Tag: Play

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Who Killed My Father (St. Ann’s Warehouse)

The screen projects a moody and relentless drive along a very long road.  That might represent imagery for this particular story.  For me it unhelpfully underscored how long and boring Who Killed My Father was to endure.

Édouard Louis adapted this memoir and is the performer in this solo show.  The material covers the same territory as his History of Violence, also based on a memoir and directed by Thomas Ostermeier.  Both vehicles cover his homosexuality and the negativity he experiences.  This one, however, focuses on his father.  At fifty years old, Dad suffered severe health issues which are described as a result of life choices.  The play interestingly attempts to recast the blame on his behavior toward his son to a much broader canvas – society as a whole.

Like the previous work, this one vacillates between deeply morose and lip synching “Barbie Girl” as a young teen to the horror of his parents.  The father is represented as an empty chair on stage.  Perhaps this memoir and subsequent adaptation is therapeutic for Mr. Louis.  I felt I was sitting through someone’s therapy without being compensated to do so.  Ah, the opposite.  I paid to be there.

schaubühne Berlin and Théâtre de la Ville Paris are presenting this show at St. Ann’s Warehouse.  In addition to the excellent History of Violence, schaubühne helped us theater lovers during Covid by streaming some recordings of previous shows.  I saw both Bella Figura and Professor Bernhardi during that time.  The high quality of these productions caused me to see this troupe live once again.  This one is a huge miss for me.

There is a hint within Who Killed My Father that suggests that the elder man may have been gay or at least confused.  That morsel gets a moment and includes a picture of Dad dressed as a Majorette. The moment quickly flies past as society takes the brunt of this man’s ire.  The analysis of this personal journey might be intellectually captivating.  As a piece of theater, however, the tale drones on despite a short ninety minute running time.

Who Killed My Father is running at St. Ann’s Warehouse through June 5, 2022.

www.stannswarehouse.org

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Fat Ham (Public Theater)

The set suggests a funeral with a wreath “in loving memory of Pap”.  There are balloons, one of which says Happy Valentine’s Day.  A “congratulations” sign.  Smoke billows from the barbeque.  Fat Ham takes place in a family’s backyard somewhere in the South.  By the end, this theatrical supernova written by James Ijames will have exploded into one of the wildest, most satisfying, deeply introspective and phenomenally hilarious riffs on Hamlet ever.

A small party is about to commence to commemorate not King Hamlet’s death but Claudius marrying Gertrude within the week.  Well not exactly but very close.  This hastily assembled barbeque will celebrate Rev and Tedra’s nuptials one week after her husband was killed in prison.  As Juicy strings Christmas lights up per his mom’s wishes, he and friend Tio engage in some banter.  Ghosts are the topic.  Tio sees Juicy’s “dead daddy walking around the yard in the middle of the afternoon…”  The ghost entrance is thrilling and the Hamlet references begin.

Former Uncle and brother of the deceased and now newly crowned stepdad Rev (Billy Eugene Jones) is a tough guy who has little patience for the “soft” Juicy.  Our fat ham, you see, is not a “real man” and his predilections are not embraced in this small town.

Mom is a sexy and wise whirlwind of goodness and self-preservation.  She loves her son, sees him clearly and yet he comes in second or, perhaps, third with the new pecking order.  She knows how to party and be the center of attention with zero inhibitions.  Her performance on the picnic table slays.  Nikki Crawford is riveting in a role filled with the quandaries of life’s choices and important survival techniques such as not overanalyzing situations.  Kudos to Darrell Grand Moultrie’s choreography throughout.

Tedra’s friend Rabby (Benja Kay Thomas) is invited and she brings her son and daughter.  Tedra is described as “semi-churchy but honestly she just wanna drink and praise the Lord”.  She will be successful in that regard today.  Both of her kids know Juicy.  Larry (Calvin Leon Smith) is a Marine.  Opal (Adrianna Mitchell) is unhappily wearing a dress.  Both of them harbor secrets.  Both care deeply for Juicy.  Scenes between the younger generation are philosophical, raw and movingly real.

Shakespeare’s Prince Hamlet struggles with whether, or how, to avenge his father’s death.  He questions his own sanity.  Juicy faces the same scenario and thankfully has his cousin Horatio, I mean Tio, as his trusted confidant.  In an ensemble of extraordinarily fine characterizations, Chris Herbie Holland achieves bullseye perfection.  We all witness the comings and goings (is there even a fourth wall?) but through Tio’s eyes the view is literally enhanced.  The video game monologue alone should become legendary.

