'Vital Signs' tells story of political prisoner

By Jenny Jones
Senior Writer

On the stage sat a dirty toilet, a small cot, black bars that represented a jail cell and one man.

"Vital Signs," a play about the life of a young African American political prisoner, was performed Tuesday night on the stage in Fowler Hall.

Approximately 70 people of different races, ages and ethnicities sat attentively as the single cast member - Andre Teamer - acted out a variety of people who had an impact on his character's life.

Using distinct voices and body language, the lone cast member portrayed his character's mother, great grandmother, brother, fighting coach and friends, creating the illusion of varying cast members in addition to the political prisoner himself.

Because of the use of these techniques, Teamer was successful in telling the life of the political prisoner from the time that he began school to his death in his isolated jail cell.

Included in his life story was a fight he engaged in as a child, the paper route his mom made him get when he was 13-years-old and the first time he became intimate with his girlfriend - complete with a one cast member sex scene.

His life tale went on to explain his memories of joining the Marines, and losing his brother, who also became a political prisoner.

But when his brother died, he couldn't get leave from the Marines to attend his funeral.

The prisoner decided to go AWOL and join a separatist group in an effort to create change for justice.

Once he joined the group he was captured and sentenced to serve time in jail, but was never released. Instead he was killed under police torture and is now pleading to be remembered.

These flashbacks of his life are not only the body of the play, but also a continuous reminder that we remember things such as our first days of school; however, political prisoners are often forever forgotten.

In addition to this message, another key element of the play was that it is our duty to seek information - going beyond what data is given to us in an effort to create change.

Overall, "Vital Signs" worked to move individuals toward revolution with a single cast member and the reflection on the lives of true political prisoners such as Assata Shakur, Geronimo Gi Gaga Pratt and Daruba.

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