![]() ![]() That passion serves a greater purpose too, helping the play feel less dated than it is. ![]() It’s in these moments, when Scott challenges his characters to defend their beliefs and convictions or anchors his story in vivid details, that the production feels purposeful. Or what feels like a throwaway comment from Lust about his mother that clarifies much of the character’s behavior earlier in the play. Take a particularly striking exchange between Happiness and Depression which reveals that they are more similar than they think. In those scenes, Scott burrows into the details. There are moments when the experimental drama nearly reaches its aimed-for degree of emotional vivacity. The play might have felt less rushed had he focused on fewer protagonists. And the number of issues Scott tries to tackle doesn’t help the cause. The conversations between the men rely on generalizations about how Black men are seen and treated in America without offering detailed enough backstories to prevent them from feeling stale. Although some of the monologues come off as clichéd, they hint at the potential within the characters, whose backstories seem ripe for excavation.īut Scott doesn’t tease out these narratives as forcefully as he can, and as a result, parts of Thoughts of a Colored Man feel flat despite the emphatic performances. Meeting them at different points in their respective routines - Depression restocking aisles Lust and Love chopping it up at the B43 bus stop on Tompkins and Fulton - gives us a sense of which kind of Brooklyn they occupy and gracefully supports the play’s thematic thread concerning gentrification. They introduce themselves one at a time through spoken word, rhymes and the occasional song. The play functions as a series of snapshots of the lives of the seven men, loosely connected by its setting in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Finally, there’s Wisdom (Esau Pritchett), a griot-type figure who runs a barbershop that doubles as a watering hole for the other men. They both grew up in the church, but Love is an understated hopeless romantic who scribbles poems in his free time while Lust seems to be in competition with himself to see how many women he can sleep with. Love (Dyllón Burnside) and Lust (Da’Vinchi) are two peas in a pod rarely do you see one without the other. He’s an engineering genius but doesn’t have the means or opportunity to prove it. Depression (an incredibly engaging Forrest McClendon) works at the new Whole Foods in the neighborhood to help support his mother and his younger brother. Passion (Luke James) is a teacher committed to his students and has a baby on the way. Anger (Tristan Mack Wilds, in a strong Broadway debut) lives in the shadow of an unrealized dream of playing professional basketball and coaches kids in the neighborhood for a living. ![]() We meet him on his morning jog as he takes in the sights, sounds and smells of his new Brooklyn neighborhood. Happiness (Bryan Terrell Clark) is a vision of upward mobility. The protagonists are archetypes of different Black men, sketches reflecting a broad range of experiences. Scott writes in a style, which he terms “ slam narrative,” that recalls Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls… (which will have its own Broadway revival in 2022). The simplicity of the set - designed by Robert Brill - belies the forthcoming narrative roller coaster. Thoughts of a Colored Man opens with little fanfare. It’s thrilling to see Broadway embrace more Black playwrights, but tardy diversity efforts only put more pressure on the works that do end up in front of an audience. There’s no doubt that part of my inner conflict concerns the hype around the show and its moment. Joining a lineup that includes Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu’s Pass Over, Douglas Lyons’ Chicken & Biscuits, Lynn Nottage’s Clyde’s and Dominique Morisseau’s Skeleton Crew, Scott stands in good company. Not only does this season represent a trepidatious return to theaters after nearly two years of a pandemic-mandated shutdown, but the inclusion of seven plays by Black playwrights reflects the impact of the national discourse on race in response to George Floyd’s murder. Broadnax III, premieres during a particularly exciting time on Broadway. American Playwriting Foundation to Give Out $10K Awards to WGA Members in Contest ![]()
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