In 1966, Renata Hinrichs and her family pile into their brand new Ford Galaxy. They are moving from Boston to Chicago. Dad has just graduated from the seminary and taken a position at Grace Lutheran Church. Located on the south side, the church is steps away from Ashland Avenue. “It is like the Berlin wall: the dividing line between the Eastside where the black people live, and the Westside, where the white people live.” Random Acts is a story of one young girl’s memories growing up in the middle of the civil rights struggle in 1960’s America.
The inspiration for this play was born when Ms. Hinrichs was living in New York City during 9/11. Childhood memories came flooding back so she interviewed her parents to fill in more details. While she has written a multi-character play, it is performed as a monologue. She plays her kindergarten self, mother and father, the school teacher, her boyfriend and others. What first appears to be an elongated acting exercise slowly transforms into a touching meditation on specific incidents that mold our character and shape our lives.
I grew up in Rahway, New Jersey. My childhood best friend lived on a street which was also sort of a dividing line between the white and black sides. His family had emigrated from Grenada. We thought it ironic that in the middle of the block lived an interracial couple. That house felt like the exact boundary line between two segregated worlds. Random Acts brought a lot of childhood memories back. For that reason alone, I was captivated by this memoir.
As a very young elementary school student, she faces racial confrontation with classmates, in her father’s church and, ultimately and frighteningly, during the riots which break out when Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated. She’s a doting caregiver for her dolls and dreams of being just like Julie Andrews when she grows up. Ms. Hinrichs is a product of her time and admirably has reflected on how it shaped the woman standing on this stage. Serious and thoughtful, this play manages to be brightly positive in tone.
Earlier this week I watched Black Sheep, a documentary short nominated for an Oscar this year. In order to escape the violence in London, a young black man moves with his family to a very white town in England. He narrates the backward looking story of how he tried to fit into a world that only saw the color of his skin. Far different in tone, this film and this play both use intimate observations to not only comment on racial prejudice but also how it impacts one’s personal development. That individualized perspective enables the subject matter to become vivid and powerful.
Random Acts is nicely staged by director Jessi D. Hill. Chika Shimizu’s scenic design was simple and effective. Ms. Hinrichs remembers her church’s stained glass windows filled with stories. With interesting lighting effects by Daisy Long, the stage hints at a theatrical sermon filled with stories. Not the lecturing kind but a reflective one. Random acts of kindness can be overwhelmingly inspirational. Random Acts, the play, is proof of that.