Category Archives: Play

Merry Me

Off-Broadway, Play November 13, 2023 Leave a comment

The new comedy Merry Me has plenty going for it.  The layered writing by Hanson Jung is packed with witty spins on pop culture and references to classicists from Euripides to Shakespeare all built around a structure most similar to a Restoration Comedy.  The cast — everyone making a New York Theatre Workshop debut — is masterful.  It would be easy to play up every clever note, which would also be exhausting.  Instead the punches are delivered in slowly rising waves under the direction of the always excellent Leigh Silverman.  It’s all quite attention getting and yet somehow lacks stickiness, which is not meant to be a sexy pun despite the prominence of bawdy humor in the dialogue.

Marinda Anderson, Esco Jouley, Shaunette Renee Wilson and Nicole Villamil in Merry Me; photo by Joan Marcus

The plot unfolds on the front lines of a war that has been paused by a well-known Angel (sassy  Shaunette Renée Wilson).  She introduces us to the interdependent characters as she and her cohorts manipulate their lives.  There is Lieutenant Shane Horne (magnetic Esco Jouléy) who having seduced the General’s Wife (pixieish Cindy Cheung) is on a quest for her next “Merry.”  Shane enlists the help of therapist Dr. Jess O’Nope (exuberant Marinda Anderson) to convince the rather dim General Memnon (David Ryan Smith with just the right amount of dopiness) that they are now heterosexual.  Meanwhile the General’s equally dim son Private Willy (Ryan Spahn taking the hit for cis white men everywhere) has smuggled his beautiful new wife Sapph (Nicole Villamil managing an incredible balancing act between allure and innocence) onto the base.  Bored out of her mind and her body, she dresses in “boy drag” in order to explore her surroundings and seek out Shane. 

Playwright Jung pulls in references from Illyria to Wakanda with a hefty serving of Kushner and a soupçon of E.L. James.  All of her characters are self aware and often speak in stage directions and subtext. The energy is that of an old-fashioned farce but the would-be cliches are almost literally turned on their heads.  Having directed many productions in the NYTW space, Leigh takes actions that would typical be horizontal and stages them vertically with wonderful results.  There is one tiny portable foley door that gets run in and out of, but for the most part that classic farcical piece is “performed” by a remarkable back wall designed by Rachel Hauck.  The effects are fully achieved with the help of Barbara Samuels lighting and Caroline Eng and Kate Marvin’s sound design.  

A combination of intellectual exercise and frank sexuality, unsurprisingly Merry Me is attracting an unusual blend of followers.  The age range of the audience was fresh out of college to well into AARP membership.  Faces represented the colors of the rainbow.  And reactions spanned from gently bobbing heads to energetic fist pumping.  Performances continue through November 19 at New York Theatre Workshop, 79 East 4th Street.  Runtime is 90 minutes with no intermission.  Full priced tickets are $65.  For more information visit https://www.nytw.org/show/merry-me/.    There is room in this world for something different even if it isn’t enduring.

The Half-God of Rainfall

Off-Broadway, Play August 7, 2023 Leave a comment

At a time when the performing arts are struggling, it is fitting that the wonderful New York Theatre Workshop is hosting a theatrical event that takes much of its inspiration from the early Greeks.  Similar to the dramas of that time, The Half-God of Rainfall combines elements of religious mythology, social commentary, and contemporary politics.

The piece opens with a nod to the ancient tradition of oral storytelling as the players introduce themselves with their real names along with their god-selves.  Working together, the performers weave a tapestry of poetry and dance as they tell the tale of Demi, the product of a particularly violent rape by Zeus: one of many abuses perpetrated by the King of the Gods against human women.  Having won a wager with Sàngó, a fellow god of Thunder, Zeus took as his prize Modúpé, who almost instantly gives birth to a half-god child, Demi.  His despair can make rivers rise and his rage can make it rain.  But his real power manifests on the modern basketball court where every shot is a winner. Despite his many victories, his smoldering rage against his father always burns.

In this realm, the gods of all traditions know one another and many are no better than the mortals over whom they have dominion.  Encompassing so many deeply felt themes occasionally bends the narration out of shape, but the dazzling visuals and all encompassing soundscape keep you enraptured. The audience was invested enough that towards the end they elicited a loud gasp at a critical moment.  While some familiarity with the various pantheons would be helpful, playwright Inua Ellams includes enough background information that the plot can be followed without it.  Even the basketball reference are based on pop culture and never “inside baseball” as it were.