Fat Ham is a play written with surprising turns and zingers galore.  Director Saheem Ali allows menace to creep in but never at the expense of riotous comedy.  There is a sadness which never completely disappears but is instead morphed into the vivid personalities which burst out of tragedy into a zenith of mind-altering positivity.  The story arc of Mr. Ijames’ play is breathtaking and the myriad of devices employed to develop character are awesome.

Juicy is unabashedly proud, profoundly thoughtful, edgily vindictive, smart mouthed, shyly unsure, self-doubting and trapped in a world where his inner and outer beauty crave a spotlight bigger and brighter than the one in which he resides.  A tall acting order, indeed, not to mention the facial expressions required throughout.  Marcel Spears’ performance is a triumph in, pardon me, a very juicy role.

How does one break free of the cycles of violence, Tio asks.  Juicy’s Pop went to jail, his Pop went to jail, his Pop went to jail and his Pop went to jail.  What’s before that?  Slavery he says.  Fat Ham is about breaking the chains of all things which constrain people from living freely, honestly and happily.  A raucous, joyous piece of theater with a brilliant creative team, Fat Ham is a revelation and exudes excellence from ghostly start to exuberant finish.

Fat Ham won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and is being performed at The Public Theater through July 3, 2022.

www.publictheater.org

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The Minutes

Imagine a world where politicians stand up and lie to your face.  Oh, that’s not really too hard, I know.  Thunder, lightning and heavy rains set an ominous tone.  The power flicks on and off.  Imagine a place where the infrastructure is dated and faulty.  The Minutes is firmly placed in today’s America.  Playwright Tracy Letts demands that we look into the mirror.  It is beyond cracked.

The town council in Big Cherry meets weekly.  Mr. Peel (Noah Reid; Schitt’s Creek) missed the previous meeting due to his mother’s funeral.  Apparently something transpired and Mr. Carp (Ian Barford, Linda Vista) is no longer on the council.  The elected officials arrive with their socially awkward occasionally cringeworthy banter and their personal agendas.  No one will tell Mr. Peel what happened last week.

The meeting begins.  Ms. Johnson (Jessie Mueller; Beautiful, Waitress) is the clerk.  She takes attendance forgetting to leave out Mr. Carp’s name in the roll call.  The elephant is in the room but only Mr. Peel seems focused on it.  Next item on the agenda is the reading of the minutes from the previous week.  That should provide some clarity but the minutes from two weeks ago are read instead.  Why?  What is being hidden?

From this premise, Mr. Letts hilariously bludgeons an enormously wide ranging series of targets.  On a basic level, the inanity of meetings and Robert’s Rules of Order are taken to task for their ability to empower subterfuge.  Is that a motion or a comment?  You don’t have the floor.  Let’s praise how the town’s football team did last week (yes, written in the minutes).

The committee members themselves are recognizable.  There’s the octogenarian (Austin Pendleton, priceless) who is focused on the now departed councilmember’s much better parking space.  At one point he utters, “I assure you I have no idea what is happening”.  Also present is the wealthy white woman of privilege (Blair Brown; Copenhagen) who has been on the council more than thirty years.  She’s so baked in her conservative past that I suspect the term white privilege is unbeknownst to her.

Other assorted members include a potentially corrupt Sheriff (Jeff Still; To Kill a Mockingbird), a sycophantic imbecile (Cliff Chamberlain, Superior Donuts), a spastically ditzy keeper of the rules (Sally Murphy, a tad overwrought).  Two councilmen (K. Todd Freeman, Danny McCarthy) have self-dealing business before the committee.  All of this foolery is comedy meant to mercilessly mock our government (at every level).

This being America, however, the objects of Mr. Letts’ jibes are as big as the founding of our nation.  Lies perpetrated to tell a preferred story rather than the truth.  In this play – and sadly – in our society truth is a inconvenience which must be aggressively thwarted.

The dialogue contains chestnuts like “righteous indignation is a cheap perfume”.  The play cloaks itself in realism, adds in delicious dollops of farce and does not hesitate to luxuriate in mystical symbolism.  I could tell after it ended not everyone digested those missing minutes as powerfully intense as I did.

