Theatre in Review: North Star (Irish Arts Center)The Irish Arts Center's latest presentation is one of its most eccentric: North Star is a kind of themed concert, featuring music, poetry, and video sequences, tied to the little-known historical fact -- at least to me -- that, having escaped slavery, Frederick Douglass spent time in Belfast, Ireland. Although he originally made his way to New York City and, later, Boston, the idea was to lie low for a time in Europe, far from any unscrupulous sorts who, seeking a reward, might drag him back to the South. History is a tireless ironist: We think of Belfast as a battleground driven by religious prejudice, where Protestants, obsessed with retaining their collective British identity, are pitted against a Catholic minority. How startling, then, to hear the poet Nandi Jola announce, "Belfast said No/It said our ports are not open to the slave trade/It will not handle slave goods." This, apparently, was in 1798. To drive home the point, Douglass, who seemingly found a second home in Belfast, is quoted as saying, "I was remembering the almost constant singing among slaves in the South as they worked, the deep melancholy of the wild notes. Then my memory leapt back to Ireland. I have never heard any songs like those anywhere since I left slavery, except when in Ireland, when I heard the same whaling notes. I was much affected by them." Was Douglass the first intersectionalist? That's a thought, one of many guaranteed to destabilize our received ideas about race, colonialism, and nationalism. Indeed, North Star is best enjoyed as a meditation on identity and the meaning of home in an increasingly globalized world. Conceived and directed by Kwame Daniels in the wake of anti-immigrant protests in Belfast, followed by an enormous counterdemonstration, it is informed by Douglass' ringing words: "I am not a slave. I am not their property. I am a man born to be free. I am not a slave. I am not their property. I am a man born to be free." Tying it all together is the music composed by various members of the creative team, most of it in a vein that calls to mind Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, and maybe just a touch of Isaac Hayes. The onstage choir is frequently ecstatic, featuring several rousing solos. The band, paced by Kaidi Tatham's restless keyboards and Rick Swann's electrifying trumpet work, is flawless. Providing an obligato to these seductive melodies are the words of immigrant students in Belfast. ("Trying to make new friends, I'm petrified, nobody thinks I'm verified," notes one, while a young woman from the Philippines insists, sadly, that Belfast is nothing like home to her.) Also weighing in, live onstage, are New York teenagers of various backgrounds, offering their plaintive, plainspoken thoughts on life in the melting-pot city. One of them notes, "Your family can be taken from you by ICE or through bad accidents. This home is an emotional rollercoaster because of the memories it contains, where I felt the happiest and the saddest memories that always come back, good or bad." Does this grab of elements hang together? Possibly not. Not everyone will enjoy the standing-room-only format, although some mezzanine seating is available. Also, the sound balance is not always ideal, with singer-songwriter Winnie Ama and hip-hop artist OneDa, who occupy small B stages in the audience area. But the music is unfailingly gorgeous; James Cunningham's projections include, among other things, fascinating historic images of Douglass, New York, and Belfast, as well as American civil rights protests and a parade of famous faces that includes Rosa Parks, Billie Holiday, and James Baldwin; and Aimee Williamson's lighting directs our attention with seamless skill. The personal testimonies have the ring of authentic experience transformed by poetry. And, among other things, one is left with the fascinating thought that the young people of Belfast constitute a cosmopolitan generation who have moved on from The Troubles that so long plagued their country, focusing instead on questions of identity and citizenship. It's a powerful reminder that, no matter what, the world keeps turning. Even if it gets a little misty at times, North Star is highly enjoyable, even as it challenges us to think harder about the injustices undergirding today's world. More to the point, it tells you something important about the Irish Arts Center. With that name, it could coast on the greatest hits of the old country's culture -- Shaw, Wilde, O'Casey, Friel, et. al. -- but instead it is dedicated to bringing to New York the full range of the country's vital contemporary culture. It's a gift for us all. 
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