Georgia-born playwright Shay Youngblood was put on this world to tell stories. Stories about community, about family, about love in all forms.
Youngblood brings her stories to the stage in the joyous, life-affirming production of “Shakin’ the Mess Outta Misery” at Horizon Theatre, site of the play’s 1988 world premiere.
The main character, “Daughter,” lost her mother at a young age and is raised by her eight loving “Big Mamas.” They tell Daughter their stories of heartbreak, hilarity and redemption as she prepares to go to the river—a rite of passage into womanhood. It’s a type of education only the Big Mamas can teach her.
Youngblood says it’s the most autobiographical work she’s ever written. Her birth mother died when she was 2 years old and she was raised by an extended family of grandmothers, aunts, uncles, cousins and church-members. “People ask me how long it took me to write it and I tell them it took my whole life,” she tells FENUXE. “I was living it.”
The same stories Youngblood’s Big Mamas told her ended up in “Shakin’ the Mess Outta Misery,” which was cathartic for her after they passed away. “I wanted to make sure their stories were heard,” she says. “I wrote the play to bring the Big Mamas back to life.”
The play reinforces the idea of non-traditional families, a notion that resonates with the LGBT community. “We build other families. I like to call them tribes,” says the openly gay Youngblood. “I’ve got all these mini-tribes all over and wherever I happen to be, that’s where home is.”
“Shakin’ the Mess Outta Misery” ultimately is a lesson in love.
“At the end of the evening, I want people to call their Big Mama or Big Daddy and somebody who meant something to them and tell them that they love them,” she says. “Because this is a way of me telling all my Big Mamas that I love them.”
Shakin’ the Mess Outta Misery
Through August, 22nd
Horizon Theatre
1083 Austin Ave.
Atlanta, GA 30307
404-583-7450
