I Am That I AM, Woman: Black!

Adilah Barnes raises her arms to the ceiling as if invoking a God. A spotlight picks her out on the bare floor that serves as a stage. She speaks . . . I Am That I Am Woman, Black. Come journey with me as I take us back. The times of so many are long gone. But the rewards of their efforts live on and on.” (Quoted from Accent/LA)

The nationally touring show stars award-winning stage actor, Adilah Barnes, best known to film audiences for her role in Universal’s award-winning Erin Brockovich and to television audiences for her five seasons in the role of “Anne Marie” on ABC’s Roseanne. Barnes received most of her stage training in San Francisco Bay Area companies and theatres such as the American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) and the Julian Theatre, both of San Francisco.
This jubilant and captivating journey through time explores the lives of seven African American women who have made lasting contributions to the fields of human rights, education, literature, and politics. I AM THAT I AM: Woman, Black celebrates their ability to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles and achieve their life callings by their undaunted faith and belief in themselves. In their own words and embellished with song, Barnes brings to life Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Mary McLeod Bethune, Zora Neale Hurston, Lorraine Hansberry, Angela Davis and Maya Angelou for audiences of all ages. The show has been described as “a whirlwind trip through time, beginning in the years of slavery and leading to recent years.” (The Daily Kent State, Kent State University) Barnes concludes the show with a post-performance exchange with the audience discussing the characters portrayed and herself. Barnes believes that one is sure to walk away with a stronger sense of self by experiencing the triumph of the human spirit through these women.“Because of my great love and respect for these women, I have chosen to create a tapestry of them,” says Barnes. She also says the show plays homage to the immortal spirits of the women. She dedicates the show to her late mother Mrs. Mosea Lee Barnes and her deceased niece Adrienne Lynn Troxler Summerlin who was murdered.

Barnes says she was greatly influenced to finally create her own project after touring three seasons in another historical one-woman show, Sister, Can I Speak For You? with the African American Drama Company of San Francisco. Barnes conceived the show in 1990 with a grant from the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department. “Ninety-nine percent of the words spoken are theirs,” she says, adding that the charismatic spirit of her literary characters also speak to a sense of empowerment critical to Black survival.

Portraying her first five characters, she performed at several senior citizen centers in the Los Angeles area. Barnes then took the successful show on the road to other California cities, including the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento and Santa Barbara. She also performed for presenters such as The National Women’s Theatre Festival in Los Angeles, The Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival, The Watts Third World Festival and The City of Las Vegas, Nevada. Barnes later added two new characters⎯the feisty novelist, folklorist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston and the eloquent political activist Angela Davis, to the original production. The show has since toured throughout the United States in thirty states, coast to coast⎯from Alaska to Maine and California to Florida.

In 2000, the show became international and received international acclaim in the Rotterdam Fabrikaat Festival in Holland. “I want to reach out to young people…because there is such a great need for positive role-modeling, a sense of belonging and a stronger sense of self-knowledge,” Barnes says. “History can’t be forgotten if its images are kept alive. Declaring Black women in positive ways is a step forward. Black people have come full circle from Africa to slavery to now, and we need to celebrate that. Our survival is a testimony to our greatness,” she exclaims.

Both the critics and audiences agree.
“[Adilah’s] characterizations put you in touch with the roots of black people, and in particular the strength of black women.” (Los Angeles Watts Times); “Barnes has certainly created a rare gem here.” (The Maine Campus, University of Maine newspaper) “…In the schools is where I AM belongs, for its view is uncompromisingly heroic: offering role models…” (Los Angeles Weekly); “although referred to…as a play, ‘I Am That I Am: Woman, Black’ is more a historical revue…Barnes is a disciplined and gifted actress who clearly delineates character from character.” (Sacramento Bee): “I would want to come back to see more! It was good… the way you inspired me and my classmates to read more black history books.” (Robin Johnson, Student); “Touching. She brought all my mentors alive.” (Michelle Richards, Actress/Teacher); “[Barnes‘] version of [Maya] Angelou’s slow, salacious laug