By SHARON EBERSON
At the end of a decade marked by a pandemic, the opioid crisis and ideological division, we all could use a big hope-filled hug.
In South Side Stories Revisited, the sequel to her extraordinary 2012 theatrical chronicle of that historic Pittsburgh community, the dynamic writer-performer Tami Dixon continues to share residents’ stories.
South Side Story Revisited, through February 18. (Image: Kristi Jan Hoover)
In direct address, she also lays bare feeling lost amid a 10-year tsunami of epic events. At stake has been her conviction that the arts have the power to unite and heal.
The result sometimes feels like a group therapy session and a feeling that we are all in this together, with the art on display as a beacon of hope and resilience.
When Dixon first heard City Theatre wanted her to revisit her earlier work – her solo show molded from stories collected during two years entrenched on the South Side – she at first took it as “revive.” Not so, she soon discovered.
The idea this time around was to explore tales of the years since South Side Stories made its splashy entrance.
Dixon’s job was “not to fix what’s broken,” but to listen, curate and weave together an entirely new look at City Theatre’s neighborhood. As a twist in the current iteration, we get more of the artist, seemingly fragile underneath layers that emanate creative power.
On opening night Friday, when she asked audience members to provide one word to encompass their experience of recent years, two responded: “Chaos.”
In the program for the show, Dixon’s word was “Tenacious.”
She could say the same for herself.
In a searing, insightful 80 minutes, she goes a long way toward accomplishing theater at its most electrifying and vital.
From the beginning, theater gladiator that she is, Dixon vowed that we also would be entertained. And she proceeded to keep her promise.
However, she did not promise we would be comforted by the content of the stories she was about to share. Some were harrowing, some hilarious, always with the intent of honoring the people who had entrusted her with snippets of their lives.
Particularly moving was the dedicated librarian who keeps Narcan pens handy. A frustrated policeman, who worked in a Squirrel Hill precinct before moving to the South Side, explains that such problems are everywhere, but they are likely hidden in the big houses of the wealthy, as opposed to the too-often wild weekends on bar-lined Carson Street.
Some characters, except for a “yinz” here and a “jagoff” there, could be from any neighborhood. We all know that guy who was the cool kid in high school, but now he’s 40 and forever dazed and confused.
Other references are strictly South Side, like the late lamented Beehive coffeehouse. In a very funny and unappetizing bit, Dixon eviscerates the neighborhood Burger King with a parody to the tune of “The Sounds of Silence.”
Unchanged in the past decade is Dixon’s eye for a good story, her commanding presence and ability to embody 30 distinct characters. Dixon was named a Post-Gazette co-Performer of the Year for the previous show. Back then – and it holds true now – I wrote in the PG:
“Dixon has created a powerful one-woman show … transforming herself into two dozen characters and bringing their true stories to pulsating life. The tales coalesce into a tour de force with clever connecting threads of words, music and colorful, whimsical projections by illustrator David Pohl.”
In 2024, as before, Dixon bounds and struts, dances and sings, and occasionally sits upon a series of wooden platforms, accompanied once again by Pohl’s projections.
What has changed since 2012, along with the tide of events of the past decade, is a more personal searching and yearning by Dixon, along with her interactions with the audience.
Despite marching orders to focus on recent tumultuous years, Revisited remains rife with nostalgia.
Dixon opens with an argument between a longterm South Side resident and a couple from Shadyside – by way of Connecticut – who have dared to move a parking chair.
Any Pittsburgher would know that to move that chair was, and still is, considered a heinous offense.
There also are lamentations over the alcohol-related loss of the South Side Summer Street Spectacular, where, in 2002, performance artist Phat Man Dee was married on a papier-mâché elephant. The festival that began in the 1980s ended in 2004.
As one of Dixon’s South Side characters puts it, the difference between the good ol’ day and now is like the difference between a romping, happy-go-lucky dog who is forced to wear boots and wobble its way through the world.
As Dixon moves from stories of the past to the present, when headlines blare about alcohol and drugs and homelessness and violence in the community, the stakes grow exponentially higher for the future.
It should be clear that the South Side is a microcosm of national issues. It’s also clear that what happens on bar-lined Carson Street on Fridays and Saturdays is not reflective of the entire neighborhood on other days of the week.
One character I can’t shake is of that librarian, who had seen a large part of their job as a comforting presence to the elderly and homeless users of the facility. They also recounted the harrowing experience of using everpresent Narcan pens to save the life of a young woman overdosing in the library’s bathroom.
To create the new work, Dixon once again has collaborated with her longtime friend, the director Matt M. Morrow, along with dramaturg Clare Drobot. Clearly, a lot of work went into editing South Side Stories Revisited into a fast-paced, cohesive whole that shows a range of stories and the infinite range of Dixon’s talents as a performer.
In a program article titled “The South Side Stories Odyssey,” Dixon and Morrow answer questions specific to things they learned the second time around.
Besides mentioning Carson Street’s status as one of the largest Victorian Main Streets in the United States, Dixon answers the question, “What word or phrase from the interviews resonated with you?”
“To get to paradise, you have to go further,” Dixon said. “To get to what’s waiting, you have to go just beyond where you want to stop.”
In South Side Stories Revisited, we are transported beyond news clips and soundbites, onto the streets just outside City Theatre’s big red doors, to meet individuals where they live.
The empathy and fellowship Tami Dixon feels for the people she embodies is palpable, which is as powerful a shared experience as giving the South Side a much needed great big hug.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
The premiere of South Side Stories Revisited is in City Theatre’s Lilliie Theatre, 1300 Bingham Street, South Side, through February 18, 2024. Tickets: visit CityTheatreCompany.org or call 412-431-2489 (CITY).
RIP Dianne Duursma, 1963-2024
Dianne Duursma, City Theatre’s beloved director of development, died after a long battle with cancer on January 12. Before the show on Friday, Dianne was remembered with a moment of silence, and praised for her warm and generous spirit by co-artistic director Marc Masterson and board president David Betts,
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