Babes in Ho-lland
Deneen Reynolds-Knott
Shotgun Players
In a college dorm room whose walls are laden with ‘90s girl-band posters and whose floor is bedecked with plastic baskets flowing with laundry still to be done, a rockin,’ dancin,’ jumpin’ late teen gyrates irradicably to Courtney Love’s “Violet.” Just as she hits a climax in her spins, her roommate walks in, sheds her winter wear, and begins a likened tornado of moves that include her dozens of tight braids flying in all directions as now both are singing Hole’s alternative-rock lyrics of “Go on, take everything, take everything; I want you to … I dare you to.”
Shotgun Players presents the world premiere of Deneen Reynolds-Knott’s Babes in Ho-lland, a fantastically ecstatic, romantic, and yes, sometimes erotic romp through the joys (and the heartbreaks) of first loves. Set in 1996 in the midst of a sunless winter of Pittsburgh, Babes in Ho-lland is often like a slice of typical life in a women’s dormitory, in this case on the campus of Pitt. Twenty-five-plus scenes scan both the hum-drum mundane aspects as well as the emotionally super-charged ups and downs of campus life and campus loves for these two, first-year roommates (one white, one black). The result is a bit like having secret access to a real-time camera that records day-to-day snippets of their lives in their room and around campus, all the time while enjoying a ripping soundtrack of 1990’s alternative, punk, and R&B music featuring the best of women musicians of the time.
Ciara (Sundiata Ayinde) may be a Black frosh very much in minority on the Pitt campus, but she digs the same music her white roommate, Kat, loves to play at full blast – ‘grrl’ bands, like Babes in Toyland, Bikini Kill, or Hole. As she explains at one point why she likes ‘the screaming white girl thing,’ “It feels good to let it out, all the stuff we push down every day … It’s like relief.” But for all her frenzied, good-time screaming the lyrics of “Rebel Girl” with her roomie, Ciara gloomily, worriedly looks out the window lamenting the record days of no sun in blustery Pittsburgh, leading her one day to the campus counseling center for needed help in dealing.
There in the waiting room, she meets Taryn (Tierra Allen), a Black woman almost half her height but with a personality, smile, and boldness of a giant. While it certainly is not love at first sight (at least not for Ciara), the two do automatically click; and they do not part that day without an exchange of phone numbers.
What follows through a sequence of scenes in the library and in Ciara’s dorm room is a delightful, heartwarming, often amusing, and at times hot and sexy story of a blossoming first love – the kind of falling in love that hits deep and profound for those who are young and yet inexperienced with such feelings … the kind of love that feels unique and forever. Sundiata Ayinde and Tierra Allen excel is portraying so naturally, believably, and beautifully the step-by-step moves toward that first kiss, the first romp under the quilts, and even the first real argument when feelings are hurt to the max. That they are different not only in physical stature but in economic and social backgrounds seems to matter little to them. Ciara gets money sent from home for eating out, shopping, and partying with her friends; Taryn is on work-study, lives on a couch, and pays for rent by cooking for her roommates. Ciara wants to be work in the White House press corps; Taryn wants to spend her life working with kids. But there are stars in these girls’ eyes when they look at each other; and we get to watch, laugh, sigh, and revel in what feels like a progression of a relationship occurring real-time, for the first time, in front of us.
Intertwined in this story that will have its twists and turns of happy, mad, and sad (like any good love story should) is the story of Kat (Ciera Eis), Ciara’s white roommate who favors a wardrobe mostly of black, often in leather, boots, and maybe net stockings. With fierce red hair, red lips, and nails always polished to the hilt, Kat has a sharp edge and a stomp in her step; but that hard surface melts as soon as she hears the phone ring and hopes it is her boyfriend, Neil. Just as Ciara’s sun is rising, ominous clouds appear for Kat as Neil’s eyes begin to roam, leaving Kat in a panicked sulking. The result threatens a storm to build in a dorm room where in one half of the room, love abounds.
Leigh Rondon-Davis clearly has had a fabulous time directing this newly created script by Deneen Reynolds-Knott, especially when working with a cast as talented in so many nuanced ways as this cast. There is Ciera Eis’ way of being a total drama queen as she bares her chest out the window or dives into the bed and under covers as if she were diving into an Olympic-sized pool. Sundiata Ayinde surprises us with a nature that at first seems more reserved, sophisticated, and cautious but then exposes a sudden assertion for a first kiss, humorously puckering with lips like those of a 5-year-old getting ready to kiss her Aunt. But it is Tierra Allen’s Taryn who dominates in her diminutive stature the stage with only the slightest of smirks, head tosses, pursed lips, or a look of “Are you kidding me?” Her repertoire of ways to express Taryn’s opinions and emotions is immensely impressive and memorably distinct.
Supporting this cast is a creative team top-notch in every respect. Ashley Mendez has designed in set and props a residence hall room that looks ready for any frosh to move in and live easily for a semester or more. Each of the three principals get to express their character’s whims, personality, and status in the economic world through the creativity of Jasmine Milan Williams’ costumes. The lighting of Kieran Beccia switches on exact cue as a roomie enters to surprise with the flick of a switch the goings-on under a bed’s covers. And super kudos go to Alex Fakayode for the ongoing soundtrack of ‘90s music that resonates so accurately the mood of scene after scene.
As much fun as it is to witness this beautifully scripted, directed, and acted exploration of young women’s searches for identity, love, sensuality, and stability, there are times when the real-time nature of the script begins to be tedious. Every time anyone enters or exits the dorm room, boots, coats, and hats must come on and off. Clothes are constantly being changed as the many scenes shift in time of day/night and in purpose. All of this takes time in periods where not much else is happening. In addition, the number of scenes begins to mount to the point of one’s wondering, “How many more? When is the ending?”
And then there is the inclusion and the story of Kat. In some ways, as wonderful as Ciera Eis is in her portrayal, Kat’s story is so secondary to the stories of Ciara and Taryn that it is difficult to care that much for her drama. The first act actually ends with a bit of a thud with a worried lament about her future with Neil. My reaction frankly at the time, “Who cares?” I was caring about the real love story of the play and what was going to happen next for two young women so different in so many ways.
But in the end, Shotgun Players’ world premiere of Deneen Reynolds-Knott’s Babes in Ho-lland is so worth spending a night at the theatre. How many times, if ever, has an audience been able to watch two young, Black women fall in love on stage in such an authentic, heartwarming, totally captivating way? That they may be young, aspiring lesbians is not the focus or the message. This is a genuine story of first love between two young people that anyone who has ever had the experience of being awestruck by a first love – and who hasn’t – can relate to and is one that should be seen by sold-out audiences every evening of its premiere run.
Rating: 4.5 E
A Theatre Eddy’s Best Bet Production
Babes in Ho-lland continues in a world-premiere production through February 10, 2024, at the Ashby Stage of Shotgun Players, 1901 Ashby Avenue, Berkeley, CA. Tickets are available online at https://shotgunplayers.org/ or by contacting the box office at boxoffice@shotgunplayers.org (510-841-6500, ext. 303.
Photo Credits: Ben Krantz Studio
