Sarah Jones
(Deborah Marcano)
Early in 2001, the writer and performer Sarah Jones started working on a one-woman Broadway show called Bridge and Tunnel. The play, which won a Tony Award, featured Jones playing a diverse cast of characters living in New York — including a middle-aged Pakistani man named Mohammed, a young Dominican woman named Nereida, and a Jewish grandmother named Lorraine.
Jones started the play as an exploration of the lives of immigrants. After 9/11, she says the issues her characters faced only got more difficult.
In this Studio 360 exclusive performance, we've asked Jones to bring back these characters and others to talk about how America has changed since September 11.
“As a Dominican American it was a very confusing time, because the American part of me … I felt so vulnerable and very scared,” Nereida explains. “But then later the Dominican part of me was very upset that it felt like immigrants were being targeted. And then one of my uncles got sent to Iraq so basically every part of me was just like, ‘I can’t deal with this.’”
The closing monologue belongs to Jones’ character Miss Lady, an elderly woman of great dignity, long homeless on the streets of New York. “All we got to do is wake up out the old way and try something different for the next ten years,” she says. “At this point we ain’t hardly got nothing to lose anyway.”
Guests:
Sarah Jones
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Comments [16]
Saw Sarah Jones perform in the East Village this winter twice just can't get enough of this genius . I want everyone to hear her voice
Great! I thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Jones. What talent. Does she still perform?
That was beautiful.
I think the best 9/11 pieces I've heard, worth listening to........ more than once.
Thanks
I am blown away. Amazing. Perfect.
I loved, loved, loved this piece. As a Dominican born- lived in NYC. She did the Dominican-York girl impression to the letter! Very enlightning too. Bravo 360!
Brilliant voices! She is a genius!
Terrific! Thank you studio360 & Sarah Jones
Beautiful.
Sarah Jones was fantastic. She had me in stitches. Maybe I wasn't suppose to laugh but I had tears running down my face as well. Thank you all.
This performance by Sarah Jones is superb. Thank you for bringing her to my radio here in Alabama.
I'm seriously considering a write-in vote in 2012. Miss Lady, we need you!!
Great to find Sarah Jones' performance at TED 2009. Another gem: http://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_jones_as_a_one_woman_global_village.html
I could never get enough of Tracey Ullman's spot-on parodies of a wide variety of characters in "Tracey Takes On." But now that you've introduced us to Sarah Jones, I'm thrilled to find another fountain to help slake that thirst. Sarah's piece on your show was magnificent on so many levels - from the lovingly-performed nuances of each character's persona to the important messages each delivers with such focus and concentration. Thanks, Studio 360.
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant: the segment, Sarah Jones, Kurt Anderson. You've made my weekend, thank you. WNYC: please consider making the homeless lady a regular commentator.
Ya'll, Sarah Jones' piece is one of the most phenomenal pieces of audio I've heard lately. What an incredible, naturalistic actor. Bravo!
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