Baby steps: ‘Stretch Marks’ looks at common human denominators

By Diana Nollen

You don't have to have stretch marks to find meaning in Angela Kariotis' latest theatrical adventure.

You just have to have been born.

That's the philosophy behind the spoken-word artist's latest work, “Stretch Marks,” commissioned by Legion Arts in Cedar Rapids, the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies in Austin, Texas, and the National Performance Network. The 75-minute production premiered in Austin in November and will have its Midwest premiere Friday and Saturday, March 12 and 13, at CSPS, home-base for Legion Arts.

This will be Kariotis' third trip to Cedar Rapids. Her two previous works explored her life as a first-generation Greek-American growing up in New Jersey.

Continuing in the family way, “Stretch Marks” is inspired by her journey through childbirth with daughter Eva, nearly 2, Kariotis, 30, says by phone from her home in Fords, N.J. That wasn't her intended topic when she began discussions for the commissioned piece in 2007.

“I was writing a re-imagining of ‘The Odyssey,' then my husband, Pat, and I had this baby and I was not interested in writing about the past anymore,” she says. “In 2008 when my daughter was born, that's when the conversation in my head changed.”

Fortunately, the sponsoring organizations had given her carte blanche in determining her subject matter.

“That's the whole point,” she says. “The National Performance Network is very process oriented. They're interested in giving me the space to work it out.” Legion Arts is a member of that organization.

“Legion Arts is more interested in supporting me as an artist - that's why I value them,” she says.

She received a $9,000 grant in 2009 and did most of the writing that summer.

“When I had the baby, I was focused on being a new parent,” she says. “I wasn't Artist Angela, I was New Mom Angela. But the whole time, I was collecting data and coming to the conclusion that another play needs to be written, and (determining) what conversation about that can I make cool.”

She has the “cool” factor down pat, utilizing a hip-hop theater model, with elements of monologue, poetry, mime and the dance styles known as waackin' and vogueing. The show features Kariotis onstage alone, with sound cues and lights.

“This is not a work in progress or a reading,” she stresses. “I'm bringing it done. When I come to Cedar Rapids, I'm coming correct.”

But she's not ruling out expanding the show. “Maybe one day, with additional support ... I would like to have the opportunity to work with projections, video and a puppeteer.”

Even though the topic was born from the childbirth experience, she says the show is much broader.

“The play is not about parenthood, it's not about motherhood. I created this play for people who have children, have parents or people who have been born,” she says.

“It's about having a baby but also about being born - what we inherit, how we learn to become who we are. When we're born we're one dot in a long line. How does everything come before you? Not a lot of it is a blank slate. I happen to have been born to Greek parents. Being first-generation American shaped how I thought of the work.

    “It's not specific to pregnant women or women in general. I use that as a vehicle to tell the story. It's about making a decision that will ultimately change your life - making a decision when your back is up against the wall.

   “Stretch marks come from when a muscle has to grow rapidly. Having to step up to the plate, whatever that place may be, you have to step up no matter what the pressure. People can relate to that experience in many steps.

   “The more open I am in storytelling, the more open an audience will be in meeting me in that place,” she says.

“Maybe they can look at mothers in a different kind of way, look at babies in a different kind of way. We all started out as babies. Maybe (audiences) will reconsider the circumstance of their birth and what they want to own.

“It's presented in a way that's fun, engaging and different.”

FAST TAKEInformation: www.legionarts.org/theatre/Kariotis.htm or www.angelakariotis.com

What: “Stretch Marks,” one-woman show by Angela Kariotis

When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 12 and 13

Where: CSPS, 1103 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids

Tickets: $11 in advance at www.midwestix.com or $15 at the door