[stomping and clapping] (male singer) ♪ I on my way... (choir) ♪ I on my way... (singer) ♪ ...to Canaan land.

(choir) ♪ ...to Canaan land.

♪ (Beryl Dakers) Praise house: historically, a small, one-room structure once prevalent among the Sea Islands and coastal Georgia and South Carolina as centers of worship and community for the African-American slaves and their descendants, now dwindling and ofttimes desolate reminders of a culture transformed by modern forces.

♪ ♪ I crossing da river.

♪ (female speaker) Granny?

(female narrator) "Praise House": theatrically, a stirring blend of music, drama, and dance, an artistic collaboration which combines an awareness and respect for culture and tradition with an awakening of spirit.

Buoyed and shaped by the ancestral memories and dreams of its creator, this is the evolutionary "Praise House" which the Urban Bush Women first brought to the stage.

♪ Raise the spirit, child!

♪ (female narrator) "Praise House" is a performance artwork.

Though loosely structured around the life of visionary artist Minnie Evans, it is an artistic tapestry interwoven with the traditional praise elements of the African-American community.

♪ Raise the spirit, child!

♪ ♪ Bring the spirit, child!

♪♪ In researching visionary artists, I came across different artists, but Minnie's life in particular, her words and her paintings, somehow resonated in a way that just struck me very profoundly.

And I think she was a very deeply spiritual woman, and somehow had found a peace after struggling through understanding, trying to understand what these visions meant.

♪ [strings and piano] (female speaker) The moon was shining, and it drew my attention.

He showed me the animals on that ring around the moon.

And I was playing out in the street because I wasn't old enough to go to school.

Children said, "Minnie, what are you looking at?"

I said, "I'm looking at those elephants going 'round the moon."

So they laughed at me.

"Minnie crazy.

We don't see no elephants; we don't see nothing."

I thought everybody could see them.

I wasn't like other children.

So one night, I was so tired and sleepy, I had a dream.

This voice spoke to me, "Why don't you draw or die?"

I said, "Is that it?

My!"

(Dakers) As artistic director, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar worked with a corps of collaborators to create this work: writer Angelyn DeBord... composer Carl Riley... designer Leni Schwendinger... and co-choreographer Pat Hall-Smith... together with a dedicated technical crew and the performers themselves.

The performers, they improvise their ideas.

We look at that, and we shape, or sometimes I bring in ideas, and they react to it.

The same way with all the elements that are part of the piece.

[stomping and clapping] [vocalizing] Ugh!

Ah!

Ugh!

Ah!

[laughter] (female speaker) It's not there yet.

[grunting] (female speaker) Let your hips go.

That's what keeps you from dying.

It's something that lives and breathes because of the process we had with the performers.

If the performer was going to simply give back note for note what I had given them, it would not be satisfactory.

The process involves, at this point, nine months of each performer receiving material, internalizing it, and making it their own.

♪ [indistinct singing] There is no way to be on a stage or to be in the world without rhythm, without music, without color.

Those things are a part of who we are and the way we express ourselves.

"Praise House" could never exist in separate categories.

What we're talking about when we talk about this particular piece is what elements of those categories we're willing to use, what language we're speaking specifically.

That's it.

[banjo music, indistinct conversation] (female speaker) The dance is not simple.

From the music, from the text, it all came together as a collaborative.

I feel that the dance enhances the text.

At times, the text enhances the dance and, uh... same with the music.

So I feel that it's all come together as a collaborative, and you really can't extract one part out of it and say that the dance is more important.

It's all equally as important.

Ideas come from many directions.

I can't remember what came first, the idea of having a lightweight, portable set which is very functional, and then learning more from Jawole-- because I'm constantly learning from her culturally in working on these projects-- about umbrellas used as ritual in parades and to denote someone of royalty or someone who's important in Africa, especially Ghana.

But I think I came up with the idea of using umbrellas before I knew that.

So a lot of times, we intuitively work and then find justifications in using it afterwards.

Most of the research I had gathered and brought into the company.

So we all looked at it, and we... it's like, we didn't try to imitate , but I think Minnie's... presence, in another way, started to come into the piece, particularly with the Hannahs.

They looked at the video a lot to get a sense of the musicality of her language and I really think they internalized those influences, so that they were not in fact trying to recreate her.

Hannah is my name!

And I's born on this earth in May of the year of 1897.

I was born with the gift of sight!

As far back as I can remember, I have had this gift.

Some calls it a gift; now I calls it a gift!

As a child, oh, the gift wore me plumb out!

Star, oh, star, oh, star.

First star I see tonight!

Wish I may, wish I might, have this wish come true tonight!

There's four-- well, actually five-- characters, central characters, and then there's a very central corps of angels.

Laurie Carlos plays two roles.

She plays the elder Hannah, so we see her in her life in present time, and then in a flashback, she portrays her grandmother.

