By Lauren Gunderson and Geetha Reddy
Dramaturgy by Lisa Marie Rollins
Directed by Evren Odcikin
Runs through June 17th. 2017
TheatreFirst
Live Oak Theater
1301 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley
"Tell me a story," a young girl asks her mother in a sunny home kitchen. The girl is Deborah Pullman, now grown, recalling a distant memory before her mother Henrietta Lacks died of cancer in 1950 but whose cells, harvested without consent by Johns Hopkins clinicians, continued to thrive and divide long after Henrietta’s death. These cells became an entity called HeLa, and it was quickly forgotten whether they belonged to Henrietta Lacks, Helen Lane, or anyone for that matter.
![]() |
JEUNÉE SIMON as Henrietta |
![]() |
DESIREE ROGERS as Deborah |
![]() |
KHARY MOYE and JEUNÉE SIMON |
Don't expect a literal retelling of the story. This production of HeLa is more like a dance of character interactions, with the two main characters of Henrietta (played splendidly by Jeunee Simon) and her daughter Deborah (Desiree Rogers), a “motherless child a long way from home,” still seeking connection and answers.
Henrietta’s cells persisted after death, and in this play Henrietta is a person, a consciousness, and a presence who experiences, and reacts to, the situations the HeLa cells went through. Jeunee Simon conveys a range of emotion as Henrietta, there at Jonas Salk’s discovery of the polio vaccine; on the trip to space with the patriotic Russian canine cosmonaut; in the doctor's office sharing the joy of a couple who has just learned that they at last could have a child in vitro; witnessing the pharma exec’s thrill at the profit made by selling HeLa cells.
![]() |
JEUNÉE SIMON as Henrietta and SARAH MITCHELL as the Soviet Dog |
![]() |
RICHARD PALLAZIOL as Jonas Salk |
![]() |
AKEMI OKAMURA and DESIREE ROGERS |
The lighting (Stephanie Anne Johnson), costumes (Maggie Whitaker), sound and projection (Kevin Myrick), and set design (Bailey Hikawa and Devon Labelle) created a simple but compact and effective use of space to convey different settings and moods.
The story of Henrietta Lacks is about more than one person. She was the black marginalized patient in the 1950s who represents other marginalized patients today: the elderly, the mentally ill, the poor, the sick, and even the dying, too often dismissed by the euphemistic efficiency of medicine, business and politics that too easily sidesteps humanity. As Henrietta realizes, it is ok to "take" but not "care" and too easy to say “take care.”
Like the cells themselves, the play HeLa is a living work in progress, with every show followed by a discussion. You still have time to see this show before June 17--don't miss this opportunity.
……………………
HeLa: The PoeticScientific DreamFate of Henrietta Lacks
By Lauren Gunderson and Geetha Reddy
Dramaturgy by Lisa Marie Rollins
Directed by Evren Odcikin
CAST
JEUNÉE SIMON, Henrietta
DESIREE ROGERS, Deborah
KHARY MOYE, Ensemble
SARAH MITCHELL, Ensemble
AKEMI OKAMURA, Ensemble
RICHARD PALLAZIOL, Ensemble
DESIGN TEAM
BAILEY HIKAWA, Scenic
STEPHANIE ANNE JOHNSON, Light
KEVIN MYRICK, Sound
DEVON LABELLE, Property
MAGGIE WHITAKER, Costume
PRODUCTION TEAM
SALIM RAZAWI, Rehearsal Stage Manager
ELLEN BOENER, Performance Stage Manager
KATE LOGAN, Sound Technician
DIEGO PEÑA, Production Assistant
TIM PHAM, Production Assistant
All photos by Cheshire Isaacs
theatrefirst.com
TheatreFirst
Live Oak Theater
1301 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley
thanku
ReplyDelete