Ghana to Manhattan, via London

Akuyoe Graham’s autobiographical one-woman show “Spirit Awakening” at the Stella Adler chronicles her progression from her native Ghana, where she was a princess of a royal tribe, to her upbringing in London after her mother’s divorce and emigration, to her eventual incarnation as a young actress on the Manhattan cafe society scene.

A reprise of a 1992 production that has since toured widely, Graham’s piece contains a baker’s dozen of finely honed characters, including Graham’s own youthful self and an intrinsically racist British school head who seeks to squelch Graham’s otherness. Well lit by Peter Edwards, the show contains evocative live music, beautifully performed by composer Joshua Natural Sound and percussionist Stanley Benders, that gives a palpable sense of the color and warmth of Graham’s West African childhood.

That warmth was largely lost, along with Graham’s sense of self, upon Graham’s arrival at Heathrow, where she describes herself as “a mere speck of pepper in a sea of salt.” Graham’s nightmarish plunge into the unfamiliar was exacerbated by an attempted childhood rape, and the aching realization that her regal and proud mother was also terrified by the arctic reserve of their adopted countrymen.

Graham is overly elliptical at points, leaving us to dig in the program notes for clues to certain allusions. However, her journey of self-discovery inspires our sympathy and admiration, both as an elegy to a terrified child’s smothered self-esteem--and as a paean of praise to the mature woman’s rediscovery of her pride and ancestry.

BE THERE

“Spirit Awakening,” Stella Adler Theatre, 6773 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Nov. 23. $25. (213) 660-8587. Running time: 1 hour, 10 minutes.