When it comes to writing papers and essays, few UCLA students have time for a rough draft. Dee Jae Cox, however, wrote about 37 drafts of her latest play, “Prove it on Me,” before starting production.
“I’ve been working on this play for what feels like 100 years, but it was three years ago,” Cox said.
Cox, a former UCLA Extension student, began writing the script during her time in the UCLA Writer’s Program.
The play follows Georgia, a sassy blues singer who sings in a Harlem night club in 1929 and falls in love with white socialite Lindsey, forming a risque lesbian and interracial relationship. This is Cox’s third play and it will open Saturday at the Stella Adler Theatre in Hollywood.
“Prove it on Me” is also the first play presented by the L.A. Women’s Theatre Project, started by Cox and her partner, Michele Weiss, who also wrote the songs for the production. They created the group as a way to raise awareness for women working in the theater industry.
“What we wanted to do was found an organization that went out of its way to provide opportunities … not just for writers and directors but for people behind the stage ““ women in all capacities of theater,” Cox said.
The title, “Prove it on Me,” comes from a song of the same name by Ma Rainey, a famous blues singer of the 1920s who served as an inspiration for the character, Georgia.
The storyline is comprised of controversial elements such as the Harlem Renaissance, the Great Depression, racism, Voodoo, blues music and a love story between two very different women.
However, Sweet Baby J’ai, who plays Georgia, said this “gumbo” just spices up the melting pot of the play.
“All this stuff is thrown in at these people and what happens (to them). And that’s always what makes a story interesting,” she said. “Then you’re left with something that’s palatable.”
These elements may seem foreign to the average UCLA student, and they were foreign to Cox as well.
“I knew nothing about the Harlem Renaissance so I decided to research to find out what that was,” she said. “And I discovered this whole beautiful era of history that I knew nothing about.”
After researching, Cox decided to turn her newfound passion into a play. With subjects still somewhat unfamiliar to her, however, the writing process proved difficult.
“This play, I would say, is the farthest reach for me outside of myself. To create African American characters in the 1920s ““ that is so removed from who I am. That’s a real stretch for me,” she said.
“And I loved it. I loved having to reach that far. And I hope, I pray that I did justice to this era and to these characters,” she said.
This obstacle also extended to making the situation relatable for modern-day audiences, according to the show’s director Kelly Ann Ford.
“It’s hard for us in the modern world to think about how difficult it really was for gays and lesbians to have real relationships at the time, and when you add in the factor of race it makes it equally risque. … You really have to strip away what you know,” Ford said.
Creating a play that realistically depicts the 1920s era proved to be challenging, and the cast and crew had to get used to hearing a different lingo and immersing themselves in a culture completely unlike their own.
“If someone came to you in this day and age with (the n-word), you might want to knock them out. (But for “˜Prove it on Me’) you really have to place yourself back there,” Baby J’ai said.
Even though Cox admitted creating characters during this time period was a challenge, she found the process worthwhile.
“You have to get outside of yourself, stop thinking about how you see things and what you believe, because your characters aren’t going to see things that way,” she said. “You have to allow yourself to create characters. Otherwise, your story isn’t going to be very interesting.”