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Introducing Jacquay Waller, Creator of “the Black Man-O-logues”

 

1. Why did you write “the Black Man-O-logues? I’m sure you were influenced by Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues.” When did you start writing the play?

I wrote “the Black Man-O-logues” for multiple reasons.  It was certainly a layered approach. One reason was as a way to begin to shatter the double standards between men and women. Another reason was to give a voice to the voiceless. Many of the stories that are presented are seldom (if ever) seen or heard of on stage or film.  There are not many professional shows or film projects where you will see this many black men together presenting thought-provoking, tear-jerking, life-changing material.

You are correct in that I was influenced by “The Vagina Monologues.”  It helped me to mold my concept for presenting universal material on “love” from a black male’s perspective. I started writing the first installment of “the Black Man-O-logues” in 2006. 

2. What did you hope to convey in the first “the Black Man-O-logues ?” Why did you feel the need to write the sequel to “the Black Man-O-logues?” What do the nine men in the play represent?

My hope with all of the pieces I present are to engage people in conversations on difficult topics.  There is a lot of shallow material out there. It is strictly meant to entertain you. My goal is to entertain you while engaging you. You will never come to one of my shows or see one of my films without having to think critically. With “the Black Man-O-logues” I present various views on love.

Most people only imagine roses, diamonds, and hearts when it comes to love. Well, I show you the obvious love while also engaging you with issues of love and how it relates to a brother behind bars; the love a man has for his wife even though she abuses him physically and emotionally; the love a preacher has for his wife and family, but also for the “love” of women; the love a brother has for money which, in turn, affects the way he treats women in his videos. The list goes on. You’ve got to see!

With the sequel to “the Black Man-O-logues”, I’m addressing nine totally new issues. In this installment we’re examining more difficult topics: molestation, burglary, gang initiation, emotional cheating, the single father, layoffs, police brutality, etc.  Where is love in all of these issues? I can guarantee you, it’s evident in all of them.  The nine men in each of the series represent a different perspective on love. Most likely a perspective unheard of.  One of the most beautiful things is to have brothers come up to me after a show and thank me for giving them a voice. This is difficult material. We don’t really have time to play. We’ve played long enough. I’m raising real issues and present real stories. It’s up to all of us to come up with solutions. Once you know the issue, you are accountable.  

The “icing on the cake” with my shows are that I allow everyone to talk with the characters after the show – not the actors, but the characters! You can ask these characters anything. People do! I just provide a safe environment for you to ask real questions and receive real answers without jeopardizing your life.  By the way, “the Black Man-O-logues III” has also been completed but it has not debuted yet.

3.  You have a very interesting background. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Tennessee State University, you worked as a rocket scientist for a missile company. However, you felt a calling to the ministry and enrolled in the Candler School of Theology at Emory University where you received a master’s degree in divinity. You also have a master’s degree in business administration. How did you become a playwright, and how have your past experiences influenced your current work? And are you working full time as a playwright or a minister or a rocket scientist?!

I’ve been an entertainer for several years, but I just so happened to “fall-in” to the career of a playwright. As an actor, I felt (and still do) that there is not enough material in the “Theater World” that pertain to black people. It’s just not enough material out there that black people can identify with. So rather than wait on someone to create it and present it, I decided that I would do it. And it’s been an amazing and unbelievable ride!  You would think that being in a city like Atlanta that there would be more “black shows” or shows with black actors. Many people choose to go with August Wilson’s material which is great stuff. But at some point, someone has to write and present new material so that we have more August Wilsons.

I would say that I am working full time in all three. DreamCatcher Productions is a branch of ministry. It is a medium that allows me to deal with issues that should be addressed in our churches but are not. Using the mediums of film and stage, I don’t not have to sugarcoat anything. I can say what needs to be said so that people don’t have to read between the lines. I am always working on new plays and screenplays, and I now work at the CDC as IT project manager instead of a rocket scientist.

