WINNIFRED: I can’t see what a new world would look like. Can you? (Elizabeth tries. She really tries. And… she can’t.)
Winnifred stands with nothing to lose, ready to sell her soul for, ‘more of the same’, as Elisabeth admonishes. These two characters spend the play on almost parallel tracks, with Winnifred growing angry at the implication. It’s not until they meet that they learn their worlds have changed beyond recognition. It’s their connection that shines a light on the ways their worlds have changed.
In a world built on transactions (the passing of land, title, inheritance, women) between men, when women come together in spaces that aren’t catered to men or their transactional powers, magic happens. That’s what Luce Irigaray posits in her essay ‘When the Goods Get Together.’ When Elizabeth and Winnifred connect, share their experiences, their pains, and their anger, without the interference of men, magic happens. It may not be enough to change the world they live in, but it’s enough to change how they look at the world around them.
While not a witch, Elizabeth has been given sight. In her interactions with Scratch, she has gained new consciousness. In the interview ‘Conversations with James Baldwin,’ Baldwin puts this phenomenon into words- “The role of the artists is the same as the role of the lover… I have to make you conscious of the things you do not see.” In Jen Silverman’s Witch, we see that clearly between Elizabeth and Scratch. Both go back and forth sharing their own consciousness with the other, and both are deeply affected by it. The love Elizabeth receives from Scratch opens her up to new worlds, new possibilities- or at least the knowledge that mere survival won’t change the world around her. The love Scratch receives throws him off kilter.
That’s the nature of love, to change, and change is one of the few constants we have. “All that you touch/You Change./All that you Change/ Changes you./ The only lasting truth/Is Change...” This is the meditation Octavia Butler offers in the first pages of Parable of the Sower, and part of the lasting lesson of Witch. We must work to change each other for the better if we are to change the world, and we must work to connect with one another if we are to change one another.
Witch is a show with a lot to say, and more to be said about it. Looking back at the production produced by Iowa Stage Theatre Company, a spell has been cast. This incantation might not bring on a “hot wind” to start everything over. The spell was cast in the performance, strangers coming together for a couple of hours, sitting and watching a troupe of actors tell a story. We all sat together, actors sharing the consciousness of the characters as written by Silverman, and audience responding with their consciousness via gasps, laughter, and applause, and we let ourselves be changed.
“Do I have hope things can get better?”
As long as we share our consciousness, let ourselves change and be changed, and deepen our connections with each other, I will maintain my disciplined hope things will get better, and I hope you do too.
Giovanni Bahena is an Iowa Stage Resident Artist who is an actor, artist, and activist. They're driven by authors and artists who challenge societal norms and fight for equality, equity, and community.
Photos by Joe Crimmings & Will Coeur
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