GARRA IS A PORTUGUESE WORD for the curved or hooked claw of a bird of prey or animal. And it’s an unexpected name for a theater company. But after spending some time with Silver Spring based actor, producer and educator Wanda Whiteside it becomes clear why she chose the name Live Garra Theatre, with its mission to “illuminate all facets of a multicultural society and to preserve the unique legacy of the African American heritage.”

 DC Theater Arts - A resonant vision on view in ‘The Window King’ at Live Garra Theatre. Bless ji Jaja's engrossing new play prompted by a terminated pregnancy is both timeless and right on time.
By John Stoltenberg - November 14, 2022

What distinguishes Jaja’s story from familiar and vital narratives about a woman’s right to choose is that The Window King is more about the complex dynamics between the man and the woman whose fetus she has chosen to abort than it is about the right of the woman to her own body (which in The Window King is a given). Thus in the touching and turbulent interplay between Mechelle (Brittney Dubose) and Evan (James Curtis Bowers) — a young Black couple who live together in her Park Slope Brooklyn apartment — we become absorbed in a story that is neither pro-life nor pro-choice necessarily but fundamentally pro-love. We are also drawn into a vortex of the supernatural.

MD Theatre Guide - ‘The Window King’ presented by Live Garra Theatre at Silver Spring Black Box Theatre
​By Anne Valentino - November 20, 2022
"Whiteside’s direction handles an array of structural nuances to a satisfying end, and you leave the theatre with the distinct sense that you know these characters, only wishing that you could see how their lives continue to unfold from here."

Bless ji Jaja’s new play “The Window King,” a Live Garra Theatre production closed its run thi spast weekend at the Silver Spring Black Box Theatre. It seems to take its cue from a number of theatrical traditions. Blending speculative elements with haunting realism, and even presenting a tension-relieving burst of physical comedy by way of an actual boxing match between the two principal characters, the play depicts a journey of self-discovery fraught with some tragic overtones.

From the opening scene—where Mechelle (Brittney Dubose) projects a highly relatable mixture of frustration and anguish because she doesn’t know the whereabouts of her partner Evan (James Curtis Bowers), who apparently has been MIA for a couple of days—we get a glimpse into the tenuous inner life of a relationship on the brink. But on the brink of what exactly? This seems to be the fundamental question which both the writing of Jaja and thoughtful direction of Wanda Whiteside seek to answer throughout the drama.

BY ANDREW WALKER WHITE
The Silver Spring Black Box Theatre, situated in the same block as the Fillmore and AFI, has a lot to offer us. Live entertainment, yes, but more importantly entertainment that is personal, and can really force you to think. Live Garra Theatre (currently in residence at the Silver Spring Black Box Theatre) and its Artistic Director, Wanda Whiteside, has taken a bold step by reviving Jean-Paul Sartre’s classic play, No Exit, using it as a springboard for post-show discussions about healing what ails us in these troubled times.