You MUST see Company One’s entertaining and enlightening HOW WE GOT ON! This is a jubilant show directed by Summer L. Williams that not only made me understand rap in a new way– but made me FEEL it! This show captures the heart, mind, and soul of the art form, and channels the here and now, with words and beats, that connect us to our truth and each other. YOU WILL LOVE IT!

Playwright Idris Goodwin, who grew up in the Detroit suburbs, has based the play on his own coming of age as a black teen growing up in the ’80’s midwest, and finding his voice in hip hop. It all begins onstage with a DJ–the Selector (Miranda Craigwell) who hovers above, orchestrating the action, cueing the narrative, filling in the history, charting the evolution of hip hop, illuminating its terminology and ideals, and filling in for various characters when called for in the action below. Enter three characters, one at a time, a nerdy bespectacled wordsmtih named Hank (Kadahj Bennett). He has a way with a phrase, a sound, rhyme and rhythm– and it means something. But it’s inert on the page until the swaggering, pumped up Julian (Jared Brown) brings it to life in performance as spoken word. The kid can deliver –and lets loose the feelings he can finally express through Hank’s words and ideas.

If Hank is the intellect and Julian is the heart, then the spunky Luann (Cloteal Horne) is the spirit who can magically improvise her experiences on the spot, without paper, and only her expansive soul as her guide. “There’s gonna be mistakes,” she mischievously reminds Julian when he struggles to give form to his feelings– and then, unencumbered, she lets loose,  animating the creative act before our very eyes in one of the play’s best numbers; she made me feel like I could do it.

I won’t pretend to know all the hip hop references or sampled tracks, and there are many; if you’re in need, there’s a handy guide in the program. Just sit back, relax, and prepare to be involved in what these exciting actors bring to life onstage over an uninterrupted 90-minute mash up of rap and theater. Don’t worry if you find yourself spontaneously vocalizing–there’s gonna be mistakes– that’s how we all get on. HOW WE GOT ON by Company One at the BCA’s Plaza Theatre through August 17th.