Taibi Magar’s direction is masterful, filling the scene with otherworldly energy enhanced by movement director Orlando Patoboy.  She also incorporates Orisha movement choreographed by Beatrice Capote.  The set by Riccardo Hernández with projections designed by Tal Yarden is in constant motion with swirling images of clouds, water, and the cosmos itself.  The stage continues the natural theme, covered in black sand that moves and lets out a soft crunch beneath the actors’ feet.  The physical experience is expanded with the sound design of Mikaal Sulaiman and lighting designed by Stacey Derosier.  Costume designer Linda Cho builds on basic black towards the shimmering waters of a fertility goddess.

The ensemble moves with fluidity throughout the work, their disparate voices adding variation to the verse.  Mister Fitzgerald gives Demi a radiant joy.  Jennifer Mogbock brings both strength and warmth to Modúpé, her body moving with the combined powers of grace and strength.  Jason Bowen as Sàngó and Patrice Johnson Chevannes as Osún make a fittingly splendid couple under whose protection Modúpé lives.  Kelley Curran’s Hera and Michael Laurence’s Zeus employ unnecessary Greek accents, but the two shine in their other supporting roles.  Only Lizan Mitchell over-modulates, consequently distorting her lines as the trickster Elegba and several other deities. 

Mister Fitzgerald as Demi, The Half-God of Rainfall; photo by Joan Marcus

As many Greek heroes learned, a great adventure often begins by being blown off course.  This production was disrupted by COVID only to wind up in just the right hands.  The result is an ambitious epic that draws a diverse audience much needed by today’s theater world.  Despite its themes, The Half-God of Rainfall is a human-level spectacle born of collaboration and heart.  (There is a trigger warning for a depictions of sexual violence and a use of flashing lights and haze for dramatic effect.)  Performances continue at the New York Theatre Workshop (79 East 4th Street) through August 20 and $65 tickets are available at https://www.nytw.org/show/the-half-god-of-rainfall/.  Runtime is about 90 minutes and mask-only performances are available.  A co-production of NYTW and Harvard’s American Repertory Theater, the show will be moving next to Cambridge, MA in September.

Primary Trust

Off-Broadway, Play May 30, 2023 Leave a comment

I usually don’t make my reviews personal, but my experience while watching Primary Trust and the themes within this gorgeously crafted play are inexorably intertwined.  With gentle brushstrokes, Eboni Booth introduces us to 38 year old Kenneth, one of the few Black people living in Cranberry, a suburb of Rochester, New York.  His ethnicity is only a minor contributor to Kenneth’s isolation.  Having lived an extremely restricted life since the death of his mother when he was only ten, Kenneth’s coping mechanisms are intricate and ritualized.  But somehow his idiosyncrasy has left him uniquely suited to meeting people at their own level.

There is a deliberate “let’s pretend” quality to the entire production.  From the opening moments, Kenneth speaks directly to us in his halting and self-reflecting style.  Long thoughtful pauses rest between effervescent bursts of storytelling.  All the activity comes with musical accompaniment composed by Luke Wygodny, punctuated by the ding of an “order up” bell.  Marsha Ginsberg’s whimsical scenic design takes the phrase “small town” and makes it literal, including a miniature church, bank, and big box store alongside Wally’s, the tiki bar that serves as Kenneth’s sanctuary.  Lighting by designer Isabella Byrd leaves long shadows on the ground well before winter sets in.  Costume designer Qween Jean employs a more muted color palate than her signature style until an essential jacket makes its appearance at a pivotal moment. Two actors play multiple roles, sometimes barely turning around before switching.  Yet the play is never anything less than genuine and heartfelt.  The entire audience was sufficiently swept up to respond emotionally to every turn.

William Jackson Harper is utterly perfect as Kenneth, balancing warmth, vulnerability, fear and heart.  It’s Harper’s first stage appearance since 2017 and it was my first live theater attendance since March of 2020.  Previously, theater played a major role in my life.  Many of my friends come from that world and it was often the way I entertained others.  Vacations have been planned around seeing a specific work or actor. The temporary loss of that pursuit was profound.  But Primary Trust is all about bringing people in.  At its core is the celebration of coming out of seclusion.  To have Kenneth welcome me as a member of the audience into his life could not have been more impactful. And though I don’t have much more in common with the character, I do share his deep belief in the power of one good friend.

