Bilabials

Description

Cesi Davidson has crafted the third book in the series of Short Plays to Nourish the Mind & Soul. The three anthologies of plays ( Articulation , Fricatives , and now Bilabials ) are eclectic mixes of stories with surprises, tragedies, delights, and wit. Bilabials departs from the earlier books by its concentration on plays with some theme of love. She also places prose between each play that may sting or please or some modicum of both. This collection isn’t a how to manual. It isn’t a for women only, “Aha.” This often laughable, often tear-jerking collection if a label is needed, is a rousing cheer for asking the question, “What is love anyway?” The answer lies somewhere on the horizon between the earth and the sky. This is where Cesi Davidson dwells. She offers her heart in her hands and releases her voice inviting us to travel into the depths of a mystifying unknown. Love is. “Cesi Davidson has collected for us here a wondrous trip around, through, and within the heart. These short journeys into the emotions of those who love and those who do not add to our understanding of what love is and what love isn’t. When you laugh, cry, and sigh with recognition, you will be reminded that you are not only a witness to, but also a participant in the emotional life of all those around you. I hope you will enjoy these jumpstarts to the heart as much as I did.” –Celeste Rita Baker, World Fantasy Award Winner, author of Back, Belly and Side “Cesi Davidson’s newest book of short plays is at the same time revolutionary and hilarious in its content and delivery. Appropriately, the first play is titled “Juicy,” and this book has so much sweet, liquid fun within. From the beginning, the reader experiences a trickle of exquisite sensuality running through each page. There is an emboldened message of contented sexuality in many of the pieces that I, as a woman, felt incredibly grateful to tune in to. Cesi gives a gift to those of us with female bodies—and that gift is permission to feel good, whatever it looks like, and to research what could feel even better! Like Chauncey, the husband whose wife keeps watch over his every move, the characters in these plays refuse to be imprisoned. They have reached a turning point, and we watch, delighted, as change washes over everyone like a gigantic, juicy wave.” –Kim Chinh, actor, screenwriter, playwright—author of “Reclaiming Vietnam” “The writing smoothly creates images, colors, and situations that lead the reader into the different immersed situations. Within the landscape of these various situation life issues, for example, humanity, identity, roles, expectations, and the rainbow of emotions, etc. are being done without going into darkness. In between the plays the prose capsulized a prospective of the former that was out of plain sight. It was like a cleansing of the palate for the next situation. –Aduke Mickey Davidson, Senior Choreographer and Educator for “The Makanda Project,” “Jazz Power Initiative,” and Mickey D & Friends Dance/Music Co. “Once again I was entertained, moved, and shocked by Cesi’s expansive imagination in this third collection of inventive and delightful short plays. Give yourself to Cesi’s words, and you’ll experience the true essence of love with plenty of laughter inside the rich world in which all beings are sentient, intelligent, and funny.” –Rachel Lu (Actor, Elite Match)