Earth, Wind & Car Fire
★ ★ ★ ★
4 Stars
I knew I was in for a treat when I walked into the theatre for writer and performer Janora McDuffie’s Earth, Wind & Car Fire and was instantly met with the sizzling, cool funk of R&B and Soul classics waving through the venue’s speakers.
Boy, was I right in confessing how utterly ambrosial this production was; rambunctious, packed with piping energy, yet filled to the brim with thought-provoking, transformative conviction of the world’s social and judicatory hemispheres. I think I can speak for everyone in the audience that we all felt tremendously inspired by McDuffie’s call to a crescent metamorphosis of systematic revolution.
McDuffie certainly can be classified as a visionary for producing this wonderful production but I would be remiss in classifying her at all, as her show wonderfully and vigorously challenged our modern binary boxed-in way of labeling our fellow peers and shunning our own authenticities. Through bold, bodacious storytelling, savvy physicality, crafty use of spatial utility, and astute dialogue McDuffie gave vibrant breath to her divergent life experiences.
Earth, Wind & Car Fire vibrantly speaks of queer liberation, as well as the struggles that come with living in a dichotomy of authenticity versus angst. I found McDuffie’s raw honesty in disclosing her turmoils associated with living as one’s true self to be ardently refreshing.
The true jewel of the show was McDuffie’s ambitious call to diligently consider the atrocities of racial divides, justice inequalities, and the ever-persistent strain that currently stains humanity. Sometimes, from McDuffie’s earnest point of view, one must make waves in order to weather the storm.
In conclusion, I applaud McDuffie for her life’s fervid triumphs, her wondrous versatility, classic Southern charm, and vital entreaty for us to today knock down walls of hatred, to instead build refuges of love, all so that we might face a better, more fair and honorable tomorrow.
Earth, Wind & Car Fire
Starring: Janora McDuffie
Performed on: October 30, 2026
October 19 - November 22, 2026
Reviewer: Grayson Sebert
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