Jay O. Sanders, William Jackson Harper, and Eric Berryman; photo by Joan Marcus

Director Knud Adams, who often works with new material, delicately mines Booth’s script, uncovering the layers of joy, sorrow and hope. Providing support and stability for Kenneth is his best friend Bert, played with sweet good nature by Eric Berryman.  Jay O. Sanders seems to be having the time of his life portraying (among other characters) Kenneth’s two very different bosses.  The first — the owner of a bookstore— has the difficult task of laying Kenneth off after twenty years of a comfortable relationship.  The loss of his job shatters the comfortable if confining structure of Kenneth’s life, and the chink of light shining through the holes is both frightening and filled with possibility.  Helping Kenneth step through the gap is April Matthis’s Corinna, the only one of a multitude of Wally Waiters who wants to see Kenneth as more than an eccentric customer.  Completing the ensemble is a Musician played by understudy Paul Lincoln in the performance I attended.  So essential is he in setting the beat and tone, that Mr. Lincoln received his own loud round of applause.

Roundabout has obviously worked to make this production inclusive.  The company offers clear and sensible guidelines to audience members and the staff makes themselves very available to help.  To get you in the mood for what is to come, the lobby has been decorated to resemble a tiki bar, complete with projected fish tank and artificial grass.  The ticket confirmation warns audience members not to arrive late.  I can only reemphasize their strong recommendation.  Missing any of the first few minutes of the show will leave you with quite the wrong impression of what is transpiring.

Primary Trust is a work of true beauty.  It was nurtured at the 2021 Ojai Playwrights Conference and is a recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award.  Running time is an absorbing 95 minutes with a realistic denouement.  It is playing at the Laura Pels Theater in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street) through Sunday, July 2.  (Note that Harper is out the weekend of June 9.)  Tickets start at $56.  $4.95 COVID cancelation insurance is available.  Visit www.roundabouttheatre.org for additional information including special performances.

Chicken & Biscuits

Comedy, Off Off Broadway, Play, streaming May 8, 2023 Leave a comment

Theatre Squared continues to make their season available to a nationwide audience with a lively recording of their opening night of Douglas Lyons’ family dramedy Chicken & Biscuits.   It’s another cohesive and enjoyable ensemble production from the Fayetteville, AK based non-profit and winner of a special 2022 Obie Award. 

I saw a Zoom reading of the work in March of 2021.  As was typical of that time and medium, it was messy, but I enjoyed the interrelationships and the realistic tension between characters.  In its final form, the story unfolds almost entirely in one-on-one conversations, so it doesn’t flow so much as interconnect.  Many of the rough edges have been sanded down so that the understandable conflicts are aired and settled at an almost unnatural pace.   But the comedic exchanges and not-so-gentle ribbing remain in place.  Whether you will find this satisfying or frustrating depends on how much you value resolution over the journey to get there.

Baneatta and Beverly are two dramatically different sisters brought together by the death of their much-loved father.  It is clear from Baneatta’s opening prayer that the siblings are poles apart in style, attitude, and social position.  Quite simply, they drive each other crazy.  They even compete over who can feel more grief over the loss of a parent.  A gap between expectation and reality divide the other family members as well: mothers and children, sister and brother, partners and parents.  But the snipes stem more often from wanting the target to have the best life possible rather than deliberate viciousness.  As one character observes, “miscommunication ruins a lot of love.” 

Director Denise Chapman digs as deeply as she can to find the heart and humanity of each personality.  The vivacious cast brings a warm energy to the entire proceeding.  Robert Denzel Edwards is a stand out as Kenny, in part because his character is given the most vivid speech about his inner life.  With his sincere ability to listen, Edwards helps Justin Mackey as his white Jewish boyfriend Logan and Candace Jandel Thomas as Ken’s wounded sister Simone shine in their scenes togethers.  In another sequence, Maura Gale as Brianna covers 40 years of emotional history, providing a strong core to the plot and perhaps the toughest role.  She plays well against Kathy Tyree and Tameka Bob, respectively keeping Baneatta and Beverly in their defined lanes.  Michael A Jones lends solemnity as Baneatta’s husband Reggie, while Jordan Taylor sits on the other end of the spirit seesaw as Beverly’s Tik Tokking daughter La’Trice.

Photography at Theatre2 of Kathy Tyree and Tameka Bob in Chicken & Biscuits, Fayetteville, Arkansas on April 4, 2023.

