‘Good Brother Blues’ sparks discussion with ‘Mad at Miles’ author

*Originally published on Tuesday, March 2, 2010 in The A&T Register*

By LaPorsha Lowry

Scene Editor

 

Pearl Cleage, author of “Mad at Miles: A Black Woman’s Guide To Truth,” was on hand last week at the Paul Robeson Theater to see the stage adaptation of her essays and to take part in the fishbowl discussion “Good Brother Blues” based on a portion of the play.

A panel of men was brought together to view the final act of the play entitled “Good Brother Blues”, in which the three women discuss what they want in a man.

The women in the audience were then moved into a separate room so that the men could have an honest conversation about what they saw.

Some of the comments from the men seemed to be controversial to the women, but others were in agreement with the act and believed that they were in fact a “good brother.” Afterwards, Cleage attended the 8 p.m. performance by the professional cast, and autographed books and took pictures with fans.

Cleage, who was present for the discussion, was surprised at some the things the men had to say on the panel.

“One gentleman said that women should not feel bad about the word ‘ho’ because there are some women who fit the word. That’s not the issue for me; the issue is personal responsibility. People know when they hit somebody and they know it is wrong and they know when they call someone out of their name that it is wrong. I was taken back by the fact that some of their responses to the part of the piece that is least confrontational and the most welcoming,” said Cleage.

Overall, Cleage enjoyed the play and the adaptation by Donna Bradby. She didn’t envision it at all because they were written as solo performances to be done by her.

She did like the “Facts of Life” portion, which was a military-themed part of the play.

“It was really amazing what they were doing just as soldiers and it was wonderfully staged.
I liked that is was both dramatic and funny at the same time and just the fact that they can do all that marching around. I really enjoyed that a lot.”

“I did not know what to expect, but when Donna asked can she put it together that way, I told her that she could and I trusted she would do something interesting," Cleage said.

"It is a wonderful feeling to know that I wrote these pieces 20 years ago and they now have found a audience and raise questions people want to talk about.” 

Cleage added that the underlying message that she wanted people to take from the play was for men and women to talk truthfully to each other about relationships and how they really feel about what they need and want from each other.

“One of the big problems with relationships is that we lie to one another and after awhile we do not remember what the truth is. We must figure out who we are, what kind of relationship we want, and what we are trying to put together,” said Cleage.