Unveiling the Artistic Odyssey: Zeah Loren's Journey from Bridgerton to Cadillac Crew, a Reflection on Black Identity, Representation, and Timely Narratives
My name is Zeah Loren 🙂
Audiences might have recently seen me in The Town Hall Arts Center's All Shook Up, the Theatre Company of Lafayette’s The Edmonds Stories, The Bridgerton Immersive experience, dancing within Cleo Parker’s Spring dance recital or reciting poetry within the Denver metro area.
And before that, I was a student at the University of Northern Colorado, where I got my Bachelor of Arts in Acting and two minors in Film Studies and Writing. And ya know, within obtaining my degree, I was in various shows and productions and explored original work.
Audiences can look forward to seeing me in the The Nacirema Society Requests Your Presence at the Celebration of Their First One Hundred Years, directed by my fellow Cadillac Crew cast member, Kenya Mahogany Fashaw. This play will take place at Firehouse Theatre, February 3rd through March 2nd of next year. Nacirema Society... explores similar themes to Cadillac Crew in the sense of representation and female identity within the Black community.
When audiences see Cadillac Crew, they can expect to be educated. Audiences can expect to leave with information they more than likely didn’t previously know. Because that's what happened to me. I, unfortunately, am ashamed to say that this piece exposed my ignorance. I didn't know much about the people or facts mentioned within this play before I began working on this piece. And so I am really excited for audiences to be forced to learn.
I think the educational aspect is exactly what makes this piece timeless. Yes, it starts in 1963, but then also fast forwards to modern day, where we hear about how, unfortunately, a lot of the same issues are still happening. And hopefully that sad truth will impact audiences the most. Hopefully the audience will leave feeling invigorated because the fight–and the work is not done. We still have a lot more fighting to do in order to create a better environment for future generations.
I don't necessarily have a favorite line from the play. But one of my favorite moments is the climax. And it's right before intermission. We start to see the realities of these women's environments, "every day is another battle to overcome!” (Dee, pg.50). I think that line is a very sobering moment for the audience. Because that text forces both the audience and the actors involved within the scene to remember the severity of the time period and the harsh realities of being Black within America.
It's a very unfortunate moment, but the audience gets to view these women debate life or death. And I think ultimately they are viewing an unraveling. Black women are typically so strong and so fierce. I think that sometimes they can seem sassy. But Black women have and continue to shoulder a lot of weight and responsibility and aren't often allowed to express irritation or frustration without being deemed as nasty or unattractive or volatile.
Because, once a Black woman is deemed as too aggressive she's placed within a stereotype and no longer seen or heard. The "angry Black woman" trope allows people to dissociate without identifying the causal root.
A challenge within this work has been the intimate theater. The intimacy of the theater really forces you to rely really heavily on your fellow actors and the text that Tori Sampson has provided. I 1,000% agree with Tori's sentiments about how exciting it is to learn about the Black culture as a Black individual. But then it saddens me because this should be public knowledge. This should be public information. And this ties into my point that I said earlier. There's no reason that many of us don't know this information.
But it is intentional. And I think that's what's so great about this work is that the writing is very intentional, and it forces us as actors to be very intentional and specific with our actions and our delivery of the text.
Cadillac Crew runs through November 26 in the Bond-Trimble Theatre.