Jersey playwright-actor Desi P. Shelton and Philadelphia director-actor Ozzie Jones have teamed up at Camden Repertory Theater for ‘Child Support’, a single Black mother’s tale of emotional and economic realities, running now through Oct. 28.
Joining Shelton onstage for ‘Child Support‘ is Camden Rep’s Associate Artistic Director Chyna Michelle, further proving that no one at the Camden Rep rowhome stage wears just one hat.
“Black women come in all shapes, sizes and economic levels,” said Shelton, regarding the mission of Camden Repertory Theater. “So, it is my goal to put out work that speaks to that diversity of womanhood that we have here in Camden. I want to make sure that the playwrights we show here, beyond myself, never die and are never forgotten. Not on my watch.”
Moving into the creation of the raw knuckle display that is ‘Child Support’, Shelton said that she keeps her ears to the ground to hear what her Camden community is talking about and finds most important.
“It’s easy to make Black women’s needs invisible, so I have to bring that to the forefront with theater that speaks to those needs,” Shelton said. “Speaking about it means you matter.”
Chyna Michelle stated that becoming part of any Camden Repertory Theater production is an “education, not only in stage craft, but in regard to real issues.”
Ozzie Jones has been discussing the purpose of Camden Repertory Theater with the playwright since before Shelton named and placed her company’s stages in a Mechanic Street Rowhome. “I defined myself as an artist with her, and this aesthetic, we have – her aesthetic is my aesthetic – is a very Lloyd Richards and August Wilson one,” said Jones of their longtime creative partnership and its educational value. “’Child Support’ is a large extension of all that.”
Shelton goes on to explain that everything that goes on within ‘Child Support’ is literal, in-your face and literary genre-jumbling, until its second act and its game show surrealism. “’Child Support’ talks about the laws and the 13.2 million children in the system,” said Shelton.
How these facts and figures become great drama and delicious entertainment comes down to style.
“The fiscal and emotional realities of child support in the United States have become theater,” said Jones. “Those realities have made all of the child support system into a game; hence the game show being played out in the family leaving room. And the question is reversed as part of the game: how do we stop from having our lives, our homes and these realities from turning into theater? From turning into a game? Dealing with exes, dragging their kids through the court system, and dealing with judges – it’s almost like Jean Genet’s ‘The Blacks’, a Clown Show. And, the game only ends when we get to ask the real questions and make the real differences.”
‘Child Support’ runs at Camden Repertory Theater, 445 Mechanic Street, Camden, New Jersey, through Oct. 28. For more information and tickets, visit camdenrep.com
