Here, There, She’s Everywhere

In a sparse rehearsal hall of the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood, a “voice” is messing with Debbie Allen’s head.

Allen looks mildly perturbed as actress Seraiah Carol gingerly maneuvers Allen’s head during a scene in “Harriet’s Return,” in which Allen portrays the legendary freedom fighter and “underground railroad” conductor Harriet Tubman. Carol is one of four background performers embodying the various “voices” within Tubman.

“Honey, don’t be afraid to grab my head. Just grab it!” Allen orders as she stops the scene, in which the “voices” fill Tubman so much that they stretch her out, almost lifting her out of her skin. “You’re trying not to hurt me, but you are hurting me the way you’re doing it. I’m getting a headache.”

The scene starts over, and this time, Carol roughly grabs Allen’s head with both hands. When director Kent Gash ends the scene awhile later, Allen nods her approval.

Headache or not, these are indeed heady times for Debbie Allen, who has bounced back and forth among television, film and the stage for almost three decades as an actress, dancer, choreographer, director, writer and producer.

Although Allen is no stranger to juggling several projects at once, even she is at times overwhelmed by the nonstop stream of “Concorde jets that now all seem to be taking off at the same time. I wish I could be more in control. I’m just trying to stay as planted as possible.”

Not that she’s complaining. Only a few years ago, Allen was appearing in a moderately successful TV sitcom, “In the House,” and despite a lengthy scroll of credits on stage and the silver screen, was probably best known as the no-nonsense dance teacher on the “Fame” television series during the 1980s.

Now her role in playwright Karen Jones Meadows’ “Harriet’s Return,” largely a one-woman show that opens Wednesday at the Geffen, is just one chapter of Allen’s real-life Hollywood resurgence, which could be titled “Debbie’s Return--With a Vengeance.”

“This is strange for me,” says Allen, nibbling on a bagel during a brief break in rehearsals. “I’ve never worked so hard before. I’m used to doing a lot of things at the same time, but some were simpler than others. Now they all have the same weighted importance.”

“Harriet’s Return,” in which Allen has 110 pages of dialogue, marks her return to the boards for the first time since starring on Broadway in a 1986 revival of “Sweet Charity,” a performance that earned her a Tony nomination.

But Allen has been bounding among a diverse abundance of other projects in the past few months:

* She is executive producer and director of “One Day,” an original musical special commemorating Black History Month that is scheduled to premiere Saturday at 7 p.m. on the Disney Channel.

* She is a producer and one of the main catalysts behind “Amistad,” Steven Spielberg’s epic film about an 1839 mutiny by Africans aboard a Spanish slave ship. The DreamWorks production represents Allen’s first venture into feature films as a producer. Despite some controversy surrounding the movie--including charges of plagiarism made by the author of an Amistad-related novel--”Amistad” could be a major contender when Oscar nominations are announced Feb. 10.

* Allen served as co-executive producer on two “Amistad”-related documentaries that aired in December: “Cinque: Freedom Fighter,” which aired on A&E;, and “Ships of Slaves: The Middle Passage,” which aired on the History Channel.

* She is a key force behind a publishing company that is finalizing a deal to produce a six-volume series of books, tapes and videos related to the true-life story behind “Amistad” and its implications for elementary, junior high and high school students.

* Allen worked with Mariah Carey in December in staging and choreographing the singer’s upcoming tour.

* Allen will direct and choreograph “Brothers of the Night,” a production she conceived that will open in April at the Kennedy Center in Washington. She is also writing a children’s book in conjunction with the project, which is an update of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale about 12 dancing princesses.

* With singer James Ingram, Allen is developing “The Legend,” a musical based on “Peer Gynt” that they hope to take to Broadway.

* For television, Allen this season has directed several episodes of WB’s “The Jamie Foxx Show” and Fox’s “Between Brothers” and performed a raucous slapstick dance with rapper Busta Rhymes on CBS’ “The Cosby Show,” which co-stars her sister, Phylicia Rashad.

And that’s not counting the numerous appearances and speeches domestically and abroad on behalf of “Amistad.”

Gil Cates, producing director of the Geffen Playhouse, said Allen has truly come into her own with the deluge of projects.

“Debbie has always had her bright moments in the sun, but I think what’s happened of late, especially after ‘Amistad,’ is that all these professional activities are really a mirror of Debbie’s soul,” he said. “That hasn’t happened before. Her core being has come into focus. The strength of who she is has come through with these projects.”

Cates, a veteran producer who hired Allen to choreograph five consecutive Oscar ceremonies (1991-1995), calls her “a force of nature. She is fierce. She’s got her eye on the ball.”

