Insight into a mind brought low

The most exciting play in South Florida at the moment is Naked Stage's extraordinarily inventive production of Sarah Kane's 4.48 Psychosis, a chilling and fascinating trip through the mind of a suicidal woman.  Next Friday, Miami gets another highly creative theater piece (this one rooted in poetry and hip-hop), a play that explores similar territory in a different but equally powerful way.

The author and performer of the solo show Low: Meditations Trilogy Part 1 rechristened herself Rha Goddess in 2001.  Born Rhamelle Greene, the geek-turned-poet majored in chemistry and computer science at Vassar.  She turned to writing as a way of sorting out her feelings about the deaths of friends and loved ones, about mental illness in her family, about the suicide of a mentor.  In 2006, Low -- her first full theater piece -- shook up audiences at the prestigious Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville.  That's where I saw it and was moved to tears.

A multimedia piece about a young woman and aspiring hip-hop artist named Lowquisha, Low traces a journey from innocence to madness.  The story is stark, warm-hearted, tragic, totally involving.

The play, presented by the Miami Light Project and the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, visits the Carnival Studio Theater at the Arsht Center at 8 p.m. May 9-10.  Tickets are $25.  Call 305-949-6722 for information.

Rha Goddess will do a post-performance question and answer session May 9.  Prior to her Miami shows, she and Peter Fraenkel from the Hip-Hop Mental Health Project will discuss mental illness during WLRN-91.3 FM's Topical Currents show at 1 p.m. May 7.