As usual for T2, the artistic team supports the overall vision while keeping budget in mind.  Working almost entirely in black, costumer designer Devario D. Simmons gives us terrific textural queues about each character’s dominant qualities.  Marie Laster’s airy church set dominated by a rose window, illuminated cross and arched doorways creates a flexible space that is defined and refined by Athziri Morales’s soft lighting.  

According to American Theatre Magazine, Chicken & Biscuits was the 2nd most performed play across the USA in the 2022-23 season (right behind Clyde’s by Lynn Nottage).  The banter and relatability make for a pleasant viewing experience and sometimes that’s just what’s needed in these psychically exhausting times.  It runs though May 14 at TheatreSquared (477 W. Spring St., Fayetteville).  Live performances are at 7:30pm Tuesday through Saturday with 2pm matinees on Saturday and Sunday.  Digital streamers are available for 24 hours beginning at noon Central Time on the selected date.  Customer service is first rate.  Tickets run from $20-$54 and can be purchased by calling (479) 777-7477 or by visiting theatre2.org.

From The Mint Vault — Days To Come

Off-Broadway, On Demand, Play March 19, 2023 Leave a comment

“Lost Plays Found Here.”  So says The Mint Theater punningly about their mission.  Founded in 1992 by Artist Director Jonathan Bank, the company gives new life to neglected plays primarily from the 1930s.  Always polished, frequently charming, and often stunningly relevant, the line-up has included The Voysey Inheritance by Harley Granville-Barker, Rachel Crothers’ A Little Journey, and several works by the nearly forgotten Teresa Deevy.  They have made their home in several comfortable venues around Manhattan, most recently City Center and Theater Row.  

Financially slammed like every other small theater during COVID, The Mint occasionally opens their vault of recorded shows as a passive income stream.  Their current offering is the intense drama, Days to Come.  Written by Lillian Hellman between two better known plays — The Children’s Hour and Little Foxes — the plot unfolds over the course of a month in 1936 during a strike against a factory in a small Ohio town.  Hellman chose to focus on the social impact the strike has on the close community.   She conducted interviews with workers and management of the Wooster Brush Company to help her create characters of depth and conviction without the aim of solving their issues.  Andrew Rodman, the owner, and Thomas Firth,  the most vocal of the workers, are friends.  Their long-term relationship makes their conflict more complex, especially when outside forces intervene.  As events unfold it becomes clear that simply knowing a person over time doesn’t guarantee you can anticipate their actions. 

Director J.R. Sullivan builds the tension between various pairs of characters, each with a distinct style and agenda.  Larry Bull is the heart of the show, imbuing Andrew with surprising sensitivity and self-awareness.  In contrast, Chris Henry Coffey’s Tom is all gut reaction.  Coming between them is Ted Deasy’s Henry Elliot, a lawyer who’s wealth and style mask a grimy interior.  In arguably the most difficult role, Mary Bacon successfully balances the symptoms of Andrew’s sister, Cora’s, mental illness with genuine if misguided concern.  The rest of the cast includes Janie Brookshire, Dan Daily, Roderick Hill, Betsy Hogg, Geoffrey Allen, Kim Martin-Cotten, Wendy Rich Stetson and Evan Zes.

Larry Bull, Chris Henry Coffey, Ted Deasy, Roderick Hill, and Janie Brookshire in Days to Come; Photo by Todd Cerveris

Recorded in August of 2018, the stream is very stable and there’s no log in process, though a valid email address is required.  Audio quality is excellent and subtitles easy to read. It is shot from the audience viewpoint with straightforward camera work which never distracts.  Costume designer Andrea Varga sets the tone with wonderful fabrics, which can be seen with increased clarity.   And even on a small screen, the Rodman’s living room designed by Harry Feiner is lush with decorative detail. 

The original Broadway production of Days to Come was a disaster.  The influential William Randolph Hearst stormed out and the run lasted a mere seven days.  While the work isn’t the most relatable or smooth of The Mint’s productions, it is well worth the two hour investment.  It’s available On Demand at https://minttheater.org/ free of charge though April 2.  A request for support will appear in the upper right hand corner at the end, by which time I hope you, too, are a fan.

Pipeline – Streaming on Demand

On Demand, Play February 4, 2023 Leave a comment

Pipeline is one of those thrilling intimate dramas that pulls you into its core with genuine emotion and basic human truths.  Written by Dominique Morisseau and presented at Lincoln Center Theater one year after the completion of her famed trilogy, The Detroit Project, it won the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award.  Every one of the well-drawn characters has an arguable viewpoint, proving that the most provocative and intelligent questions rarely have straight answers.

