Ungrateful Daughter

Angelina Jolie, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman and now Madonna have black children. How could it not be good? Should you go pick one up? Ungrateful Daughter- Lisa Marie’s riveting new solo show examines celebrity crazes, transracial adoption, being a black girl in a white family, and colorblind love.

Ungrateful Daughter is the story of one black girl’s experience as an adoptee in a white family. Funny and sharp, it is a story that thrusts us into the complicated racial knots of being a transracial adoptee that are so hard to untangle. In the early 1970’s Lisa Marie is adopted by a couple seeking an “Asian-mix” baby and end up with a little black girl whose racial identity is hidden by the adoption agency. Told through spoken word and unexpected characters are stories of hair, singing in the private school play and her organic farmer parents. Christmas 2005, Lisa Marie is determined to go home and have a great holiday without any discussions of race. She returns home to find that her mother has a new Aunt Jemima figurine on the wall in the kitchen. Infused with a gentle sense of humor and a seething sense of outrage, and of course, good, well- meaning, white adoptive parents, Lisa Marie wonders if she is too sensitive about race.

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Upcoming Performances - 2008

June 14th in LA - more details soon!

2008 I’m on a break from the development of UD. I’m finishing my PhD! Hit me in 2009!

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Lisa Marie is available to perform Ungrateful Daughter at your conference, theatre, university or parent adoption discussion group. Please contact her for a press kit or booking information.

For more information email me or check out my myspace for the most updated information.

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Ungrateful Daughter is directed by W. Kamau Bell. Kamau has been a Bay Area writer, performer, and director for the past 8 years. Since moving from Chicago where he graduated from The Second City Conservatory, he has directed the long running, critically acclaimed, solo show don’t make look too psychotic as well as F***ing Handicapped Guy, hit solo show of the 2002 San Francisco Fringe Festival. This year he directed miss-matches.com which is in it’s seven month of performances. In 2005 Kamau appeared in the prestigious Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal and on Comedy Central’s Premium Blend.