.]  

Below is the stage just before the performance began.  

The playwright (also Cooper Bates) writes in the program

"For two decades, I've poured my hart and should into these productions.  They're not just performances;  they're a testament to my journey of self-discovery and purpose.  From witnessing racial bullying on the playground in first grade to grappling with my authenticity in my twenties, this play encapsulates the evolution of my existence."

I guess that can sound a bit self-centered, but the performance isn't.  He began talking to a few audience members and shaking hands with them.  He played not only his own part, but also some of the key people who influenced him along the way.  Throughout, he was relating a story directly to the audience.  

I had told my wife to poke me if I fell asleep during the performance.  That wasn't an issue.  I was listening and watching intently the whole way.  

My one frustration with the production was my inability as an audience member to let the actor know how much he had pulled me in.  I wanted to applaud at the blackouts, like you might do after a a musician does a particularly exciting riff, but by the time I was ready to applaud, the lights were back on and he had picked up the (one-way) conversation.  Could he read our faces? (We were both wearing masks which made it harder for him.)  Our body language?  We were close, but I'm not sure how much light was on us.  And no one else seemed ready to clap.  Maybe it would interrupt his rhythm.  And so, by the third or fourth black out, the audience silence was the norm.  And the blackout at the end, well the audience didn't know for sure if it was the end or not and didn't start applauding until the lights came back on and Cooper bowed.  

Or maybe the rest of the audience wasn't as into it was we were.  I thought the applause at the end was meagre for such a powerful performance. Maybe a bigger audience would have made some noise.  

I also want to mention that he projected his voice really well.  I wear hearing aids and when we watch Netflix, say, I usually have the subtitles on so I can 'hear' everything.  (But I hate reading the lines before the actors say them.)  But I heard every single syllable tonight.  Cooper didn't have a mic, and didn't speak particularly loud, he just projected well.  

You can get tickets at this link.  I'm hoping to see it again.  With the bigger audience it deserves.