And Laurie has also been the dramaturge on the project and has worked with an acting coach.

Working as a dramaturge on this piece made it easier for me to deal with the character.

I knew where the character was living from and why.

Younger Hannah is played by Viola Sheely, who plays the younger woman of Hannah.

She's been with the company since its inception.

We started school together in Florida State.

We've been together going through this journey of dance, music, and theater.

Hello, hello, hello!

Here's an eagle for you!

And for you and for you!

And a cat!

And a lion!

[frenzied murmurs] [howls] Younger Hannah is quite closer to me than older Hannah because of her innocence and her openness.

She just accepts whatever comes to her and doesn't make any judgment.

The only thing she wants is to hang around with her granny.

She's just free, she's a free spirit, and very close to me.

(female speaker) Hannah!

No mo'!

You better straighten up!

You better get ahold of yourself!

You better straighten up now!

(female speaker) I like the character Momma because a lot of people who see "Praise House," she'll be the one they really identify with because a lot of people won't be able to identify with the idea of a visionary!

Sometimes I look out, and I don't see nothing but angel toenails!

Everywhere!

And then we have a great corps of angels.

They're agitators, they're catalysts, they're comforters... and they're fun.

♪ [hand drum rhythms] ♪ [hand drum rhythms] (Hall-Smith) How do angels move quietly?

[laughs] Angels move.

They play different veins at different times.

There are times they're in the background, and there are times they're more prominent.

It's like...really having a spirit with you, or a feeling, and sometimes this feeling makes you go like this, or it's fearful kind of thing, or other times it's very quiet and being at peace with yourself.

I feel the angels have a bit of that in this piece.

(Dakers) Since vision seems to be the operative word with this production, what was your vision of the set design?

Everything that you see.

I'm completely thrilled with the set.

I mean, the idea of clotheslines and umbrellas, working together with both of those forms.

I wanted a sense of countless clotheslines, and if you end up getting a shot, you'll see laundry now that hangs above the set.

You know, everywhere from Hong Kong to the ghetto to the urban-- in-between houses and all over the world, you just see countless clotheslines.

I just love that sense of life and care.

The idea of having many umbrellas, each representing a different character, a different part of the story has come true.

The chiffon-draped umbrella during Granny's procession, the patchwork umbrella compared to the branch umbrella, each tells of a different character.

So the objects speak of the story and the characters themselves.

Yep, that's what my visualizing...

It's here.

♪ [African chanting and percussion] (male speaker) As I set out to create the musical world of the piece, there was a lot of input from everyone in the group.

The characters started to develop.

I wanted to filter things through the characters, asking the question, "How would this character sing?

What would be their reference?"

♪ In my hair, I keep my secrets, ♪ ♪ and you can comb them through.

♪ ♪ You'll hear them crackle out of me ♪ ♪ and go right straight to you.

♪♪ (Riley) I'm also attracted to music that comes from everyday life.

So a song that someone might sing as a lullaby or in combing your hair... a song about food, about your favorite dress, or about an event.

All of those things triggered something to me.

I see that music's able to go in and express the deeper feelings when words, when speaking words... aren't quite enough.

I think the music is there to lift the expression.

We've been creating "Praise House" from a very organic place, and Terri's voice just instantly made everybody think of Momma.

Viola's agility and innocence and her voice made us think about younger Hannah.

And I guess my arrogance and my whatever else, it made everybody think about elder Hannah.

It was just a very natural kind of thing to have occur, for the three of us to play these particular characters, or to have the characters developed around me, Terri, and Viola.

I tell you what!

I just had me one of them big dreams!

The way it would be would be... it would be in pots and pans.

[clapping] They'd be sittin' on that shelf, and they would always be clean!

Always sparklin' and shiny clean, even if you used 'em!

Sparklin' and shinin', sparklin' and shinin', sparklin' and shinin', sparklin' and shinin', sparklin' and shinin' !

Now that's what I dream of!

That's the way I have dreams.

Now ain't that some vision?

No mo' greasy dishwater; can't beat that!

I think what was hardest for me... [laughs] well, is just acting!

Let's just put it that way, acting in Urban Bush Women.

Primarily, I thought of myself as a dancer, though acting is certainly a very strong part of what we do in Urban Bush Women.

But here I feel I'm not getting to dance as much, and I'm called upon to act and to be there in an actor's role every minute, which...

I haven't quite figured out the difference between being there as a dancer all the time-- you have to be there as well, when you're on the stage-- but somehow it's different, so...I'm just trying to figure that out, so that's the hardest part for me, is figuring that actor out.

Tilt yo' head; look at them angles.

My, my, the angles you'll see!

Angels?

You see 'em, too?

(Carlos) I think the crowning place for me in this piece is, "Granny, my Granny, Granny, Granny, can I come and just sit and be with you?"

That is, that's clearly where I get a lot of my energy and my images from, from my Granny.