Here are things The Minutes stirred in my mind.  Book banning.  The denial of critical race theory.  Christian embracement of machine guns.  Preferred religions.  The big election lie.  Political bribery masking as campaign funds.  The dead wood of no term limits.  The founding of America.  Violence as the soul of a nation.  Violence as a soul of a species.  Just to name a few.

The ending of this play left me to consider that Mr. Letts has a darker worldview that I do.  He posits that our generational lifecycles – now firmly baked into our psyches for hundreds if not thousands of years – are inevitably marbleized or even metastasized.  I, potentially idiotically, hold out hope.  The thinker in me, however, supposes this playwright is probably right.

One more thing.  Fittingly Mr. Letts portrays the truth-hiding Mayor in this well directed (Anna D. Shapiro) production filled to the brim with accomplished actors.

The Minutes from Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre is playing on Broadway at Studio 54 through July 24, 2022.

www.theminutesbroadway.com

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André & Dorine (Kulunka Teatro)

A wordless play performed by actors behind masks may not seem to be the likeliest of candidates for a theatrical experience brimming with emotional depth.  In the hands of Spain’s Kulunka Teatro company, André & Dorine beautifully explores the ups and downs of the human condition.

The title characters are an elderly couple who begin their story as a married team who have obviously spent a lot of time together.  Maybe too much!  In the close quarters of their home, they push each others buttons.  He is typing.  She is playing her cello.  He expresses his annoyance by banging on the desk.  “Can’t you see what I doing here?” is the unspoken question.

André & Dorine chronicles the latter stages of their life and her descent into the ravages of Alzheimer’s.  As a vehicle to present confusion, the usage of masks is inspired especially in one particularly heartbreaking scene.  The masks also imply a realistic universality where the storytelling could represent people we know and love.

All is not gloomy, however, in this tale.  A series of flashbacks allow us to see these two during some of the biggest moments of their personal journeys.  They are often very funny and charmingly staged.  As a result of the shifting timeframes, the portraits painted are vivid, achingly familiar and result in a thoughtful contemplation on the circle of life.

André and Dorine had a son who is also a character in this play.  You recognize him (and yourself) as an adult child with parents who are certainly loving and caring while also being stereotypically annoying.  A handful of other minor roles are amusing, most notably a priest.  Three actors portray the main characters (at different ages) and all the side characters.  Transitions are fluid and clear.

The family deals with some of the mental challenges associated with this disease.  A great scene contrasts how best to cope.  Both father and son have their individual perspectives and biases.  How best to deal with increasingly odd behavior?  A lifetime of shared experience and generational differences are thrust into view.  The comedic touches which build this impressive scene are delightful.

Performers José Dault, Garbiñe Insausti and Edu Cárcamo wrote this play along with Director Iñaki Rikarte and Rolando San Martín.  The levels of emotional development throughout a wordless and faceless show are truly memorable as are Ms. Insausti’s masks themselves.  Sets, costumes, lighting and music are all excellent.  There are so many creative elements within this production of André & Dorine which make this United States’ tour worth seeking out.

André & Dorine is being performed in New York (Theatre at St. Clement’s) through May 29, 2022 and then in Los Angeles (Lupe Ontiveros Cinema Center) from June 8 – 19th.  Here is a You Tube link for a preview of the show.

www.andreanddorinetour.com

www.youtube.com/andre&dorinetrailer

www.kulunkateatro.com

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To My Girls (Second Stage)

Idiotic fun can be had watching the uneven but nicely acted play To My Girls.  A bunch of thirty something gay friends have rented a home in Palm Springs for a weekend of revelry.  Bon mots, accusations, heavy drinking and a murder are just a few of the treats in store for those looking for a much lighter weight The Boys in the Band update.

The jokes pour in and cover the expected targets.  “On my drive I saw an armadillo that looked like Kelly Ann Conway”.  One gets upset when the “orange dipshit” is referenced.  He warns “do not say that name in the house; I didn’t pack enough sage”.

The title refers to  a toast celebrating these “girls”.  In an inspired bit of needling the gender politics of today, the cast addresses the audience and provides a “gender pronoun apology”.  They are going to refer to themselves as girls, like it or not.  Another quip follows later about being put through the “pronoun ice capades”.