The entire cast of six is perfectly calibrated to provide an affecting high-energy 90 minute ride.  Each character is under pressure, but despite their shared sense of oppression they simply can’t manage to give each other a break.  The story opens on an earnest Karen Pittman as Nya, a teacher in a typically underfunded public school.  Although she is fiercely dedicated to creating relatable materials for her inner-city students, she has agreed to send her only child Omari —  an appropriately grave Namir Smallwood — to a private boarding school.  He is clearly bright enough to compete academically, but privilege isn’t contagious and Omari has been undone by the environment.  His long-brewing rage has boiled over during a lesson on Richard Wright’s Native Son, a controversial book often criticized for bolstering a destructive stereotype of young black men.

As mother and son work along their distinct paths in search of conflict resolution, we also meet two of Nya’s co-workers: Tasha Lawrence as a frustrated and mouthy white fellow teacher, Laurie, and Jaime Lincoln Smith’s Dun, a caring security guard who has history with Nya.  Providing some lightness to the mood is a delightfully sincere Heather Velazquez as Omari’s girlfriend, Jasmine.  Perhaps most critical to setting all the events in motion is Morocco Omari’s Xavier, Nya’s ex-husband who is out of step with both her and their son.

Namir Smallwood as Omari and Karen Pittman as Nya in Lincoln Center Theater’s Pipeline.

Thanks to a partnership between LCT and BroadwayHD, the work is currently available to viewers nationwide with rewarding results.  Blending recordings from August 22 and 24 of 2017, Habib Azar’s direction for the screen(from stage direction by Lileana Blain-Cruz) draws the audience even deeper into the profound rage and passing joys of the characters.  Significant details from a bandaid to a tremor are more visible in closeup.  The short scenes are keep flowing by using film clips as bridges.   Presented in three-quarter round with the audience as a classroom, this production also serves as an introduction to the jewel box of a house that is the Mitzie Newhouse.

The creative team has supported the required fast pace.  Scenic designer Matt Saunders defines the space with a wall of white washed concrete masonry and simple set pieces.  Location is further established using projections by Hannah Wasileski.  Yi Zhao’s variations of light and shadow along with Justin Ellington’s sound work together to increase emphasis of key moments.  

At a time when public schools are increasingly lacking in financial and community support, Pipeline draws sharp lines from a personal story to the bigger picture.  The questions it raises are sure to linger in your heart and mind long after the last curtain call.  In honor of Black History Month, Pipeline is featured with a stellar line-up that also includes 2010 Tony Award-winner for Best Musical, Memphis; American masterpiece, Porgy and Bess recorded in San Francisco’s splendid War Memorial Opera House; and the incomparable Audra McDonald in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill.  Learn more by visiting https://www.broadwayhd.com/categories/celebrating-black-artists.

The Tempest – Bethesda and Streaming

On Demand, Play, streaming January 23, 2023 Leave a comment

The Tempest, thought to be one of the last plays written by William Shakespeare, is one of his most often reinterpreted.  A new adaptation by wordsmith Aaron Posner and slight-of-hand master Teller (of Penn and Teller), who also co-direct, brings the themes of perception, manipulation, and illusion to the forefront.  It is the magic of theater fully visualized.

The story swirls around Prospero whose evil brother, Antonio, has usurped his position as Duke of Milan.  Now living on an enchanted island with his teenage daughter, Miranda, Prospero has become a powerful magician served by an able spirit, Ariel.  The only other inhabitant of the island is Caliban, the vengeful misshapen son of a witch who feels the island is rightfully his.  Fate has brought Antonio’s ship close by, and Prospero whips up a storm.  With Ariel’s help, Prospero grounds the vessel and scatters those aboard onto the shore.  This proves to be the first step in his plan to regain his position and give his child the life she deserves.  If Ariel performs his tasks well, Prospero promises to free him and bury the book of spells forever.

Playwright Posner has done a skillful job of trimming the sprawling plot and making visible some aspects of the text that are more often just implied.  In the beginning, he illustrates long narrative passages by bringing the relevant people on stage to act out the descriptions.  This technique not only makes the play even more engaging, it helps newcomers keep straight the myriad characters and their interconnections.  

