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| Yetide Badaki, Christopher Lombard, Roger Bridges |
By Joe Straw
Growing up in the south, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that
because my skin was brown, that I needed to work a little harder to overcome
the silent racial hatred of my white counterparts and their parents. As a family we were excluded from a lot of
things simply because of our skin color. They didn’t come out and say “We hate you.”
They just ignored us. I have a sister
and a brother whose skin color is white so while we were together people just
stared at us and didn’t say anything. In some people, hate fills the cavernous
empty recesses of their souls and to this day I can’t figure out why. - Narrator.
I love going back to the Hudson Mainstage Theatre. Except the part when you’re running across
Santa Monica Boulevard dodging cars traveling at breakneck speeds. The rushing
traffic coming east to west and west to east is always moving at a fast clip
and you want to shout in both directions: “I’m walkin’ here!” But they won’t
stop, they don’t see you, and they don’t want to see you.
Funny, it’s similar to the way African Americans were
treated in the south in the 1960’s; they don’t see you, and they don’t want to
see you.
Upward Bound Productions presents The Good Negro by Tracey
Scott Wilson directed by Michael Phillip Edwards and produced by Sam Nickens. The Good Negro is a fantastic play with
engaging performances that sets you right in the heart of 1962 Alabama.
There are two casts for this production. There is the red cast and the blue cast. I happened to be at the opening night of the
blue cast, but there was a problem, one member of the blue cast didn’t show up,
or was sick, or had a paying job.
Nevertheless there was a sort of an infiltration, an outsider, stepping
in and taking over his duties. It
shouldn’t be too hard, same words, different actor, and same blocking. Or, does it make a difference?
James Lawrence (Rodger Bridges), a small time minister, currently
in Alabama in 1962, is in a predicament.
He is a minister without a cause and frankly his parishioners are
getting fed up, with they way they are being treated, and the way they are
forced to live their lives.
“I know there are many of you out there who are tired. Tired of being called names, tired of being
beaten, tired of water hoses and dog, tired of loving in the face of hate.” –
James
Suddenly James Thomas Rowe (Tyson Turrou) grabs Claudette
Sullivan (Keiana Richard) and her daughter (not seen) for using the white
restroom. A sales lady has taken her
daughter away and Rowe, with a fake badge, is making a citizen’s arrest.
Rowe then beats Claudette until the police (Peter Rothbard
and Christoff Lombard) arrive. After a
brief harsh questioning of Rowe, the police turn around and question Claudette,
beat her, and then take her into
custody.
James Lawrence, the minister, now has a cause. But he needs
help. He enlists Bill Rutherford (Stephen
Grove Malloy) from Geneva for support. Rutherford is extremely organized,
something that his other partner Henry Evans (Geno Monteiro) is not.
Henry Evans is immediately threatened by Rutherford. And he
takes issues at Rutherford’s aggressive actions of getting things done starting
with the vetting of Claudette Sullivan. Rutherford
lets them in on additional information that the European investors will not
invest in the south with all of the turmoil.
“Violence is bad for business. Bad business will end segregation.” -
Rutherford
Corinne and James Lawrence invite Bill Rutherford to their
home for a piece of cake and Corinne and Bill hit it off just fine. But, there’s
a hint of tension between Corinne and James.
James is not coming home at his prescribed times and is not calling. And
Corinne has some choice words about his partner, Henry, and his tactics.
Meanwhile, the FBI has been secretly listening in on their
conversation. Steve Lane (Peter
Rothbard), and Paul Moore (Christoff Lombard) are collecting information via wiretapping.
Moore is a know it all misogynistic agent who doesn’t find it necessary to take
notes.
“In parentheses tell the Old Man she’s hot piece of ass. Not that he’s
interested in the female ass.” – Paul
The Old Man they reference is J. Edgar Hoover, head of the
FBI.
Later Claudette speaks with her husband Pelzie (Kevontay
Jackson) about needing something more to life.
She wants to speak to the people who posted her bail as a repayment.