Curtis is the first to arrive having made the reservation.  He promptly begins making a blender drink.  He pours a little mixer in and then an entire bottle of booze.  It’s party time!  Curtis is the “A” gay of the group; supremely gorgeous, incredibly narcissistic, extraordinarily slutty and spiraling toward the age of forty.  Que tragedie!

Jay Armstrong Johnson is excellent in a role which could be very unlikable.  In order for this play to work, the audience must see why the others love this imperfect friend.  Maulik Pancholy plays Castor, the self-deprecating one who has always pined for the beautiful boy.  One of them notes that “you two are stuck in this Edward Albee play”.  Yes this all sounds a trifle cliché but the chemistry on stage makes it work.

The heat seeking juggernaut is the character of Leo who is black and flamboyantly fun.  Light racial jokes are tossed around such as “not bottoming for white guys doesn’t make you the gay Frederick Douglass”.  Britton Smith is terrific in the role which evolves into the moral center of a play flaunting immorality as a badge of honor.

The girls go to a bar on night one and Castor brings home Omar (Noah J. Ricketts) which turns the plot into a darker yet jovial place.  Castor cannot believe Omar would be interested in him.  Others are horny.  Recriminations will fly!  Relationships will be tested!  Will there be a happy ending?

JC Lee’s script does spout some messaging meant to empower happiness, self-acceptance, forgiveness and the unshakable bonds created through shared experiences.  Then there’s the real debate about which is the best Brittany Spears album.

Snarls at pop culture icons hit the funny bone.  “I am only nervous when I watch Taylor Swift do choreography”.  A new gay dating app called “Hoopler” is for gays who like basketball.  These barbs are more effective than some of the preachy moments about virtue signaling and pointed critiques of a so-called misguided younger generation.

There is a wonderful speech near the end of the play which provides a second meaning for the title of this enjoyable comedy.  Many things have changed for the gay community since the pre-Stonewall Boys in the Band was written.  Apparently, however, many other things have not.  To My Girls certainly showcases gay men in a less closeted way.  But the skeletons are still there.  And they can be haunting.  A trusted group of friends may be the only antidote.

To My Girls is scheduled to run through April 24, 2022 at Second Stage’s Off-Broadway house, the Tony Kiser Theater.

www.2st.com

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Take Me Out

An early revelation drives the plot to the highly entertaining Take Me Out.  Richard Greenberg’s Tony Award winning play from 2003 has been revived on Broadway.  I did not see the original.  This version is exceptionally well-staged and well-acted even if the occasionally overwrought storyline stretches credibility.

Darren Lemming (Jesse Williams) is the star player of the Empires baseball team.  If the Empires are a stand in for the Yankees then Darren is a stand in for Derek Jeter.  That level of athletic superstar with massive fan appeal.  Coming out as gay while still playing (and at the highest level) is what Mr. Greenberg has dramatized.

No professional baseball player had outed himself when this play was written.  The events portrayed are an imagining of what would happen.  Darren’s close friend and teammate Kippy Sunderstorm (Patrick J. Adams) discuss the difficulties that this new information will cause in the locker room.  You do not have to imagine the tensions which may occur in the showers.  There is more than one beefcake scene so the audience experiences both a celebration of muscled physiques as well as naked awkwardness.

Relationships between these athletes drive the drama forward.  David’s childhood best friend, Davey Battle (Brandon J. Dirden) is a religious man who plays for a rival team.  The announcement fractures their longstanding bond.  Most of the other characters are underdeveloped jock clichés but all seem to be realistically inhabited in this world.  The team is diverse as are the languages spoken.

One exceptional character, however, is brought to the forefront when the Empires go into a slump.  Shane Mungitt (Michael Oberholtzer) is the relief pitcher who is called up to the big leagues and makes a huge impact.  Raised in an orphanage he is not the intellectual type.  In an interview he makes some racist and homophobic comments.  Repercussions ensue.

There is one additional character who is the antithesis of an athlete.  Mason Marzac (Jessie Tyler Ferguson) is a nebbish gay accountant who David hires after coming out.  He wants to get a handle on his finances and a possible early retirement.  Mason may be a stereotype but the character brings outside perspective on this idealized American pastime.  His falling in love with the sport as he works with his new client is a charming side story.

Scott Ellis confidently directed this revival.  The actors are all excellent.  Mr. Oberholtzer’s bad boy is revoltingly compelling.  So much so that he received sizable applause at the end of his final scene.  The teammate camaraderie between Mr. Williams and the play’s narrator Mr. Adams is thoroughly believable and nicely casual.  Mr. Ferguson’s Mason is eminently likable and appealing which keeps the play from tilting too dark.