The circus-like atmosphere of the island — complete with grotesques of all sorts— is also made bolder by the first-rate cast.  Prospero (Eric Hissom in tumbling waves of anger, love, and self-awareness) is presented as a cross between a magician and a carnival ringmaster, with a wand rather than his customary staff.  Several traditional magic tricks are woven into the production, with the most gasp-inducing being a transformation of Prospero’s own costume.  Teller’s influence is most notable in the rendering of Ariel (a uniquely suited Nate Dendy) as soft of tone and palette, with quick hands and a mischievous nature.  Caliban’s twisted essence is portrayed by two intertwined muscular actors (the awesome pair of Hassiem Muhammad and Ryan Sellers) whose menacing limbs and animistic movement were choreographed by Matt Kent and Renée Jaworsk of the revolutionary dance company Pilobolus.  Two roles — the compassionate counselor Gonzalo (a stately Naomi Jacobson) and the delusional drunkard Stephano (a winking Kate Eastwood Norris) — have been gender flipped which deepens certain aspects of their characters.

Eric Hissom (Prospero) and Nate Dendy (Ariel) in The Tempest at Round House Theatre. Photo by Scott Suchman.

Posner and Teller have surrounded themselves with a creative team that brilliantly supports their special take on this classic.  The scenic design by Daniel Conway inventively blends painted backdrops framed in old-fashioned footlights with elements of a ship’s rigging.  The bluesy music of Tom Waits has been substituted for the songs from Shakespeare’s time, supplying a moody soundtrack that is vibrantly interpreted by Kanysha Williams and Lizzie Hagstedt as “goddesses” Juno and Iris.  (A third god, Saturn, usually played by Ian Riggs, was absent from the performance I saw.)  Andre Pluess’s sound design also incorporates critical musical effects that emphasize the action.  In addition to the men’s dapper suits, costume designer Sarah Cubbage has given Miranda (an exuberant Megan Graves) practical loose fitting overalls and outfitted the crooning Iris with an eye popping red bustier.

It’s thrilling to see the dreamy and poetic aspects of The Tempest translated into spellbinding visual imagery.  The live production at Bethesda’s Round House Theatre (4545 East-West Highway) is sold out, but streaming tickets are still available making the play accessible to a wider audience.  The simple three camera production can only be streamed from the Round House site, but the Vimeo platform is stable on most browsers and the sound quality is high even on a laptop.  (Nice size captions are also available.)  Runtime of the recording is 2 hours and 10 minutes, which makes for clean storytelling.  Tickets must be purchased no later than January 29 by calling 240.644.1100, ordering online at RoundHouseTheatre.org, or visiting the Round House box office.  On Demand access will be available until February 12.

Detroit 67 – Fayetteville, AR and Streaming

Play, streaming October 31, 2022 Leave a comment

Playwright and MacArthur “Genius” Dominique Morisseau can weave a richer story with a handful of characters than most people can tell with a cast of dozens.  This makes her a great match for TheatreSquared in Fayetteville, Arkansas: a small space with a worldly audience.  Set against the backdrop of the historic bloody clash between the Detroit police and Black residents, their current production of Morisseau ’s Detroit 67 is all too current in its themes.  To bring in some extra cash, Lank and his sister Chelle are running an off-licensed after-hours bar in their basement.  It is similar to the one that was violently raided by police, sparking five days of rioting that ended in over 40 deaths and thousands of arrests.  As in the play, then-governor Romney had to call in the National Guard and President Johnson provided two army divisions to restore peace.  

Though Morisseau keeps the action confined to the siblings’ basement, she uses exposition sparingly and instead explores the social and emotional impact of the turmoil outside through well-drawn relationships.  We learn that though they are close, Chelle (a simmering Devereau Chumrau) and Lank (Tenisi Davis moving fluidly between tenderness and fury) have conflicting opinions about how to use their small inheritance.  Lank is encouraged in his riskier plan by his close friend Sly (smooth Christopher Alexander Chukwueke).  But his downgrading of the safety net provided by family and friends is challenged by Caroline (pixyish Jenna Krasowski), a young white woman who literally stumbles into his life.  The quintet is rounded out by Bunny (crowd favorite Na’Tosha De’Von), who relishes all  that life brings her way.  Through this battle between dreaming big and playing it safe, Morisseau tells a story that covers race, class, and the lies of the American Dream in a deeply personal and genuine way.  