And Rashad said of her sister, “Debbie has been into her own for quite some time, but now people are starting to have a more expansive view of who she is. There are a number of people who have not taken her seriously over the years. They are more comfortable embracing ‘Dancing Debbie.’ But ‘Dancing Debbie’ is very deep. She’s a deep doll.”

Although observers may be startled by the flood of projects revolving around Allen, the center of the storm maintains that it’s more a matter of timing than of calculation.

“Things happen in their time,” Allen says. “ ‘Amistad’ came out when it did, like gangbusters. ‘Harriet’s Return’ was being discussed before the movie was green-lighted. The piece I’m doing for the Kennedy Center was planned two years ago. And ‘One Day’ came as a nice cupcake in the middle of this beautiful dessert.”

Although she acts as if she is working on borrowed time, Allen insists she doesn’t feel any more driven now than “when I was 14 years old and was a majorette and on the honor roll and taking dance classes every day and had a boyfriend. If I’m driven by anything now, it’s by the passion of my art. I am being compelled by voices and powers within me.”

Besides, Allen is enjoying the limelight after years of rejection, despite her earlier achievements. Those included directing TV movies (“Polly,” a musical version of “Pollyanna,” and its sequel, “Polly: One More Time”), and TV episodes (“Quantum Leap,” the pilot for “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”). In 1988, she took over producing and directing duties for the NBC sitcom “A Different World” and was credited with turning the faltering college-themed show around with more serious topics. The series ended in 1993.

“When I came out of ‘A Different World,’ I was like the hottest woman in town,” Allen recalled. “But I would go on all these incredible interviews for movies and could not get one. It got to the point where there was this glass ceiling for me. It was like hitting a wall. Finally someone said, ‘Debbie, you’re not going to get this because you’re a woman.’ So I just said, ‘Let me lunge back in and swim over here while they’re worried about that over there.’ ”

She credited her training in dance for getting her through the hard times.

“If you can come out of the dance world whole, then you are a solid person,” said Allen. “If you stick with it, you can get to the place where you’re the ballerina.

“I feel like I’m the ballerina now. I’ve come into my own, dancing through all these things that I do. And I don’t say that lightly.”

Still, there are a few occasions when she has to fight to be taken seriously.

“Because I come out of the dance world, because I’m funny and little and have great energy, it’s hard for them to even look at me like I’m a grown-up sometimes,” says Allen, who celebrated her 48th birthday last month. “A lot of people look at me like I’m a young girl. But I’m a woman, honey! I’m long gone into womanhood, chil’e. Please!”

To spend an extended period of time with Allen is to see the three faces of Debbie.

The persona most visible is the bravura-filled, boisterous and occasionally bawdy Debbie, who shouts out with a slightly diluted, Houston-grown drawl, peppering her speech with a parade of down-home “honey” and “chil’e.” Women associates and friends are often referred to affectionately as “Miss Thing.”

Speaking about her entry into the major-motion-picture producing ranks, Allen almost explodes with enthusiasm.

“I found a new niche, honey,” she proclaims with her typical huge smile. “I’m up there, honey, with the best of them, chil’e, I’m telling you. Steven said, ‘Oooh, you and Kathleen Kennedy [a frequent Spielberg producer and collaborator].’ I said, ‘That’s right, honey! I want to be up there with Miss Thing! Hands on, honey, making it happen!’ ”

Then there is the softer-spoken, more complex but confident Debbie--the fiercely passionate artist on an important creative mission to promote harmony and goodwill through her projects.

“It seems like my work is rooted in things that are nourishing and enlightening and geared toward raising the consciousness of people in terms of man’s inhumanity to man,” she says.

“Sure, I have ideas that are hot and sassy and sexy and funny. But in the middle of that, there’s always this thread of understanding, there’s always something human at the core.”

Then there is Debbie the boss, who is not shy about showing her authority on the set and making sure that her vision is carried out. At times during last winter’s filming of “One Day” at a small Burbank studio, Allen, who is 5-foot-2, could barely be seen above the taller crew and cast members. But her commanding voice could be heard above all the noise and chatter.

“Hey, I want you all to turn it out!” she coached Kirk Franklin and God’s Property as they launched into their funky gospel tune “Stomp.” Allen, wearing a partially sheer black blouse that displayed a toned dancer’s midriff, bobbed her head as the group danced around the stage.

“One Day,” a production of the Children’s Television Workshop, stars Loretta Devine, Ed Begley Jr. and singer James Ingram, and revolves around four ethnically diverse youngsters who learn through the power of magic about Martin Luther King Jr.

It is not a relaxed shoot. Due to budgetary limitations and Allen’s “Amistad” commitments, there are only five days to film the half-hour program. Despite the frantic pace, Allen’s spirits remained high. During one botched scene, she turned away and smiled. Under her breath, she quietly sang a lyric from “A Chorus Line”:

“What I did for love.”

