E PLURIBUS UNUM: A Study in Multi-Character Solo Performance in the Documentary Drama

Abstract

The United States of America has adopted as its official motto, “e pluribus unum,” a Latin concept translating to “from many, one.” This refers to the multitude of cultures and immigrants that come together in our country. Two American documentary theatre pieces of the recent past have embraced this concept of “e pluribus unum” by giving us a documentary solo performance in which the sole performer takes on dozens of personalities in a single show, with the lines between characters blurred and fluid. In a documentary drama, the level of difficulty for the performer is raised. Most, if not all, of the characters in these documentary theatre pieces are real people, some of whom are still living. Portraying not just one real person but a whole cast of them presents challenges, especially to a performer who has had limited contact with the subjects being portrayed. How can one portray twenty-plus personalities in a manner that is simultaneously convincing, accurate, and theatrical? In Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights Brooklyn and Other Identities, Anna Deavere Smith has shown us how, as has Jefferson Mays in Doug Wright’s I Am My Own Wife, albeit in very different way.