Christopher Alexander Chukwueke, Devereau Chumrau, Na’Tosha De’Von and Tenisi Davis; photo by Wesley Hitt

Well-timed comebacks and the use of uplifting Motown tunes provide light around the shadows.  The songs of the Temptations, the Four Tops, the Vandellas, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye and others form a bridge between the characters and the audience and momentarily erase all barriers.  It is the soundtrack of a particular time and place, but also a connector to our world.

The staging by director Dexter J. Singleton is somewhat constrained by Baron Pugh’s detail-oriented set.  Look closely at the walls, and Chelle’s and Lank’s childhoods envelop them.  The essential bar, worn furniture, and decor lend an appropriate hemmed-in vibe to the action.  Costume designer Azalea Fairley visually differentiates the characters, giving Bunny bold prints and highest heels, dressing Chelle in muted tones and flats, and displaying Caroline’s petite curves in Chelle’s cast-offs.  Sound design by Bill Toles expands on the wondrous playlist.

I deeply appreciate the considerate and inclusive opportunity TheatreSquare provides to participate in their varied season.  Their modest four-camera set-up always provides an engaging home experience complete with a warm welcome from their staff and volunteers.  Each streaming pass is good for 24 hours.  The instructions are easy to execute and the recording is of above-average quality. 

As the first piece in Morisseau’s Detroit Project, Detroit ’67 is a thrilling introduction to her potent work.  It is available on-stage and via streaming through Sunday, November 6.  Runtime is approximately 2 ½ hours including intermission.  Tickets are available at https://tix.theatre2.org/events and range from $37-$57 for the live show at TheatreSquared in Fayetteville and $25-$35 for individual and household streaming passes.

A Nagging Feeling Best Not Ignored – Live Stream

Live Online, Live Stream, Play September 1, 2022 Comments: 2

January 6th will never again be just a date, but rather an historic occurrence.  Some consider what happened in 2021 to be the most serious attack against democracy.  Others saw brave patriots who took action when they felt those same institutions had betrayed them and their leader.  A third group finds the entire episode to be just so much more political blah-blah-blah that has nothing to do with them.  All of these viewpoints are presented by the unreliable narrator and sole character in Roland Tec’s A Nagging Feeling Best Not Ignored, a live Zoom-based theatrical event.

A ticket to this happening comes with precise instructions.  We have volunteered for a citizen panel.  Check-in is at 7:45 PM and while the piece will conclude by 9:00PM we are requested to stay for “processing”.  In order to participate fully, we will keep our cameras and microphones on and wear headphones to eliminate extraneous noise.  (I further recommend using the Full Screen mode and Do Not Disturb to block out any notifications.)  After hearing his story, our judgement of “the subject” will be legally binding.

Roland Tec is The Subject in A Nagging Feeling Best Not Ignored

These directions set the expectation for a serious and intense engagement with the solitary character, Benj.  Eery music and distant voices that we hear upon entry only heighten the mood.  As portrayed by writer Tec, Benj is an attempt to create an Everyman in what is becoming the everyday experience of many.  Shot at a slight diagonal, this man clearly needs to clean house in all the meanings of that phrase.   His headphones are askew and there’s a ladder and a towel behind him hinting at a mess beyond.  COVID has kept him home alone more than at any time in his life.  Most of his news is delivered through social media.  New connections are only made online, where it is often hard to tell who is genuine and who is a bot.  The valley has never been more uncanny than in Benj’s landscape.

As directed by Leigh Strimbeck, Benj speaks in a manner that alternates between rushed and halting.  He shares his circumstances just before and shortly after the actions that took place on January 6th, with asides that give insight into his personal life. How deeply you are touched will depend on how well you are managing your own feelings.  

The distractions are many.  Chat has been left open, which allows for some important intervention but also unnecessary prattle.  One of the disadvantages of conversations over Zoom is that the highlighted speaker is the loudest instead of the most important.  With over 30 microphones open, those featured including a man with a persistent cough, a woman making clattering noises, and several very personal laughs.  Perhaps this is meant as a metaphor for how easily our attention is diverted from discomfort.  How deeply can we ever react to something on a screen?  But there is no question that the technical set-up made it difficult to remain fully absorbed in what we had been told was a civic duty.  

