"Word Becomes Flesh" Enchants at Under the Radar

Word Becomes Flesh at Under the Radar festival  (thisisdahlak)

The downtown theater showcase Under the Radar has officially ended, yet vestiges of the festival can still be seen, as well as felt.

Creator Marc Bamuthi Joseph first presented his spoken word performance piece Word Becomes Flesh at Under the Radar back in 2005. At that time, the work, a mixture of poetry, movement, and recorded music, was performed as a solo piece by the author. In its latest incarnation at this year's UtR, the work was restaged as a performance for five young, fit men.

As if this sumptuous performance was not enough, Bamuthi Joseph participated in a talkback before the Sunday, January 8 show. While the pre-show discussion was enlightening, the interviewer was no match for the articulate, charismatic performer. That MBJ is also an educator is unsurprising, given his verbal dexterity and intellectual rigor. During the talkback, he also made a persuasive case for the interdependent nature of education, politics, and performance. 

Since it is a novelty to enjoy a brainy talk with an artist on the same evening as viewing their work, the actual performance couldn't quite live up to the dazzling discussion, yet it was nonetheless a vibrant evening of politically tinged performance that was musical theater in only the loosest of terms; there was poetry and movement and music, but the poetry was spoken word, the movement contemporary hip hop inflected dance, and the music provided by an onstage DJ.

Of the five performers, one was a better dancer than actor, another a better actor than dancer, and all but one were compelling stage presences. It is likely MBJ's work will be blessed with a wider audience in the coming years, given his topical, intelligent, and artful work. It's exciting to consider a more racially diverse audience for performance that is by default theater, and by nature utterly contemporary.