Take Me Out confronts serious issues amidst the laughs.  In this particular period where harsh spotlights are shone on toxic masculinity, the timing of this revival makes sense.  While the play posited a scenario two decades ago, this version feels contemporary and still relevant.  When a production looks as handsome as this one (Scenic Designer David Rockwell), a visit to the ballpark is highly recommended.

Take Me Out is running at the Helen Hayes Theater through May 29, 2022.

www.2st.com

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The Wetsuitman (The Cherry Artists’ Collective)

An old white man is walking his dog along the coast in Norway.  He notices a black spot “out there in the distance”.  At first he thinks it may be an oil slick.  His dog barks and goes near.  The spot is a wetsuit.  There are bones protruding from the flipper now in the dog’s teeth.  The Wetsuitman begins as a mysterious Scandinavian crime thriller.

An investigation commences.  The tone is rather clinical yet also amusingly flippant.  The characters self-knowingly refer to themselves as white middle aged Norwegians.  The inspector notices that “the fin’s lying next to the wetsuit / must have come off / can’t see the face / just a wisp of dark hair / or is it just seaweed?”

Belgian playwright Freek Mariën has based this story on actual events but is a fictionalized account.  This English translation by David McKay features sentence fragments which punctuate the uneasiness of the situation.  A medical examiner arrives.  He is described as white.  “Norway is a country made for / accidents” he informs.  The plot continues on its initial course of crime solving.

The narrative expands to another beach in another country.  Part two is announced to be “the interviews / France and the Netherlands / bunch of white folks”.  A journalist dives into their reporting by talking with a beachcomber, the police, a tourism officer, a lifeguard, a beach bar owner and others.  Perspectives are shared about these type of events.  “They wash up / from all over the channel”.  The mystery continues but has increased sizably in scope.

Layer after layer, the tale exposes the crimes.  This is not a standard issue whodunnit.  Mr. Mariën imagines who might have washed up on shore, the how’s and the why’s.  All of these white people trying to solve a case morphs into a study of race and refugees.  The play ends in Syria with a family’s conversation.  The pathway there is stunning for its twisting frames of reference and the demands placed on the audience to plunge into the often unfathomable depths of our world.

Samuel Buggeln directed a cast of five actors who play dozens of roles.  The set and costumes are simple and straightforward.  There is storytelling clarity which gently and effectively peels the onion.  The tonal layers are as varying as the characters themselves.  People who enjoy a mystery will be hooked right from the start.  Whether the solution will satisfy will depend on your perspective.  That seems to be one intent of this absorbing meditation.

As all of us continue to comprehend the gigantic tragedy unfolding in Ukraine, migration once again dominates the news cycle.   This important play urges zooming into specifics without abandoning a wider angled view.  Individual tales are the real truths.  Combining them creates a history.  Looking into that mirror is hard and necessary.  Perhaps one day we will collectively discover true compassion and evolve into something better than what we currently are.

The English language premiere of The Wetsuitman is being presented by The Cherry Arts Collective in Ithaca, New York through April 3, 2022.  The production is also being livestreamed (designed by Karen Rodriguez and Greg Levins) during the run.

www.thecherry.org

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#SoSadSoSexy (The Tank)

 

Mental illness is tackled in the devised play #SoSadSoSexy.  This type of theater is the result from a collective collaboration of a performing ensemble.  An ambitious plot structure attempts to contain the myriad of concepts brought to life but this well-intentioned work needs editing.

A discussion about a nude portrait opens the play.  In this Victorian era, the crowd is incited.  The subject of the painting defiantly stares back at her gawkers.  She knows who she is and is in “no coy denial”.  How women are perceived is a major theme which courses through this dual tale.

Lucy is a woman from the Victorian period.  She paints and gets involved with a mentor.  Her relationship will eventually find her committed to an insane asylum.  Izzy is a modern day young woman who has been hospitalized after a suicide attempt.  Two distinct stories “explore the parallels between each period’s approach to mental health, gender politics, and the personal and collective identities we create”.