Pelzie doesn’t like her fooling around with those things, that it will put all
of their lives in danger.
Later, FBI agents Steve and Paul confront Rowe. They tell him it’s against the law to
impersonate a police officer. But they have other things on their mind; they
want Rowe to infiltrate the Klan and collect information.
Meanwhile Rutherford and Henry meet with Pelzie to get an
ideal of what the family is like. Rutherford
is thinking out loud, this is not the case.
These people live in a shack and the press may not buy what they are
selling. Henry disagrees.
“That’s how the Negroes around her live. It’s a house.” – Henry
“Is that how the paper will see it, Henry?” – Rutherford.
Henry is incensed at the way Rutherford spoke to Pelzie. They
tell him that Pelzie is backwoods. But
James is not convinced and wants to know about Pelzie’s finer points.
“He got all his teeth? Does he eat with his hands? Drink?
Jail? What?” - James
“No jail. Never been to
jail. No drink. And he’s got all his teeth, Jimmy.” – Henry
They tell Rutherford they had a case in Tennessee once, a
black woman drinking for a white fountain, but she was a bad Negro.
“She had two kids out of wedlock, cursed like a sailor, daddy was
drunk. How could we… build a movement around her?” - James
James and Henry decide this case isn’t about Pelzie, it’s
about Claudette and her baby, he feels she been vetted enough and runs to speak
with her. But, Pelzie doesn’t like the idea, that it’s too dangerous. Claudette
says they will think about it.
Meanwhile we get a sense that “Saint James” (my quotes) is
not the saint he appears to be. Rutherford
comes to Corinne’s house looking for James. Corinne is visibly upset thinking James
has been killed. But Rutherford, obviously lying, says he left the meeting
early and because it was late he figured that James got back home by now.
“When he gets back from the meeting at your house I’ll tell him you came
by.” – Corinne
The interesting idea in Tracey Scott Wilson’s play, The Good
Negro, is that all of these characters are searching for that one person that
will give them their cause. But while
they are looking, the characters, in the course of the play, lead less than
flattering lives themselves. It’s hard to find a good person when, in reality, each
character has a devil parked outside on their right shoulder. James is a womanizer, Henry is mistrustful and
an accessory to James indiscretions, Rutherford has visions of grandeur no
matter the cost, and Charlotte is complicit in dalliance with James. It all
makes for a wonderful play.
Michael Phillip Edward, the director, kept the action moving
at a fine pace. It was opening night
this night and things didn’t work out according to plan. I suspect the show is
in a finer shape now after a few shows under their belts.
I do have a note.
“NOTE: The more fluid the action
the better. No blackouts between scenes
and there should be few set changes.
Split scenes should be used as often as possible.” – A note in the play
– author unknown.
Michael Phillip Edwards, the director, ignored the note
because there was this lovely stage hand, dressed in black, coming onto the
stage, putting down a bench, coming back on and taking the bench off, again and
again, interrupting repeatedly, ad infinitum.
For the love of God, leave the bench there for the entire play.
Okay, that’s off my chest.
To make a note in a more serious vein, the action of
character purpose was tepid. We got
slight touches when we should have had a lustful embrace. We got a speech about
a child when we should have had rousing coming of the mind. We had a farmer
wanting to give a speech when he should have jumped in front of the microphone
and gave it. These are the little things
that make great impressions and give theatre life.
Still, there were delightful moments all around with exceptional
acting from the blue cast.
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| L to R Peter Rothbard, Christoff Lombard, Tyson Turrou |
Roger Bridges as
James Lawrence has a really nice look as does some fine work. On this
particular night there were many interruptions. Bridges may have jumped the gun because the
timing was slightly off with a member of the red cast inserted this night. And
while Bridges was exceptional as the minister, as the womanizer he was
tepid. Still there were a lot of fine
moments during his performance.