The section that leaves a lasting impression is the post show discussion, which on the night I attended was led by retired psychologist Henry “Hank” Greenspan, a playwright/historian whose work focuses on survivors of genocide.  Our audience was less invested in whether Benj should suffer any consequence than in finding productive outlets for their own grief and discouragement.  Reactions were only partially to the play and the rest to very real life.  One woman pointed out that her feelings are not nagging at all, but in her face screaming 24/7.  

That a short work like A Nagging Feeling Best Not Ignored could bring forth that level of emotion at this time of perpetual overwhelm is noteworthy.  And while there are problems with Zoom, it does allow for sharing of the work across the country.  There is one more scheduled opportunity to be a witness on Wednesday, September 7, at 8PM.  Tickets are $22.50 and can be purchases on Eventbrite at  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/302460416247.

Lavender Men – Los Angeles and Streaming

On Demand, Play August 23, 2022 Leave a comment

Taffeta, one of three characters in Lavender Men, describes what we are about to see as a “fantasia”.  The piece explores a personal chapter in the life of Abraham Lincoln as filtered through the mind — indeed the entire body — of playwright Roger Q. Mason.  In 1860, Lincoln mentored a young law clerk, Elmer Ellsworth.  Ellsworth went on to help Lincoln campaign for president.  He eventually made history of his own when he became the first Union casualty of the American Civil War, killed while removing a large Confederate flag from the rooftop of a Virginia inn.  That the men admired each other and became good friends is well documented.  In Lavender Men, Mason speculates that the two meant much more to one another.

The fast moving script, developed in Skylight Theater Company’s resident playwrights lab, covers many themes and styles.  Taffeta proposes that she take Abe and Elmer back in time to reexamine their relationship.  She will take on the role of “everyone else” including a young soldier, a cleaning woman, Mary Todd Lincoln and even a tree near a swimming hole.  Black, large, boisterous, and proudly queer, she is everything the two men are not, opening up plenty of space for conversation about oppressed voices throughout our history.  Themes of body image issues and social biases are explored, though the main plot always returns to a heartfelt love story.  

The play works best when it is self-aware such as when a character questions what is currently being taught in classrooms.  Mason seems to be using personal experience to deepen the emotions of the storytelling, which also makes the viewpoint very specific.  Their haunting voices literally make themselves heard in Taffeta’s ears.  The work does an admirable job of showing the imperfections of Lincoln’s legacy, but there are missed opportunities to connect those events more tightly to today’s political and social climate, particularly as that relates to Lincoln’s own party.  

Director Lovell Holder, who has been attached to the production since a reading at New York’s Circle in the Square, has brought out an intensity in all three actors.  His staging makes great use of a relatively small space and every speck of furniture.  The company has wisely hired Seth Dorcey to direct and edit the streaming version so that the flow translates for home viewers and harnesses the power of the enthusiastic live audience.  The set designed by Stephen Gifford uses a wardrobe as the main doorway so that Abe and Elmer literally go into and out of the closet throughout.  The backdrop includes some wonderful detail — a photo of Frederick Douglas, a paste-up of Lincoln — but nothing that distracts from the terrific performances.  Like a proper fantasia, there is original music by David Gonzalez which smooths the transitions ranging from burlesque to gravitas with cello played by John Swihart.  The shifts in mood are further supported by Dan Weingarten’s atmospheric lighting. Erin Bednarz’s sound design also incorporates some well-timed gun shots.  

Pete Ploszek, Alex Esola, and Roger Q. Mason; Photo credit Jenny Graham

Swirling in Wendell Carmichael’s glorious skirts and bonnets, playwright Mason portrays their unique creation, Taffeta, as bold yet self critical, wise, but with lessons to learn.  The chemistry between Pete Ploszek’s Abe and Alex Esola’s Elmer is electric.  The two maintain connection as they move through time — now, then and never — while manage Taffeta’s coaxing, interfering, and micromanagement.  This renders the tightly choreographed slo-mo love scene superfluous and, with Taffeta as a witness, cheapens what had felt genuine.  

Lavender Men is an engaging and emotionally charged look at pages from history you think you know.  It is currently playing at the Skylight Theater at 1816 1/2 North Vermont Ave in Los Angeles.  It is also available On Demand which is how I was able to enjoy it in New York City.  Run time is 95 minutes with no intermission.  Seats for the live show are $23 – $80.  Showtimes are Saturday 8:30pm, Sunday 3:00pm, and Monday 7:30pm.  The virtual experience is $28.75 for a secure link good for 72 hours.  Tickets through September 4 are available at https://skylighttheatre.org/program-lavender-men/.