4. Do you feel that black men really express love differently than other men? Please explain your answer.

My answer to this question is yes and no.  I’d like to say that many of the issues I raise are universal. They apply to men of all races and ethnicities. But I would also say that there are some cases where we as black men may express our love differently.  For instance, I have a character named “Camelot” in “Black Man-O-logues I.”  He is a rapper, wears his pants below is butt, has a grill, and refers to women as b*$@#s and h*@s.  His mentality is that his persona is the only way to sell records. He doesn’t realize who he is hurting along the way. He provides for his mother, grandmother, sister and his children, and he feels this justifies the way he treats and objectifies women. This is one out of several instances.

As black men, we have a lot of issues and baggage.  It is my hope by presenting these issues and providing answers, women will know how we communicate and thus we will be able to have healthier relationships.

5. The name of your company is DreamCatcher Productions. What is your advice for young men who want to catch their dreams?

My advice…Never ever give up! Don’t wait on someone to give you an opportunity. Create your opportunities. Don’t wait until you have time. You will never have time. Make time!  Dreams don’t have deadlines, only delays.

Okay, I will be there on Saturday….Will you? If not Saturday, you have an opportunity to see  “the Black Man-O-logues II” on Sunday too…

 The play will be featured at the 14th Street Playhouse, 173 14th Street, Atlanta, GA  30309 on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. and on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 4 p.m. Tickets are $30.

Any thoughts?

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The Black Man-O-logues II…

Hello World!

Guess what? I have conquered the height of Mt. Everest, kayaked the length of the Amazon River and backpacked across the tundra of Antarctica all in my quest to demystify the enigma that is the black man in love…

Guess what else? I’m lying as you have probably figured out by now…But you must admit that sometimes understanding the black man in love seems as challenging as exploring some of the world’s most daunting sites…

But Jacquay Waller, an Atlanta-based playwright and director, promises to decode the black man in love, in the Black-Man-O-Logues II, “a true expose of black men’s perspective on love.”  This play will be featured at the 14th Street Playhouse, 173 14th Street, Atlanta, GA  30309 on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. and on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 4 p.m. Tickets are $30.

This honest and in-your- face production pulls you into an intimate conversation about love with nine black men; each confronting a unique set of life circumstances, according to Waller.

“People who relate to the various emotions and thoughts surrounding love will appreciate the openness of these characters as they expose their true to life perspectives of this universal theme,” Waller said.

This production is the second installment of the “Black Man-O-logues,” which has been described as “controversial, edgy, and raw with its reference to the ‘n’ word, male-spousal abuse, infidelity and more.”

 “The more controversial, the better,” Waller said. “I’m only interested in writing material that will help promote progressive dialogue and engage audiences from a state of apathy to a state of involvement for the betterment of our society.”

Check back on my blog on Wednesday for my interview with Waller about how and why he wrote the “Black Man-O-logues II,” which is presented DreamCatcher Productions.

Any thoughts?

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Encounters of the Spiritual Kind…

Hello World!!!

Insert Laura Ingalls and Nellie...

I’m fresh off taking my 9-year-old nephew to the V-103 “For Sisters Only” event yesterday…When I first asked him to hang out with his 37-year-old aunt, he was actually excited…until he discovered where I was taking him…As we walked around in the throng of women perusing vendors selling weave products, jewelry, clothing, etc.,  he declared, “They weren’t lying when they said for sisters only.” Then I felt bad…I guess I shouldn’t have taken the boy down there, huh?…It was a sneaky thing to do I admit…I had asked my boyfriend to go too, and he said, “No.” And then he added,”I don’t know any guys that have ever gone there.” I hope I haven’t scarred my nephew for life…Anywho…