Granny, Granny, Granny, my Granny, Granny, can I come and just sit and be with you?

I lost my last grandmother, my mother's mother, in August while working on this piece, and... [choking up] I miss them very much.

A lot of the work I do with elder Hannah is my way of dealing with my ancestors, and so that's very important for me.

♪ [indistinct chanting and singing] ♪ [indistinct chanting and singing] (Sheely) For me, I would say it's after we've done the baptismal scene with the umbrella, and we come in.

I've always wanted the baptismal scene.

We had to work on getting that in.

There was so much more important things we had to work in the play.

I always felt that, after going through all that, Hannah had to have a cleansing.

She had to come out fresh.

Once we worked that in, it really centers me whenever I go, "I see that; I know that.

"Draw or die, "I've been going through this all my life, and now it's real for me."

(Dakers) I'm fascinated with the idea that a group can do anything.

So am I!

[laughter] I keep hearing, "We all collaborated.

We've all contributed to this piece."

I've been around artists enough to know that that's a pretty amazing thing!

(Carlos) It's not as amazing as one might imagine.

If there is a respect factor, then the differences don't become detrimental.

That's what good collaboration always means.

We all have very, very, very, very different ideas about the way things should be, the way they should sit, wherever rhythm and timing is concerned, the color of the dress.

But at the same time we have these disputes, we're always very clear about our respect for one another's opinions.

That's the thing that wins out every single time.

So when a particular idea you come up with is not used, you know, then you find pieces of things being used.

Everyone's experience comes together.

There are times you don't want to talk to so-and-so, but it's really okay because, in the final analysis, the work is the thing that always seems to keep us together.

[clapping] Nobody in the world can teach me because they don't know what to teach me.

[laughs] Nobody.

I'm without a teacher... a worldly teacher.

Now, if I had been taking life, studying how to make people's faces, maybe I would have had a teacher.

But...

I'm without a teacher.

My teacher... God has sent me teachers: a angel that stands by me.

♪ [chanting and singing] ♪ (Riley) And so when we started writing about a person who had a strong urge, a strong impulse to create, but had to find the way, had no pictures to go by, had no precedent, but spontaneously started creating art, we filtered that through our own lives, and I'm sure there's something individual in that, but there's something common in this group that connects to that character.

(Carlos) It's really that place inside oneself as an artist where you have a total connection with your maker, where you are the clearest with yourself as a person.

And we know historically what praise houses are.

But I think inside of each one of us, there's this temple, this "Temple by the Sea," and that there's this-- for me, I recognize the Christ in every single human being.

And that, for me, means you have to have a certain kind of respect for who that person is and that person's "Temple by the Sea," that person's praise house.

It's very difficult to put it into words.

I suppose it is that part of everybody that's about the part of everyone that feels God or, you know, the divine part of everyone and in everything and the fact we know that and that we have to start to allow ourselves to celebrate that, know that that's what we are, that's what the grass and the trees... we're all the divine.

That's what it is and what it's about for me, sharing that with an audience.

But it is a celebratory type of thing that's inside of us, that's always there, but we're afraid to let it show, to express ourselves in that way.

Once we do start doing that, it just brings us closer.

That's why the piece is so important to us and we feel so close to it.

I think it's a piece that touches people in some way and hopefully puts them in touch with their own spirituality.

For me, each night becomes a journey into myself and having to answer those questions each night that I hear on stage.

(Dakers) You shape it as you go?

Yeah.

(Granny) ♪ When you call me... (chorus) ♪ When you call me... ♪ ...beautiful spirit, ♪ ...beautiful spirit, ♪ I'm gonna sit in the beautiful light.

♪ ♪ In the beautiful light.

♪ When you call me... ♪ When you call me... ♪ ...beautiful spirit, ♪ ...beautiful spirit, ♪ I'm gonna sing in the beautiful light, ♪ ♪ I'm gonna walk in the beautiful light, ♪ ♪ testify in the beautiful light, ♪ ♪ I'm gonna dream in the beautiful light!

♪ ♪ When you call me... ♪ When you call me... ♪ ...beautiful spirit, ♪ ...beautiful spirit, ♪ I'm gonna jump in the beautiful light!

♪ ♪ In the beautiful light.

♪ When you call me... ♪ When you call me... ♪ ...beautiful spirit, ♪ ...beautiful spirit, ♪ I'm gonna sway in the beautiful light!

♪ ♪ In the beautiful light.

♪ When you call me... ♪ When you call me... ♪ ...beautiful spirit, ♪ ...beautiful spirit, ♪ Gonna shout!

♪ ♪ Gonna shout!

♪ ♪ through the holy secrets of night, ♪ ♪ if we but honestly seek thy face, ♪ ♪ our souls will be washed in light.

♪ ♪ Through the night, shall we see... ♪ ♪ through the night, shall we see... ♪ ♪ through the night, shall we see... ♪ ♪ shall we see... ♪ light... ♪