‘Spiritrials’ L.A. area artist bringing performances, workshops to spark dialogues of cultural awareness, change

Dahlak Brathwaite didn't find a wonderland when police profiling sent him 'down the rabbit hole of criminal justice' in his native California.

'I never even got suspended from high school, I wasn't an at-risk youth,' he said. But after several experiences with profiling or harassment, the college graduate 'graduated to drug rehabilitation classes' when the police found some mushrooms he didn't even remember a friend had left in his car.

'If you get caught with any of our controlled substances, you're a drug addict, and (going to the classes) is the only way I can vindicate myself, where I could get the case dismissed,' he said. 'The only chance I have of being decriminalized is to go through this process.'

That's the crystallizing moment the musician/poet/actor/educator has turned into 'Spiritrials,' a multifaceted theatrical work Brathwaite and his DJ collaborator, Dion Decibels, are bringing to the CSPS stage in Cedar Rapids March 10 to 12.

The hourlong production — a blend of spoken word, music and drama — will cap a nearly two-week residency packed with public and private workshops in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines.

The title 'packs a lot of meanings' into one word, the Sacramento native, 30, said by phone from his home in Long Beach, part of the greater Los Angeles metro area. 'Spiritrials' deals with addiction, religion, rituals and habits.

'It focuses in on the spirits we try and the spirit that gets tried,' he said, beginning with the religious, mystic, otherworldly sense of spirit.

Next is 'the kind of spirit we all find in ourselves, whether that be tired, lonely, the forgotten, the crushed spirit,' he said.

'And then we start talking about the spirit in terms of wine, in terms of smoke — (things) outside of us but can seem to possess us. We call wine 'spirits,' liquor 'spirit,' smoke looks like spirit sometimes when it comes out of your mouth.

'It's all three of those things, and when you put 'trials' into it, you talk about a 'tried' spirit, a spirit that's been persecuted or that's been oppressed or burdened with hardships. We talk about a trial in that sense, but you can talk about a trial in terms of sampling, in terms of experimenting. That trial sense goes along with the more drug-centered spirit, trying different spirits.'

Creating the show's soundtrack was a 'spirit-trial,' as well, as he sampled the 'God-inspired music' of spirituals, gospel and free jazz from his 2012 hip-hop concept album of the same name. It provides one of the layers for the theatrical presentation, and Brathwaite and DJ Decibels will use it to play off each other onstage.

The music moves through a narration of spoken-word verse, employing monologues from five characters, said Brathwaite, past winner of the Brave New Voices International poetry slam. This format lets him break theater's 'fourth-wall' and speak to his audiences, allowing him the flexibility to build on themes or notions he sees resonating with listeners at any given performance.

'I can base it on the emotion of the crowd. I know what's making people laugh,' he said. 'I can play to that, to adjust and accommodate my audience.'

His goal is to get people thinking and talking, to affect a culture of community and change.

'I want to hop into what has become a national conversation about incarceration and police profiling, police brutality, the history we have of minorities — especially African-American men — at odds with the law or police,' he said. 'I just want to bring light to that in a very human context.

'The play doesn't stay there. It's what got me there, but what we leave with is new ways of investigating and exploring the certain dogmas that we ingest without really questioning, or the certain dogmas that we might have broken away from that we can still use.

'So it's this play between condition and making something your own and adapting,' he said, 'and that goes for the habit in term of the substances we put in our bodies; the dogmas and beliefs we subscribe to; and the systems that we allow to give authority.'

The material is adult in nature, geared toward ages 18 and older, but younger teens can benefit from the conversations, as well.

'(It's) very useful for teens 15 and older, especially with some of the conversations around drugs and drug abuse,' he said, 'and especially for young people of color, to know historically what they've been up against and to have some context with that. What we don't realize, is that everybody is young and stupid, but being young and stupid has different consequences sometimes, for different people.'

That's the same notion that fuels his educational workshops with youths and young adults, where he again, uses the arts for reaching and teaching.

'It's simple validation, to hear a voice that's familiar, that maybe speaks to something they've gone through,' he said. 'I use my medium of spoken word and a very hip-hop influence, youth culture influence. I speak a language with a hindsight and a little more wisdom. Being able to contextualize situations through eyes that have gone through this is an experience that validates in a little way.

'I feel like art, in general, has made me a better person, a better student. Seeing artists doing their thing made me want to write more, or made me want to read more, made me want to be smarter, so I could understand how they did this thing that just impressed me,' he said.

That's the effect he wants to pay forward: 'trying to amaze them enough to make them say, 'I want to do something like that.' Having that type of focus, that kind of passion, can lead you to better places in your life.'

Co-commissions

'Spiritrials' is the first of three spring performances at CSPS showcasing National Performance Network Creation Fund projects co-commissioned by Legion Arts, which owns and operates CSPS. The other two shows are:

'The Radicalization Process,' 8 p.m. April 14 to 16, by Detroit's Hinterlands Ensemble; $15 advance, $18 door. A mix of music, dance and theater, this production explores radical art, politics and extremist beliefs in American culture. Hinterlands will be in residence that week, working with local creatives at various locations.

'Stripe Tease,' 8 p.m. April 21 to 23, by Twin Cities performing and visual artists; $15 advance, $18 door. Featuring six dancers, the work mixes large-scale spectacle and intimacy, as it embraces and subverts dance history.

If you go

What: Dahlak Brathwaite in 'Spiritrials'

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

When: 8 p.m. March 10, 11 and 12

Tickets: $15 advance, $18 door, CSPS Box Office, (319) 364-1580 or Legionarts.org

Related public events: March 5: adult workshop at CSPS, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., $25, includes admission to one of the shows; VoiceBox showcase at CSPS, 8 p.m., $5

Residency workshops: Washington High School, The Hook, Four Oaks, Jane Boyd Community House, Pen and Drink, all in Cedar Rapids; Des Moines sites

Online: Thisisdahlak.com and Youthspeaks.org/spiritrials