This double track overlaps with Izzy and her friend reading Lucy’s memoir which just so happens to be on hand.  While the subject matter may seem intensely depressing, there are many quips to keep the mood lighter than probable.  Humor is used defensively as in “Xanax o’clock, my favorite time!”  Izzy is particularly self-deprecating:  “I guess dressing as a Goth seven year old isn’t hot”.  She does want to be taken seriously.  “I don’t want to come off as some spoiled pageant brat”.

The tonal shifts can be jarring given the intention to illuminate narratives about how the mental condition of women has been considered over the centuries.  So-called groundbreaking work on hysteria from 1882 coexists with outpatient electroshock therapy.  The messaging is consistent about the physical and emotional mistreatment of these women by examining the worlds in which they inhabit.

Three authors and two contributors have crammed a lot of plot into their piece.  The play touches on too many hot button issues including race, social media, sexuality and drug abuse.  One of the flippantly light spots teaches the concept of “subbing”.  Taking medication under the tongue increases the potency.  Then the joke:  “Twice the taste in half the time for the psycho on the go!”

The shifting time periods and moods undercut the play’s clarity.  Scenes change frequently often hurting the ability to absorb a storyline.  Consequential mental health issues are both dramatized for their life and death significance as well as considered for a story in Teen Glamour magazine.  The play also has to wrap up two endings and tie them together.  It does that with last minute subplots.

#SoSadSoSexy has an interesting conceit which is overwhelmed by an excess of ideas and rapid changes in focus.  The disturbing irony, however, is unique and edgy.  Izzy’s pronouncement makes the point clear.  “I’m the first girl to publicly document her slow death on Instagram.  I’m gonna be famous”.  When this material finds its main voice (or two), the mission to analyze a serious topic will be further realized.

#SoSadSoSexy produced by Tapestry Collective is performing at Off-Off Broadway’s artistic incubator The Tank through March 26, 2022.  The show is also available for livestreaming.

www.thetanknyc.org

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7 Minutes (HERE Arts Center)

The workers in the spectacularly realized play 7 Minutes are facing a crisis.  Their Connecticut textile factory has just been sold.  The elected representatives of their union council have been called to a meeting.  A decision awaits.

You enter the theater and seating is on all four sides of the room.  This is the employee’s break area.  You-Shin Chen’s scenic design is perfect.  This is not a cushy conference room but instead an assemblage of assorted tables and chairs.  Music intended to create a feeling of anxiety plays.  Tension lies ahead.

Ten women (including gender non-conforming folx) are clearly on edge.  Linda has been in a meeting for over three hours with “ten suits” and has not yet returned.  She is their spokesperson.  They represent two hundred people employed by this successful company.  Linda is meeting with the new owners, some of whom are foreign investors.  The number one worry is what will happen to their livelihood.

When Linda finally arrives after nearly four hours, she brings news.  Management and their lawyers have a very specific proposal.  The council has only ninety minutes to vote.  Some view the choice as a simple one; others do not.  Eavesdropping on this debate is the fabric of this play.

The council members look like a broad spectrum of the American worker, including many immigrants.  Perspectives are varied so the depth of the conversation is engrossing and complicated.  How do you approach this decision from your point of view?  From your age?  From your personal responsibilities?

Each character has a distinct and recognizable voice.  Their interactions are vividly realistic from the good natured needling to the outright accusations.  The Linda role takes the position of emcee and provocateur.  Unfolding layers of individual realities emerge.  This decision may or may not be easy.  Opposing points of view is a quandary to be solved.  Or not.

Unfettered capitalism is the target of Stefano Massini’s play as was the case in his extraordinary The Lehman Trilogy.  The council is advised to think carefully.  So is the audience.  How would you vote and why?  Your own life experience will affect how you process the for or against alternatives.  Lehman Brothers is gone now but the legacy of strife between American workers and their employers (and government) continues.

Mirroring life, these people have diverse personalities.  One with a sense of humor notes that their worst nightmare is to be locked in a factory filled with pictures of her mother made by her mother.  Others are intense and describe the current environment as a “cesspool of a world”.  The seriousness of the situation is riveting:  “we are hacking ourselves to pieces just to save our skins”.

Mei Ann Teo’s meticulous direction has a riveting “you are there” feel.  The undulating physical movement through this breakroom nicely focuses attention on each speaker.  Their frame of reference makes the discussion compelling and richly complicated.  Where this play ends is anyone’s guess.  That’s the drama on display and it is a triumphant dissection of topics quite real and, for many, urgently important.

