Vatic Kuumba and ‘The Use of Farce’

There is nary a less predictable cultural grab bag than Cheap Seats, Boston’s self-described “only omni-genre variety show stitched into a theatrical six-ring circus.” Packed with sets “from local luminaries and newcomers alike … musicians, poets, comedians, dancers, visual, and conceptual artists,” it’s the ultimate ADD telethon, only right there in person, smack inside of one of Greater Boston’s sweetest circular arenas. We got some intel from Vatic Kuumba, who will perform an excerpt from the play, A Furtive Movement: The Use of Farce, at this coming Saturday’s Cheap Seats …

A bit more background …

This is an original world premiere of the first full-length play by locally-renowned slam poet, rapper, MC, and activist Vatic Kuumba, in collaboration with director/choreographer Ronald Kevin Lewis and visual artists D.S. Kinsel, Funmilayo Alieru, Ryan Alves, and Alex Ruiz, among others. The Use of Farce is the second full production to be incubated by the Providence-based AS220’s Community Live Arts Residency Initiative. As part of the residency, Kuumba and his collaborators have been staging “Ice Cream Social Justice” events at arts organizations throughout Providence.

A general idea of what to expect …

The Use of Farce is set in an “alternate future that parallels our present, where over one thousand people are killed by the police every year.” It’s “told from the perspective of one of the victims of the state whose deaths inspired protest, riots, and the formation of a black billionaire super PAC that funnels dark money to radical community-building organizations of color including a West African self-help guru, a girl scout troop that gives belts to thugs, the manufacturer of bulletproof hoodies, and a documentarian obsessed with showing the life and death of a victim of police violence.

Questions there will be attempts to answer …

Is there therapy for society? Can the infrastructure stand and be repurposed? Or does it all need to burned and be rebuilt with altered intention?

Check out Vatic and the other artists at Cheap Seats on Sat. March 18 at the Cambridge Family YMCA in Central Square, Cambridge.