Sooo on to the topic of the day…Have you ever tried to go incognito as a Christian? I do from time to time…Not that I’m ashamed of being a Christian or anything but sometimes I want to keep my thoughts to myself and let the events of the day or night unfold unfettered by my world view…Maybe my last sentence doesn’t make sense but I think it will as I continue to write, so continue to read on…So a few weeks back during my L.A. vacay, a friend and I went to a bar one night in Manhattan Beach…Since both of us are kind of homebodies, our intention was just to hang out for a bit so we could say that we hung out in L.A. past midnight and get back to our hotel room within a couple of hours or so…sad, I know, but true…so we put on some print dresses believing that we were going to a kind of neighborhood bar on par with the bar at Bennigan’s or something…we had inquired at our hotel about such a place and thought we had dressed appropriately…We.were.wrong…

As the cab sped away behind us and we walked up to bar, which was on the bottom floor of another hotel, we realized that we may not get past the proverbial “velvet rope” and that we could be stranded…In fact, the guy, looking like “Suave Dave” in his thin black suit, stationed at the front door, literally started looking at us from the soles of our shoes to the crown of our heads…I guess we didn’t make the cut…We weren’t swank enough to hang out with the posh crowd downstairs and he motioned for us to go upstairs with the more casual crowd…It was all good though…Upstairs was an open air bar with a pool in the center…And we still felt like “country goes to city” in our print dresses plus everyone else was white…not that I’ve never been the only black person in a crowd of people different from me before…but let’s keep it real…but when you are in a closed in space with people who are different from you for whatever reason, you never know what the result could be…Just ask my nephew about “For Sisters Only!”

Soo, I’m taking too long to tell this story…let me speed it up…Although I have a man and my friend is on a man fast, no one wants to be the girl in the bar or the club that no dude steps to…And we were afraid that would be the case as no one could probably see past our “Little House on the Prairie” print dresses and my flip flops that I have worn as shower shoes at the gym…(Really, looking back, I was wrong for venturing out past 9 p.m. with some flip flops anyway — particularly at my age…)

But lo and behold, a guy steps to my friend and starts chatting her up and it’s obvious from the animation in his eyes and voice, he is actually interested…I guess in support of his boy, his friend steps to me and starts making conversation…but I sense in his demeanor and tone that he is merely being polite…It’s all good though…as I said, before, I gotta man…As we start talking, it’s clear that dude has some mula…now, keep in mind that I had made a decision to not wear my “christian suit” so I was letting dude talk without saying anything real about myself…Anyway, he told me that he lived on a house on the beach and that he was the president or something like that of some Internet company…Yeah, he was braggin’ a bit but I sensed that he was telling the truth…He told me his boy was from the East Coast and was visiting him for the first time in L.A.

So dude, who looked to be about my age, explains to me that he is bored with his current career and would like to explore developing a Web portal though which different people could find out about different charitable organizations across the world and give to support them…Well that was cool enough that he said that, right? So he asked me what charitable organizations did I like…I muttered, “CARE, World Vision, etc.” I was still drying to maintain my look of “disinterested cool.” Then the heavens opened..well not really, but dude’s eyes expanded and he said, “Are you spiritual or religious?” Inside, I was like, “Man, I’m trying to be incognito…” But the Holy Spirit said, “Share.” So I said, “I guess I’m both…” In less than an hour, dude told me how he wanted to make a difference with his life, how he grew up Catholic but stopped going to church and how L.A. was so fake…I was like, “Really.”

I would like to say that I managed to get my Bible out of my purse and read a few scriptures with him in the middle of the bar but that is not what happened…Leaving my huge purse in the hotel room was probably the only fashionable decision I made that night, and I don’t carry a Bible in my purse anyway…Instead, we had a real conversation and I came out as a Christian…

I don’t know what will happen to dude…Maybe I can find out from my girl…The guy that chatted her up asked for her number…I would like to think that when that guy got home from the bar, he got on his knees and prayed to know Jesus…But I can’t call it…but at least I was faithful, albeit reluctantly, to declare the name of Jesus…And maybe as he keeps having encounters of the spiritual kind, dude will stop chatting up  fake girls in the bar and have a real relationship with Jesus…

I think Jesus was proud of me in my print dress and flip flops…

Any thoughts?