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.
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 [...]