By: Margot Dragos
The rhythms and rumblings of three djembe drums filled Tow Center’s Beller Studio during the production of Anansi and The Grinding Stone, presented by Off-Off Flatbush Projects. The play, written by Katryna Alexis and directed by Jaden Fabio, both Brooklyn College (BC) juniors, ran from April 17 through April 21.
“Anansi and The Grinding Stone” was adapted from a West African tale called “The Grinding-Stone That Ground Flour By Itself,” which features Anansi the Spider, a popular character in Ashanti tales.
Alexis first encountered the tale while completing a class assignment that required her to create a set design based on a fable. Her professor told her she could instead create a real-world adaptation of the fable, inspiring Alexis to write the play. She then applied to produce it for Off-Off Flatbush and got in, to her surprise.
“I wasn’t really thinking about producing it,” said Alexis, a childhood education major with a concentration in theater. “I was really just thinking about, ‘I want to be a playwright’, because I have done every part of the theater except that.”
The play follows Anansi and Kofi, two cousins who begin to struggle after war breaks out in their region. Kofi discovers a grinding stone that will give him an infinite supply of flour, allowing him to provide for his family while other households starve. After Anansi finds out, he takes the stone for himself, traveling across villages and becoming wealthy.
“The original fable makes Anansi the villain, but I kind of want to make it so that both of them are villains,” Alexis told The Vanguard. “I really want the audience to explore with me why people would do certain things and why we can’t really call someone good or bad.”
“It was interesting how [the play showed] how we see greed in different ways and how we see struggle, and what happens when war does,” said Eva Chowdhury, audience member and BC junior majoring in anthropology and film.
Music was also a large part of the production. Griot, the character who serves as the show’s host, and two chorus members, played three djembes, a goblet drum widely used in West Africa, throughout the show. The drumming added tension and suspense to critical parts of the show.
“We had the auditions, and I was like, ‘I really want to include music in this really, really badly,’” Director Jaden Fabio told The Vanguard.
Carter Marks, stage manager and music director for the play, brought in the djembe after the traditional Akan drum wasn’t accessible.
“I was like ‘Let’s have a chorus, let’s get two more actors on stage, and let’s have that influence of sound,’” said Fabio.
“It’s so cool seeing [the drums and story] come together and learning about a culture that could exist,” said Chowdhury.
Alexis wanted to write a play set in Africa, without focusing on the region’s poverty.
“I feel I was able to accomplish my goal in showing that people in West Africa, and also people everywhere who are in dire circumstances, are still people,” Alexis said.
“They’re not just starving people, they’re not just hurt-looking people. They are people with lives and histories and actions that have consequences, and they have choices they have to make that may or may not help or harm someone.”
“How scarcity affects people is one of the main themes of the play, and we as Americans in general have so much that people across the globe don’t have,” said Fabio. “I just really want people to appreciate what they have, because war changes things, and if war comes, everything changes.”
Off-Off Flatbush Projects allows students to produce their own work with their peers. The production was run by a crew of eight students and a cast of five students with a budget of only $100.
“The most rewarding part [of the show] is remembering why I do theater, which is for the collaboration,” Alexis said. “It’s not just for money, obviously. It’s not because I want to be famous, but because working with people to put together a show, to make an idea that’s 30 pages of text come to life, to entertain a sold-out audience– that’s where the reward is.”
Students interested in BC’s theater productions can follow @bctheatercuny on Instagram.