Stephen Grove Malloy
was exceptional as Bill Rutherford, the minister from Geneva. Malloy was the
substitute from the red cast and managed to rise to the occasion on this
particular night. As the character he
had evenness about him, a man who could come in and get the job that needed to
be done, done. But as a minister, his shortcoming was public speaking, not good
for a minister trying to rally the masses. But even though he has control
issues, he is able to rise above his faults.
On this particular night he got the audience singing along with him.
Wonderful job.
 |
| L to R Stephen Grove Malloy, Phredetic Semaj, Al Garrett |
Kevontay Jackson
as Pelzie Sullivan also has a nice look. As Sullivan he is strictly country in
his manner and in the way he speaks. The
other characters don’t know how he got his wife which was what I thought was
lacking in his character. He is to be
completely different in character and deed that the others don’t understand why
he is with his pretty little wife, and there was little of that. In his objective he needs to find a way to
keep his wife. He sees his life with her
and his child slipping away. And there he is, a working class man, doing what
in his mind needs to be done. Nice job that needed a slight adjustment in the
extra touches to make his a fully fleshed character.
Christoff Lombard
had duel roles as the Policeman and Paul Moore. His rapid-fire delivery,
reminiscent of Dragnet, played to little effect. Moments and dialogue were lost
in his approach to the character and his relationship to his partner. And as
the character he needs to like his job a heck of a lot more and find a reason
for being in the room.
Geno Monteiro as
Henry Evans did an exceptional job as the minister and has an exception voice
in dialogue and song. As the character
he knows he is doing the right thing for the movement but in order to keep
moving in that direction he has to cover for his partner and there seems to be
a lot of covering up going on. But, he
is on the verge of losing his job, and he needs to find the ways to keep it, if
only to add another dimension to the character.
Keiana Richárd
does a nice turn as Claudette Sullivan. It is a very sympathetic
character. But while we feel the
hardships that she and her daughter endured we don’t lose sight that there is
something else on her mind. A way of
getting out, possibly of this relationship she is now in. But she doesn’t run too hard from her man and
she doesn’t run too fast from the man that is aggressively pursuing her. It’s difficult to know which way she is
leaning one way or the other. An added stronger choice to clear up the
relationship would only add to a fine performance.
Peter Rothbard
played the Policeman1 and Steve Lane. As
Steve Lane, the FBI agent who wasn’t as smart as his partner, held his own with
more rapid-fire delivery. I didn’t get
a sense of his objective. He wanted to
do a good job and was very diligent doing it, but there needed to be a higher
purpose.
Tyson Turrou as
Gary Thomas Rowe (Why do the bad guys always have three names?) is an
exceptional actor who has an incredible presence on stage. He grabs every
single moment of Wilson’s play and plays them to perfection. He is funny,
charming, and very sinister with a not so southernly charm about him.
Hillary Ward as
Corinne Lawrence also does a very fine job. While I got a sense of her purpose
she could have added a little more to make the role exceptional. Still she has a very nice look and performed
admirably.
Members of the Red Cast I did not see with characters in
parenthesis were Phrederic Semaj
(James Lawrence), Latarsha Rose (Claudette Sullivan), Darius Boorn (Gary Thomas Rowe), Kristopher
Lencowski (Steve Lane), Greg Winter (Paul Moore), Al Garrett (Henry Evans), Yetide Badaki (Corinne Lawrence) and Hawthorne
James (Pelzie Sullivan).
Nicely produced by Sam Nickens.
Other members of the crew were:
Stage Manager:
Tiffany Thomas
Assistant Director:
Phrederic Semaj
Assistant Stage Manager:
Arianna Del Rio, Ryan Murphy
Fight Coordinators:
Jan Bryant, Dan Speaker
Lighting Design: Joe
Morrisey
Sound Design: Joseph
Montiero
Costume Design: TJ
Walker
Set Design: Vali
Tirsoaga
Publicist: Phil Sokoloff
Marketing: Tamika
Lamison
Run! And take a
friend who enjoys the Civil Rights and their movement.
RESERVATIONS: (323) 960-7774.
ONLINE TICKETING: www.Plays411.com/goodnegro
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