INTERVIEW: Welcome Freeky Dee to the theater scene
Photo: A Freeky Introduction features Nsangou Njikam as the character of Freeky Dee. Photo courtesy of Ahron Foster / Provided by BBB with permission.
NEW YORK — Writer and performer Nsangou Njikam has been waiting a few years to unleash his new character and theatrical passion on audience members, and now he’s ready for his big debut. Theatergoers, welcome to the scene the one and only Freeky Dee.
Atlantic Theater Company’s newest production is called A Freeky Introduction, written by and starring Njikam, who embodies the unique character of Freeky Dee for 100 riveting minutes. By his side at Atlantic Stage 2 is DJ Monday Blue. Over the course of this expanded monologue, one gets to know who Freeky Dee is, what his thoughts are on freedom and how audience members respond to his never-ending energy.
“It feels good that it seems to be doing what it’s intended to do,” Njikam said in a recent phone interview.
A Freeky Introduction had its first reading at the Atlantic Theater Company in August 2023 at the company’s (Writ)ual MixFest, but the playwright first had the idea in 2021.
“I started listening to people who were talking about freedom, so this was post-George Floyd,” Njikam said. “There was a lot of conversation about freedom. … And while that was happening, it just so happened that there was a Parliament Funkadelic playlist in the background while I was having this thought, and that led to some time later a voice that spoke up that introduced itself as Freeky Dee. And that began the process of what would become A Freeky Introduction.”
Freeky Dee is a character who wants the audience to explore what freedom means, whether that’s spiritually, communally, personally or theatrically. Njikam, in character, will often head into the audience section of Atlantic Stage 2 and directly correspond with theatergoers, asking them questions, christening them with new names (this reviewer was crowned John the Baptist). There might even be some dancing, and DJ Monday Blue provides the sonic accompaniment.
“He’s an entity, a spiritual force, was once a mortal being who is here to help people find freedom by embracing that which they would refer to as a freek,” Njikam said. “In this case, it’s someone who recognizes that they have choice, and they have the ability to not be conventional. And his mission, his destiny is to help people understand through very tangible and visceral ways some very profound spiritual truths, and I think that’s Freeky Dee.”
Njikam, whose other plays include Syncing Ink and Re:Definition, said he wants to reinvent the theatrical experience with this show (and perhaps other shows down the line featuring Freeky Dee). He doesn’t like that theater has become an art form where one person speaks on a stage, and there’s no direct dialogue with the audience. The fourth wall is torn down at A Freeky Introduction, which is directed by Dennis A. Allen II.
“We’ve somehow learned that you’re just supposed to watch the actors on stage,” he said. “They’re not supposed to talk to you, you’re not supposed to talk to them, and then you all go away your separate ways. It’s very much like a really bad one-night stand. That’s not what it’s supposed to be. Theater is supposed to, at its best, leave an indelible impact on you that makes you go, oh man, I have to respond. I want to connect. That’s why people wait outside of theaters after a show is over to meet the actors, to tell them this is how much you affected my life.”
Njikam added: “So I enjoy those moments when Freeky Dee gets to connect with the audience because it’s an opportunity for people to actually be in their human selves, to talk, to listen, to feel, all the things that we really want out of a great communal experience. I think those moments are, particularly nowadays, necessary.”
Audience participation can be a little scary and uncomfortable for some theatergoers. Njikam is aware of this fact, but he also believes the realm of the unknown is a beautiful place to exist.
“They don’t know what Freeky Dee is going to do, and there is something about how we deal with mystery that is highly intriguing,” the writer-performer said. “There’s something about a level of nervousness, a level of anxiety, and a level of excitement and enthusiasm that happens when you’re getting ready to have a face-to-face encounter, and you don’t know how it’s going to go. All things are possible in those moments, and I think that’s one of the points that Freeky Dee and A Freeky Introduction is making: What do you do when all things are possible?”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
A Freeky Introduction, written by and starring Nsangou Njikam, continues through Sunday, June 22, at Atlantic Theater Company’s Atlantic Stage 2 in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
