Bundles Community Scholar Debra Ann Byrd Discusses Racial And Gender Barriers

Upper West Side NY

20 October, 2021

1:34 PM

Description

Columbia Daily Spectator BY HOLLY QU OCTOBER 19, 2021 "If someone was to ask little Debbie who she wanted to be when she grew up, I don't think she would have said Othello," said actor, producer, and writer Debra Ann Byrd. On Oct. 7, the School of Professional Studies invited A'Lelia Bundles Community Scholar Debra Ann Byrd to speak at a virtual lecture to reflect on her process of writing, producing, and starring in "Becoming Othello: A Black Girl's Journey." The one-woman musical and memoir explore how a multiracial girl raised in Spanish Harlem came to play the titular role in three all-female performances of "Othello." The lecture was part of a series created as a forum for Bundles Scholars to share their work and research. Since 2013, the A'Lelia Bundles Community Scholars program has annually offered four or five scholars from upper Manhattan a three-year affiliation with Columbia as they work on a project relevant to the community. Bundles Scholars receive access to Columbia's resources as well as an annual stipend of $500. The program is a joint initiative of Columbia's Office of Government and Community Affairs, the Office of the Provost, and the School of Professional Studies. Byrd is a member of the sixth cohort of scholars. Byrd has had what she calls a "topsy turvy" life. When she was young, her father left her family, while her mother struggled with alcoholism. At 14, Byrd moved in with her grandmother. By 16, she was pregnant and in foster care, living downtown at the New York Foundling Hospital, where her daughter was eventually born. But in the midst of so much struggle, Byrd "found salvation" through acting and Shakespeare. Byrd's acting career began serendipitously in 1989 at her church in East Harlem. Filling in last-minute for the role of Harriet Tubman in a Black History Month performance, she was surprised to find that acting came naturally to her. A few church productions later, she decided to step into theater professionally. What Byrd found most magnetic about Shakespeare lay within his use of language, where she heard a familiar beckoning. "I said, 'Wait a minute. Something about that sounds familiar, like something I know, like the King James Bible, like Psalm 91,'" Byrd described. "Language I had learned since I was a young girl, from the time I was 14. … [Listening to that cadence] made me feel connected and comfortable." Byrd's exposure to Shakespeare began in her fourth year as a theater major at Marymount Manhattan College. Her identification with the role of Othello came from a place of genuine admiration. After watching Golden Globe-winning actor Charles Dutton perform "Othello" live, she described herself as being "mesmerized" and "said to [herself] in that moment, 'I want to say those words, I want to play that role just like that.'" In 2013, Byrd took the stage at the Harlem Shakespeare Festival, which she helped found, performing her dream role of Othello for the first time in an all-female production. She would go on to play the character twice more before deciding to document her experiences in her own show, "Becoming Othello: A Black Girl's Journey." Theater as an institution, particularly Shakespearean theater, has historically presented issues for gender equality and representation. For example, "Othello" only has three female characters, limiting women's representation onstage. Byrd cites her college professor Elizabeth Swain as one of her influences, quoting Swain as having said, "I want all you ladies in the class to understand this: There is a time coming where women will begin to play the male roles in Shakespeare." Byrd's director in the Harlem Shakespeare Festival guided her process of becoming Othello, explaining, "It's a man's world, and you're going to have to present as a male." "I decided that I would remove all things feminine, and so I had no makeup, no lipstick, no jewelry, a really short Afro, I wore basic blacks. And I presented that way every day for eight weeks straight. I began to drop my voice lower and lower and lower"—Byrd mimicked the transformation—"until I was able to speak like a man. And anywhere and everywhere I went, I spoke that way, and the world around me changed." Byrd's research during her time as a Bundles Community Scholar is centered around documenting every female Othello in theater history. Simultaneously, she is on tour for "Becoming Othello" and is currently writing a memoir. "My memoir is not just about [my] life and becoming Othello—it is a hybrid, and it has to do with … other people's Othello journeys," Byrd explained. "I have interviews with women who have played Othello … lists of things that are missing from the archives in both the Folger and [the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.]" Despite the complications that arose due to COVID-19, Byrd staged nine successful performances of "Becoming Othello" with Shakespeare & Company. In July, Wall Street Journal theater critic Terry Teachout described Byrd's show as "riveting," adding that "it's the kind of solo show that an actor so inclined can spend the rest of his or her life playing in every corner of the English-speaking world." Byrd is an inspirational figure in her community. A fifth-generation Harlem resident, she strives not only to break gender and racial barriers in classical theater but also to bring the arts and culture of Harlem onto the worldwide stage, all the while running her own company, Take Wing and Soar Productions. Reflecting on her 20 years of experience in theater, Byrd said that she has seen more people of color as artistic directors, stage managers, costume designers, and set designers now than when she first entered the industry. She emphasized how Shakespeare can be a medium to generate change. "If we decide that we are all going to continue to have a seat at the table … if we use that thing that we love, which is theater, to come together … and really try to heal … then there is hope for theater," Byrd concluded. "There's hope for Broadway, there's hope for classical theater. There's hope for our future as regular old human beings, even if there was no such thing as arts and culture." On Nov. 4 and Nov. 20, Byrd will perform "Becoming Othello" live at the United Solo Theater Festival in New York City. Both shows will take place at 9:30 p.m. at Theatre Row on West 42nd Street. Staff writer Holly Qu can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow Spectator on Twitter @ColumbiaSpec. 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