Direct from the Sundance Theatre Laboratory: Jodie's Body

Lights Up: a stark-naked woman, arms akimbo, ample flesh sagging over her abdomen, standing bemused before an evening class in life-drawing.

Meet Jodie, the willfully fat, utterly self-confident South African protagonist of Aviva Jane Carlin's engrossing solo show set in London three days after the first free election in Jodie's homeland. Jodie's Body comes to the 2001 Sundance Film Festival following its acclaimed New York run last season. "f\Funny, moving, and very powerful ... brims with charm, intelligence, and wit ..." are some of the rave reviews bestowed on this original performance piece.

Whether discussing the political or personal, Carlin commands the stage. Initially, posing alone and naked, Jodie lets the audience in on the peculiar habits and personalities of the quirky folks who, week after week, sketch her nude form. In loving detail, she describes them, subtly suggesting their mannerisms or style of speech but never dipping into impersonation.

As class progresses, she wraps herself in a striped sarong and the audience in the story of her past. Jodie is the product of a very particular culture, Africa. Her youth is filled with images that grab us, alternately funny and moving: her mother, another ample woman whose own weight literally saved the family's black servants by "barring the police with her big, solid, and beautiful body." Golden, the family's longtime employee whom apartheid separated from the family; Golden's wife, Jane, who had more important things to worry about than weight; and their daughter, Tonjie. Three days earlier, Jodie reflects, a miracle happened "Golden voted." The thugs lost. Reason and talk prevailed.

Carlin's light touch on big themes -- art, freedom, sense of self -- is refreshing and acutely insightful. Her Jodie is a memorable creation -- a quirky, stubborn, and fascinating storyteller. "When South Africans hear the word prejudice, they have to talk for about 12 hours," says Carlin. In Jodie's Body, she speaks for only one hour, but what she has to say is nothing short of exhilarating.