’Fatherhood Manologues’ offers unique parenting experiences via video storytelling

“I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a room where nine black men walked in and talked about themselves. That in itself is powerful.”

That image of a room of men sharing their innermost feelings is just one powerful aspect of the multi-faceted, multi-disciplinary, confessional and theatrical project “The Fatherhood Manalogues,” which resurfaces on Father’s Day with the release of nine short video monologues online June 21. The project will be also featured on the June 24 episode of Hartford Stage’s online theater talk show “Scene & Heard.”

“Although men and fathers have a voice, they generally don’t have a voice when it comes to fatherhood,” says Abdul-Rahmaan I. Muhammad. He created “The Fatherhood Manalogues,” and is also one of its performers.

“Black fatherhood in itself is a thing. A negative narrative gets out. It’s important to me that we can put a positive narrative out there. These stories are important.”

Muhammad is the executive director of the theraputic social services organization My People Clinical Services in Hartford’s Asylum Hill neighborhood. He conceived “The Fatherhood Manologues” to share “the ups and downs of fatherhood. The sharing comes not just through performance but in the way the monologues are created.

“Our theater is like a [social work] program. We would work on our own pieces as a way to talk about life, fatherhood, and the struggles we are having. At first this was on a much smaller scale, just my group. Then we tried again, with the plan to get it to the stage. So I went to Steve.”

Steve Raider-Ginsburg is the director of the Carol Autorino Center for the Arts at the University of St. Joseph in West Hartford. He is also a co-founder of Hartford’s progressive political theater troupe HartBeat Ensemble. He has been responsible for bringing numerous socially conscious and multi-cultural performance pieces to both the Autorino Center and HartBeat’s Carriage House Theater.

“Given the mission of the center and the university, I saw this as well situated,” Ginsburg says. “We started talking in early September 2019. Then we brought Abdul to campus. We had a show in February and were astonished with the response. It became hot on social media. Now it’s a yearlong project, embedded in our classes.” Anthony DeJesús, a professor in USJ’s Social Work department, will be incorporating aspects of “The Fatherhood Manologues” into some of his classes.

Having been approached by Muhammad, Ginsburg in turn sought out the participation of HartBeat Ensemble’s new artistic director Godfrey Simmons, to direct the monologues. “This project needs to be co-led as a partnership between a social worker and an artist,” Ginsburg explains. Chris Rivas, a nationally recognized storyteller who performed in the poverty-themed oral history theater piece “Pang” at the Autorino Center last year, was also brought in as a consultant.

Simmons arranged for “The Fatherhood Manologues” to be part of the his first season as the head of HartBeat Ensemble, though that season has been delayed due to the coronavirus. “Steve brought the project to my attention. Then I met Abdul,” Simmons says. “It was a no-brainer to be a community partner for this. Partly that’s because I’m a black father, but also because I’m new to Hartford and I wanted to meet these men and hear their stories. It’s important to me, part of my personal vision. This has been illuminating. I’ve been learning so much.”

“The Fatherhood Manalogues” is one “branch,” Muhammad says, of a larger project of his called “The Manhood Tree” which explores “the four ‘hood’s: Boyhood, Brotherhood, Fatherhood and Manhood.” The tales spun by the manologists are diverse and cover many perspectives and generations. “These are not all first generation fathers,” Muhammad says. “Some are talking about the things their own fathers did.”

Besides Muhammad, the storytellers releasing videos June 21 include Malik Champlain, Jean Amos Lys, Elbert Gray, Demetrius Chamblee, Keith Davis, Jesse White III, Tariko Satterfield and Kevin Booker Jr.

Some of the videos behave like short films as well as microphone-bound stories. Muhammad’s own story revolves around how when his kids were young, he used to play with them the instant he stepped through the front door when he came home from work, leting them “jump on my Frankenstein legs.” But work stress finds him still on his phone when he enters the house, ignoring his children and taking less of an active part in their lives. In the video, Muhammad is shown telling the story at his doorstep, then in a business suit with a briefcase acting out the story as he enters through the door and rushes down the corridor.

Muhammad says his story is based on “a mistake a lot of us make,” and wants to offer a positive message that we can resurrect and strengthen relationships that might have deteriorated, restoring them so they “can last a lifetime.”

Demetrius Chamblee’s tale begins with Chamblee standing in front of a state superior courthouse and includes photos of the grandfather who raised him, plus a cameo appearance by his daughter. “I love being [a] father,” he proclaims. “But there are times when I look back and I realize if I didn’t have my grandfather to see, I would have given up on a few battles. Let’s take a look at one.”

Malik Champlain’s story, told outside the carousel in Bushnell Park, is delivered to a child who hasn’t “been born yet, so I’m speaking to you through your mother’s belly.” Some sweet fatherly advice, illustrated with fun video special effects, gives way to uncomfortable truths about being a black man in America.

The next phase of “The Fatherhood Manalogues” should be live performances for USJ students in the fall, then some “public engagement,” as Ginsburg puts it, in the spring.

“I’m interested in seeing how Abdul and the men think it will evolve,” Godfrey Simmons says. “How artistic they can get. How impactful they can get it to be.”

Christopher Arnott can be reached at carnott@courant.com.

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