Responder: Syreeta (suhREEtah) Briggs, Thuh Erry’Thang
Name of Company: suhREEtah
Name of Show: TEETH: UH MORALITY PLAY
“Let’s face it. The last few years have kinda sucked. It’s about time we have a good laugh.”
- Why should people see your show?
Let’s face it. The last few years have kinda sucked. It’s about time we have a good laugh. Granted, TEETH isn’t a “comedy,” per se. But, it is a show about duality. Your master of ceremonies is a neuro-divergent 8-year-old Black girl with the power to speak things out of thin air! Come on! That’s dope! At the same time, like all of us, she’s super complex. She’s grieving and in search of joy at the same time. If that complexity intrigues you in any way, you’ll love TEETH.
- What about festivals intrigues you? And why the Atlanta Fringe?
Festivals are hotbeds for innovation. With the Atlanta Fringe, in particular, I admire the lottery process. It sets the stage (pun intended) for more innovative voices. The problem with selection committees is they often have the same few folks picking the same types of shows that appeal to the same few tastes year after year—no shade, but maybe just a little.
[Ed note: we will gladly join in this shade, selection committees BLOWWWWWWW.]
- What inspired you to create this?
One line of dialogue spoken during a university improv class morphed into what is now TEETH: UH MORALITY PLAY. That line was, “I think I’m gonna die alone.” My body morphed into the 8-year-old version of myself, who couldn’t place why the other kids on the playground were frightened of her. When the pandemic began, I left my university campus, moved in with my parents, and watched as our hometown of Louisville, KY, burned after Breonna Taylor’s murder. I grieved with the rest of the world during what seemed to be a perpetual media circus of rioting, rubber bullets, and smoke bombs. All the while, I grieved my death. I lost a few teeth, some job opportunities, an 8-year friendship that defined my twenties, and even my joy. I gained an ADHD diagnosis that came with clarity and some residual rage. As I developed TEETH, I struggled with questions concerning loss. I thought about what the world lost during the pandemic and how we might move forward if we dared to grieve who we thought we were.
- Life has been weird the last few years, to say the least. How has the “real world” affected the art you’re creating?
It’s been great! I needed the “real world” ’cause I spend so much time in the world within my head. It feels good to get this show into my physical body and share it with other living, breathing bodies in the same space. That’s the theatre I know and love.
- What have you learned from working on your show so far?
I’ve learned, thankfully, that I am enough. 🙂
- There’s a mysterious stranger in the back row of your show, wearing a big ol’ N95 mask and a baseball cap and there’s something weirdly familiar about them, and then they come up afterwards to tell you they loved your show. In your WILDEST DREAMS, who is this mysterious stranger? (Bonus points if your mysterious stranger is an Atlanta celeb.)
Oh gosh, I hope it’s Janelle Monae! I would cry!
- Fringes are the place to really push the boundaries so we gotta ask: are you inviting your family to this show are “Hey, maybe sit this one out you guys…”
Oh, my mom and younger brother are coming for sure! It’ll be great though! No awkward after-show convos.
- Will your show change the world?
It’s changed me. I think that’s the first step. 🙂
- Zoom meetings: dress up head to toe or Donald Duck it?
Can I say both? ‘Cause, it truly depends on how frisky I’m feelin’ that day.
- We’re making an excellent Fringey Feelings playlist. Describe your show in two or three songs we can add to keep the jams flowing.
“Les Fleurs” by Minnie Riperton…
“Pure Imagination” with Gene Wilder…
and I’m gonna say “Never Catch Me” by Flying Lotus and Kendrick Lamar.
Sounds amazing, right? Click here to learn more and get your tickets to this show today.
Recent Comments