Angelina Jolie, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and Madonna have black children. How could it not be good? Should you go pick one up? Especially after you see their faces on tv looking so sad? “Ungrateful Daughter” – Lisa Marie’s riveting solo show examines celebrity crazes, the global politics of transracial adoption, being a black girl in a white family, and the myth of 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 unexpected characters and some spoken word poems are stories of hair, attending a mostly white private school and her love for her organic farmer parents. Somehow with all this fun, Lisa Marie is able to provide a sobering examination of child trafficking and its relationship to adoption. 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 – 2010
March 3
Excerpt at WordsFirst at Counterpulse in SF, 7:30pm
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/99605
Tickets, sliding scale: $15-$20
Half-price discount code: firstwords
Discount tix: $7.50-$10
April 8
Ungrateful Daughter Debut at StageWerks in SF, 8pm
April 22
Ungrateful Daughter Debut at StageWerks in SF, 8pm
For Tickets to the April 8th or 22nd show Go here to BrownPaperTickets!
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Lisa Marie is available to perform Ungrateful Daughter at your conference, theater, or university. Please contact her for a press kit or booking 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 10 years.
August 9, 2006 at 9:30 am
[...] These photos are from performance of Ungrateful Daughter I did at PACT camp last week! [...]
September 10, 2006 at 9:39 am
[...] When I saw Lisa Marie Rollins‘ perform her show, “Ungrateful Daughter,” at Pact Camp, I was so riveted, and energized, and moved and terrified all at once. And I instantly thought, I want to do that! Could I do that? I took a teeny-tiny very casual improv class once, about twenty-five years ago, but there was never any performance involved. I’ve never done anything on stage, except play taiko with a dozen other people. I have no idea what has prompted me to want to take my own writing and get up there and perform it. [...]
September 25, 2006 at 3:04 pm
[...] It’s amazing that until very very recently, I was only very vaguely aware of solo performance and what it was. I guess my only reference point was Spalding Gray. And two of my friends from adoption world, Ronda Slater (”A Name You Never Got”) and Alison Larkin (”The English American”) have created amazing one-woman shows. But it was never anything I considered for myself, until I saw Lisa Marie Rollins’ “Ungrateful Daughter” while at Pact Camp. It blew me away. And I also thought, I could do that. I think. At least, I wanted to try to do that. [...]
June 5, 2007 at 10:15 am
[...] Ungrateful Daughter [...]
June 19, 2007 at 10:11 am
[...] my favorite example. I wish I could get to San Francisco to see it this Thursday. Explore posts in the same [...]
June 27, 2008 at 1:03 am
[...] I found tonight surfing around, a clothing line for multi-cultural children! And this blog, the Ungrateful Daughter, talks about her adoptive expereince. Where are we at with this as a society? Ho DO [...]