What is the meaning of your life? That’s a big question. One that most of us go through our lives, never getting an answer to. But, for artist, creator, and performer David Roussève, that question is essential to his everyday life and his work.
David Roussève isn’t a stranger to the world of live performance. For years and years, he’s written as well as played numerous roles that examine the lives of others. Whether that’s a commissioned piece on the history of African Americans in the United States, like in his stage piece Saudade, or his film Two Seconds After Laughter, looking at the experiences of choreographer Sri Susilowati in leaving Java and coming to America.
But, in Roussève’s first solo project in over 20 years, Becoming Daddy AF at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater September 26-27, he is looking inward to answer questions that have long pestered him and inspire others in their own journey. Becoming Daddy AF isn’t just Roussève’s story; it’s for anyone who has thought about who they are, where they belong, and why they’re here on Earth.
The idea for Becoming Daddy AF actually came out of Roussève’s project about Billy Strayhorn, one of the inspirational figures of the Kelly Strayhorn Theater’s namesake.
“I thought about how I had just made a piece about the meaning of Billy Strayhorn’s life, and I was brave enough to come at that from many different angles,” he explains. “It made me think about setting up the meaning of my own life as a queer African-American man. Most of my queer generation died, and I thought, ‘Why am I, as someone so close to death at one point from HIV, still on this planet? What’s the purpose of my existence?’”
For Roussève, that community he lost is close to his heart, leading him to weave these feelings into Becoming Daddy AF. He unfortunately lost his husband to suicide after 26 years together, an event that really influenced the prominent themes of his work.
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“Nothing will make one more curious about the purpose of life than someone actually choosing to leave it,” Roussève says. “In an effort to make sense of that and make sense of my own life as well as grieve and celebrate, I thought this might be the moment to really consider life in general.”
So, with so many different subjects to consider, what exactly is Becoming Daddy AF? Is it a play? Is it a life story? Is it a dance? Is it a monologue? Well, it’s technically all those things and much more.
“It’s a quintessential dance theater piece that combines theater and dance,” Roussève explains. “The narrative is told through spoken word. It’s a free-ranging narrative that extends from my birth until the present but is not necessarily in chronological order due to various time jumps. But dance is vital to deepening that narrative. I’m telling you the words, but my body is telling you the emotional subject of the monologues. It’s a way of excavating the emotional and poetic undercurrent of the story.”
As a special note to Pittsburgh audiences, the production even has ties to the city. This isn’t Roussève’s first rodeo in the Steel City. In the past, he worked with Pittsburgh Dance Alloy (now merged with the Kelly Strayhorn Theater) for multiple commissions and even brought his Billy Strayhorn production Halfway to Dawn to the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in 2019.
“I actually really love Pittsburgh and it’s so nice to be back here,” Roussève says. “One of my favorite pieces I’ve ever made, which has a solo that I have never performed before this show, was performed by a member of the Pittsburgh Dance Alloy. So not only was one of my favorite pieces I made commissioned by the Dance Alloy, but now I’m finally getting my chance to perform it in the city where that solo was originally presented.”
Between its connections to Pittsburgh and Roussève’s strength in inclusive storytelling, it’s appropriate that Becoming Daddy AF premieres in our city that’s utterly curious. Whether you go in knowing everything about yourself or knowing nothing, Roussève hopes you come out with a new notion and a deeper connection to the entire human race.
“Ultimately, Becoming Daddy AF is a dialogue on the complexity of love and the necessity of love,” Roussève says. “The most meaningful thing about doing this piece is feeling as though I’m offering people a place to contemplate their own lives through examining my life. I’m not here to tell you what the meaning of life is. But I am telling you that I’m trying to figure out the meaning of my life and offering us a place to think. It’s something that crosses the boundaries of difference, whether you’re queer, you’re African-American, you’re white, you’re straight, you’re non-binary, you’re trans, or anyone. I’m trying to find a place where we can consider the commonalities that we all have, and that starts with the fact we’re all going to die and we’re all gonna contemplate why we’re here.”
Becoming Daddy AF premieres at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater on Friday, September 26, and Saturday, September 27 at 7:30 PM, with the Saturday performance featuring a post-show discussion.
