Reel Urban News Exclusive
By: Dave Devereaux
“Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” — Poet and playwright Oscar Wilde
On a busy Friday afternoon in downtown Los Angeles, I met up with playwright, actor, musician and poet Chris Siders to see how true Wilde’s quotation has been for him. His latest project, Silhouettes of Scarlet, a sort of hip hop opera, played to an incredibly enthusiastic audience of theatergoers and followers.
I noticed the excitement before his performance the night I attended. There was an energy that I had not experienced in a long-time surrounding performance art. We were not disappointed.
This night was special. His mother, sister, grandmother, aunt and uncle attended. It was a fitting tribute to his late father who passed away in 2023 and was a pivotal part of the play.
Silhouettes of Scarlet is a story woven around Chris’s life events that engulfed him in profound grief, guilt and self-discovery. It encompassed several acts that addressed the traumas that he experienced. The first was an accusation of sexual abuse that led to a spiraling of self-esteem, self-doubt and anger, leading to a period of homelessness while in college.
Secondly, he admits to recklessly having relationships that were not healthy and caused him to spread himself too thin to keep up those appearances. He refused to listen to his friends and continued to decline personally. He expressed not feeling like he belonged anywhere and yet refused to tell his parents what was going on for any support.
What should be noted however is through all this he finished college. Chris graduated from the University of California, Monterey Bay with a BA degree in Human Communication and Social Action despite all the upheaval going on in his young life. This perhaps was the first sign of his resilient and persevering character.
Previously, Chris attended View Park Preparatory Charter High School where he graduated in 2011. But it was far from idyllic. “I was a troubled teen,” he said. “I was hot-tempered and kept getting suspended from school and I needed to figure out an outlet.”
He says his cousins were gang members who would have been easy to follow. A mentor gave Chris CDs to begin hip hop journalism. This opened him up to writing poetry, where he admitted that he was too shy to share his own words at first.
Over time, his mentor, Mike the Poet, would host lunchtime poetry slams at his high school to suffice for a lack of extracurricular activities that all schools suffered, along with a loss of electives. This started a culture of poets to be heard. And among them, eventually Chris.
Chris began writing poetry in 2007. “I took it seriously after graduating from high school and incorporated it into rap in 2020 after becoming a rap artist.” Shortly thereafter, “I became noticed in spoken word circles at UC Monterey Bay, opening for Rudy Francisco, and Shihan the Poet.”
Other schools such as Stanford, Menlo College and UCLA invited him to participate in poetry slams. “My name was being recognized in broader circles.”
Chris is a quiet, yet unassuming talent who has learned to honor this gift of storytelling and release all in one. He identifies as a queer, pansexual man who grew up in South Central Los Angeles. He lived in a home with his mother, Denise, father Stevie and sister Jasmine. He is by all means a kid whose parents were present.
Unfortunately, his father Stevie passed away in 2023. He described his dad as a phenomenal man. Chris states, “My dad would pick us up from school and take us to the arcade to play games after working all day.” He adds, “My dad has been my inspiration and he aimed to always be present and spend time with us. My mother’s ability to accomplish her goals is outstanding.”
Along with that, his grandmother, Mildred Carter earned her degree at age 70. This family embodies tenacity at an exceptional level.
“Silhouettes of Scarlet is drawn from lessons my father taught me.” The overall theme is: “Everyone has a story to tell but sometimes we get caught up and feel like we don’t matter and as a queer pansexual man, I want to add that to the ecosystem. Navigating through vices is not being taught in our community.”
As shown in the play, Chris says that his partner Scarlet, an actual person, did not respect his being a black man. Thus, a lot of tension occurred. Despite portraying Scarlet in a certain light, “I had to tell the truth, with no sacrifice of morals and always remaining authentic with no intention of throwing anyone under the bus.” Yet, he admits to being very cautious about how he portrays Scarlet throughout the play.
His personal experiences have been shaped by music as well. After his dad passed, he made eight music albums. Struck with profound grief, he admits he spiraled into alcohol and lust. “Losing my dad and an abusive relationship were all traumatic.”
He felt that he had to become aware of the layers and complexities within relationships after that. Working helped. Silhouettes of Scarlet represents his full range of emotions in the play, which at times was loud, expressive and emotional.
Chris had so much dialogue in the play that I compared it to Hamilton. He delivers 75% of the dialogue in the entire performance. Flawlessly, might I add. The symbolism and characters that take this ride with him are well thought out and they all deliver on their parts beautifully.
One of the most poignant moments of the performance was the depiction of his father’s passing and him being informed of it and told to come home. It was a somber moment that said so much in describing the struggles this young man was grappling with at the time. The enormity of his grief was felt in that moment.
The music, written and composed by P.L. Davis, is transcribed perfectly for the setting. I heard musical references to a few artists in those scenes and Chris admits to being a huge Kendrick Lamar fan and notes that his music amplifies his own persona.
I asked Chris what he would tell his 12-year-old self today. He stated, “Don’t lose your innocence.” This stemmed from an incident where he was robbed at gunpoint at age 12 and was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He surmises this was the catalyst for making him have a skewed view of the world, love and relationships. He was always scared after that. Most importantly, Chris Siders wants people to know that “black men cry, allow us to feel, give us the space to feel, don’t gaslight us and actively listen.”
Chris states that this play has been cathartic and liberating for him. He expressed profound loss in not being able to share some of his epiphanies with his dad before he passed, as stated in the play. But from the reactions of his family that night, I am sure his dad was right there listening too.
Silhouettes of Scarlet is set to return to the Paramount Theater in Boyle Heights in November. Chris also recognizes the efforts of the entire cast of actors, musicians and dancers in making it a success. He knows that all their efforts led to these moments and wanted to mention how grateful he is to them for their dedication and commitment to the art, themselves and him.
Chris Siders is an up-and-coming force to be reckoned with in the theater world. He vows to make the return of the play more immersive and wants to share his music with the masses, which is available on Spotify and any app where you stream your music.
Dave Devereaux is a National Editor and Opinion Writer at ReelUrbanNews.com. Devereaux is public education specialist and a retired public-school principal.
