Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers
TRAYVON MARTIN STORY ALIVE AFTER 10 YEARS
By Stephen Weir
When the 70-minute live play “Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers” ends we in the audience are invited to stick around and talk about the 2012 murder of Trayvon Martin. We think about staying and apologizing for the racist murder of a 17-year-old youth but opt to go to our and cry alone.
The Caribbean Canadian couple beside us want to get home quick and hug their children tight. Real tight.
The midtown Tarragon Theatre is finally back open after taking a couple year Covid break. Actress and playwright Makambe K Simamba is first out of the blocks at the Casa Loma neighbourhood theatre. She is presenting her one-person show “Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers,” runs until April 20th.
In “Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers”, Simamba plays Slimm (Trayvon Martin), who is murdered and suddenly finds himself up in the afterlife. It is based on the real-life murder of Trayvon.
After his sudden death God gives him the opportunity to reflect on the life he has just lived and the violence that took him from his life, family and community. Ultimately, Our Father is a protest for Black life and for a promise that Black Lives Matter (a slogan that was born out of the Florida wide protests made after his killing).
It all begins with the young man lying flat on the stage floor with only his feet sticking out from behind a curtain. Slimm shakes himself into a sitting position, unaware that he has suddenly moved on into the afterlife. For the next hour Simamba wears a black hoodie looking more like a 17-year-old male teenager than a 30 something woman.
This gut wrench play is based on the real-life murder of Trayvon Martin. It was a senseless killing that shocked not just Florida, but America and Canada too. It was ten years ago, on February 26th, 2012 to be exact that Trayvon Martin, an African American teen was walking home with a bag of treats from the local store when death chose to come knock. For no apparent reason he is shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, patrolling the townhouse community of Sanford, Florida.
Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder. Following a high-profile trial that riveted America, he was acquitted of the charges and set free.
But, play is not about Zimmerman. He is given only a passing mention this family tradegy. It is is the story of Black teenager who once the trigger is pulled finds himself talking to the Man. He is in purgatory and while God does talk to him, he isn’t a sympathetic deity. Black children get blown away every day. Slimm (Trayvon’s twitter handle) tells his family assuring them it didn’t hurt much and prays they that they won’t forget him.
During the play Simamba, sings, dances and for ten long minutes calls out the names of children who have been murdered since Trayvon’s death. She premiered her play three years ago and admits that she continues to add names and be super impacted by the social problem that never stops growing. When seen on stage last week she could not stop crying as she called out cost lost children’s name.
Makambe K Simamba is originally from Zambia, Africa. She and her family came to Toronto after a few stops in the Caribbean.
Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers runs in Tarragon’s Extraspace from March 8 - April 10, 2022, and then moves down the highway to Hamilton. It will be performed in the Studio Theatre at Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton from April 26-May 7.
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