The private executive screening of “Amistad” in November had just ended. Allen and several key DreamWorks honchos--among them Jeffrey Katzenberg, David Geffen, Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald--had just seen the completed film for the first time. Spielberg had introduced the movie, then quickly ducked out before the showing.

As the lights came up, the executives turned to Allen to gauge her reaction.

“I really couldn’t talk,” she recalled. “I wanted to see the film with a fresh eye, and just go with Steven’s vision. It was then that I realized the power of what we had done. Everyone looked at me, waiting for me to say something. But I couldn’t.”

For Allen, “Amistad” was the completion of a 19-year journey to bring to light a story that had been largely ignored in history books. Having first seen the movie potential when she read about it at Howard University in 1978, she bought the rights to “Black Mutiny,” a novel based on the Amistad mutiny by Harvard professor William Owens, in 1984.

Finally, Allen leaned forward to whisper to Spielberg’s wife, actress Kate Capshaw, “Thank you, sister, for letting him do this.” She later explained, “Kate was so important to this. If she had not been so supportive, Steven couldn’t have done it.”

Allen’s initial attempts to generate interest for “Amistad” in Hollywood had failed, and she eventually moved on to other projects. But when she saw Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List,” she knew the director would have the sensitivity needed to tell the story of “Amistad.” Allen approached Parkes and MacDonald, co-presidents of DreamWorks’ feature film division, and told them the saga. They were impressed, and soon after, she was put in touch with Spielberg, who fell in love with the story and agreed to make the film.

Said Parkes: “Debbie brought a lot of specific gifts to the production. She was very important in terms of keeping the historical perspective accurate.” Added MacDonald: “She brought just so much more to the project than a producer usually brings. She was there every day, helping to pull the script together, working with the African cast, helping them in their languages, working very closely with Steven.”

Allen’s determination also helped her deal with the controversy surrounding “Amistad” before its release. Author Barbara Chase-Riboud unsuccessfully tried to get a court injunction to stop the film from opening, claiming she was owed $10 million in film rights because the screenplay plagiarized her 1989 novel, “Echo of Lions.” (A lawsuit is still pending.) Other critics claimed that a black director might have been better suited to the film.

Said Allen: “I think the negativity changed for a little while the focus, which should have been on the event of this movie coming to the screen and the struggle of getting it made. It took away what should have been straight-up-the-hill celebration that Steven Spielberg had the courage and passion to make this movie.”

She bristled at the charges made against her and the film. “I can’t take things like that seriously,” Allen said. “It’s so silly that anyone would think twice that there is a lack of integrity. It’s just not possible, and wouldn’t be possible with someone like me.”

Positive reaction to the film has softened the blow from the controversy. Now she is philosophical about the experience: “To get that baby, you have to go through labor pains during the delivery. We’ve had our birth pains. The bottom line is, the movie is done, and 20 years from now, 50 years from now, they’ll still be playing this movie.”

Though her phone is ringing off the hook and almost every minute is filled, there are still voids in Allen’s life.

“There are a lot of things that have gone unrequited,” she said. “I still have yet to direct a major motion picture, which is really a major goal.” The closest she has come is a direct-to-video feature, “Out of Sync,” starring LL Cool J.

Allen now believes that her “Amistad” experience, as well as a heightened interest by Hollywood in African American women, as evidenced by the success of “Waiting to Exhale” and “Eve’s Bayou,” will make the goal easier to attain.

She also wants to dive deeper into producing: “I think I can be a great producer.”

Then there’s the matter of her family life with her husband, former Lakers star Norm Nixon, and her two children, Vivian, 13, and Norm Jr., 10. She said her incessant activity has taken a toll on them.

Though her children are involved with some of her projects, Allen acknowledged that “I need to catch up with my family.” Her tone grew softer when talking about Nixon, whom she married in 1984. “Norm and I had to get back into our rhythm with me being away so much. That doesn’t feel good, and it raises a flag when, all of a sudden, certain tensions exist that didn’t exist before. It’s just due to lack of time.”

But for the moment, most of her energy is solidly focused on “Harriet’s Return”--and those 110 pages of dialogue.

“Oh my!” Allen said with a high-pitched, whooping laugh. “At times, I say, ‘Girl, you have said ‘yes’ one too many times.’ But it’s coming to me. If I forget something, I can just burst into song. They can depend on that. I’ll burst into song in a minute!”

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“Harriet’s Return” opens Wednesday at the Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood. Tuesdays to Thursdays, 7:30 p.m.; Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 4 and 8:30 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends March 1. $27.50-$37.50. (310) 208-5454 and (800) 678-5440.