The eleven performances are terrific.  Each of them breathes life into the patchwork quilt that is our so-called melting pot.  You listen to those who are talking and observe those who are listening and reacting.  Along the way inner truths and ideas emerge.  They are not all easily digested by them or, by extension, us.  Having doubts may be a luxury compared to food on a table or medicine for a child.  7 Minutes is a superior piece of theater firmly planted in today’s America.

7 Minutes is being presented by Waterwell in association with Working Theater through April 9, 2022 at HERE Arts Center.

www.here.org

www.waterwell.org

www.theworkingrheater.org

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Sometime Child: a Reclamation and a Redemption

 

L-R: Walker Clermont, Liam Kyle McGowan. Photo by Jonathan Slaff.

On one side of the stage there is a tony law office with its desks, books and golf clubs.  The opposite side is a representation of a poor urban neighborhood.  Garbage litters the ground.  Stark contrasts between the “haves” and the “have nots” are on full display in the new play Sometime Child: a Reclamation and a Redemption.

John Stanley is a successful lawyer and a do-gooder.  He writes large checks for the unfortunate but steers clear of any physical contact such as attending a charity dinner.  His office straddles a sketchy part of town.  Despite his apparent wealth he parks his car a distance away to save on fees.  One evening his is mugged and beaten badly by two high school dropouts.

Clarence and Bobby are the products of severely broken homes.  Clarence is barely scraping by as a janitor in a hospital.  Bobby’s line of work “gets me lots of Benjamins”.  He is a petty thief and the boastful leader of this duo.  He seems satisfied with his life; surviving or thriving depending on the day.

Lawyer John lands in the hospital where Clarence works.  A tentative rapport begins to develop between them.  He gives Clarence the book Moby Dick to read at home.  While the selection of that Melville novel seems wildly farfetched due to its infamously complex prose, the relationship organically meshes as they bond over the novel.  The character of Queequeg becomes a catalyst for discussing race.  The evolving chemistry between the actors Stephan Morrow and the younger Walker Clermont is first-rate.

As you might expect, there is a generational divide between them besides their socioeconomic differences.  John describes his nurse (Irma Cadiz) as a “combination of Nurse Ratchett and Hot Lips Houlihan”.  It’s hard to imagine Clarence having any idea what he is talking about.  The cultural gap may be wide but the two find some common ground.  This purposeful tale progresses to one in which empathy and communication are proffered as a pathway to meaningful change.

A Teen Chorus is employed to comment on the action.  They follow the tribulations of Clarence and Bobby and demonstrate how older role models influence the community both positively and negatively.  They “read” headlines which define their world and its overwhelming challenges.  The chorus is lightly goofy and humorous.  What seems silly and ridiculous at first progresses into a charming device to keep the story from becoming heavy handed and also relatable to a younger audience.

Richard Bruce’s play is certainly commenting on our inequitable society.  What makes this story compelling is its focus on demonstrating the power of an individual’s capacity to reach across the divide.  On both sides.  There is a beautifully realized section commenting on our various English dialects that nails the point firmly.

The storyline contains interesting twists and turns which not only propel the plot forward but also provide challenging opportunities for character growth.  I saw a multi-million dollar Broadway show about race and circumstance the night before I saw Sometime Child.  This off-off Broadway production was far more emotionally engaging and clearly had a point of view.

Director Morrow (who is also the lawyer) nicely balances the tonal shifts of Mr. Bruce’s thoughtful piece.  The Greek chorus could be integrated even further into the production.  They sit on the sidelines with repetitive entrances and exits.  There are a number of set changes in which they could be employed to physically intermingle and more directly underscore the well articulated messages of this play.  All four of them were amusing, however, and Ciara Chanel Allen was a particular standout.

The story arc was effective due to excellent performances by Walker Clermont as Clarence and his two main points of contact.  His two central relationships with troubled Bobby (Liam Kyle McGowan) and the aggressively helpful John Stanley (Mr. Morrow) are soundly rendered and expand fittingly.

The opening and ending scenes are slightly clunky to kick things off and wrap them up but the goals for this philosophical narrative are clearly realized in this staging.  In a world where solutions seem impossible, Sometime Child exists to inspire and provoke.

Sometime Child: A Reclamation and a Redemption is running at the Theater for the New City through March 27, 2022.

www.theaterforthenewcity.net