Eisa Davis turns theater upside down with provocative “The Essentialisn’t” in Soho

Eisa Davis’ theatrical piece “The Essentialisn’t” isn’t exactly a play, although it’s scripted. It’s not a musical either, despite containing a number of original songs.

It verges on performance art at times, but that’s only one element of the provocative and entertaining production now running at the HERE Arts Center in Soho. Performing on a minimal set that switches back and forth from blank walls to projected video imagery, Davis is accompanied by Princess Jacob and Jamella Cross, whose beautiful voices perfectly blend with her lead.

After gathering in the lobby, which is the site of an art installation for the show, the audience is let in to find their seats while Davis sits center stage above a tank of water, singing softly. Her imminent immersion is a multiple metaphor that partly applies to the audience, who are about to be dunked into Davis’ head as she works out the central question at hand: Can you be Black and not perform?

Davis explained later that the show is “an examination of the obligation that Black women have, in particular, when it comes to performing that identity.” The piece uses “a transition-less mixtape style” to go through various scenarios that examine the ever-present question at hand—literally, as the question is posed onstage in neon letters throughout the evening.

Eisa Davis onstage in “The Essentialisn’t” . Photo by Daniel J. VasquezPhoto by Daniel J. Vasquez/provided

Eisa Davis, Princess Jacob, Jamella CrossPhoto by Bob Krasner

Photo by Bob Krasner

Photo by Bob Krasner

It is, she says, “a performance piece about performing.”

“The Essentialisn’t” was not quite the show it is now when she began. “It was very different when I first started writing it,” she admits. “I wanted to write a musical, but I discovered in the process, over time, that I was less interested in the narrative, which was about a conceptual artist who was having a love affair with her gallerist and a critic who was jealous of her. But instead of being about these people, it became a piece that this conceptual artist might make.”

“I was inspired by a lot of visual artists that I had seen in the city, like Adrian Piper and Carrie Mae Weems. It’s gone through all these different versions and iterations,” she adds. And the end result, Davis says, “feels like a breakthrough for me.”

Davis’s past work is worth mentioning, as her play “Bulrusher” received a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize, and she has notably collaborated with Lin-Manuel Miranda on the concept album “Warriors.”

Davis’ “Angela’s Mixtape” — a play inspired by her aunt, Angela Davis — was something of a precursor to the newest work. “You might call that a performance piece, but it was also a play,” Davis notes.

Princess Jacob onstage in “The Essentialisn’t”Photo by Bob Krasner

Eisa Davis onstage in “The Essentialisn’t”Photo by Bob Krasner

Jamella Cross in “The Essentialisn’t”Photo by Bob Krasner

Part of what’s new for her in this piece is the influence of “the more avant-garde theater that I grew up doing,” as well as the fact that she gets to utilize all of the things that she loves doing: playing piano, singing, dancing and acting. Some people along the way responded well to how the piece evolved, while others preferred the original version.

But, she says, “as an artist, I have to respond to what the piece is telling me to do. I’ve come to know over the years that you just have to trust the piece to keep talking to you.”

One of the things that she trusts are her collaborators, the performers who accompany her onstage, notes from the producers, etc., which led to daily changes right up until opening night. There is a lot of improvisation, which she loves as it keeps the work open.

Cross and Jacob are, Davis says, “wonderful and resourceful and adaptive artists who were really open to all the changes that I kept throwing on them.”

Photo by Bob Krasner

Jamella Cross, Eisa Davis, Princess Jacob in “The Essentialisn’t”Photo by Bob Krasner

Princess Jacob, Eisa DavisPhoto by Bob Krasner

Photo by Bob Krasner

They are also wonderful singers, and the trio sings a gorgeous a cappella number that asks the question “Will You Love Me Every Morning?” that would be a showstopper if it didn’t actually end the show.

On the other end of the spectrum is a glorious sing-along where the audience is invited to belt out “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” (the only non-original of the evening) as badly as possible.

After a heady evening that touches on themes of gender, sexual, and racial identity through various means, Davis is unwilling to project her expectations onto the audience.

“I like to be able to give something and let people do what they wish with it. But when I see people who are really moved, when I see people singing the songs, that’s when I know I’ve done my job. That’s what any artist hopes for – to give a valuable experience to people that stays with them.”

Ticket info for the show, which runs through Sept. 28: here.org/shows/the-essentialisnt. Eisa Davis is online at eisadavis.com.