Search Curtainup
SITE GUIDE
REVIEWS
REVIEW ARCHIVES
ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP
FEATURES
NEWS
Broadway
Off-Broadway
NYC Restaurants
BOOKS and CDs
OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Philadelphia
Elsewhere
QUOTES
TKTS
PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS
LETTERS TO EDITOR
FILM
LINKS
MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
A CurtainUp Review
Buzzer
By Elyse Sommer
|
Gentrification =
"the buying and renovation of houses and stores in deteriorated urban neighborhoods by upper- or middle-income families or individuals, thus improving property values but often displacing low-income families and small businesses." We are gentrifiers. . ."— Jackson, who sees being part of the gentrification of the neighborhood where he grew up as a triumphant return as well as a good investment. |
Michael Stahl-David, Tessa Ferrer, and Grantham Coleman (Photo: Joan Marcus)
|
Real estate is as sexy a topic for high drama as well. . .sex. That's especially true when that drama revolves around the changing profile of an American inner city neighborhood.
Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 Raisin in the Sun memorably dramatized a black family's not so easy move into an all-white Chicago neighborhood. In 2012, Bruce Norris won a well-deserved Pulitzer for Clybourne Park, his terrifically clever update of Hansberry's play. He took us back to the neighborhood Hansberry's Younger family pioneered but which, like many others, went through some hard times after going from lily white to more integrated. In his second act Norris fast forwarded to the present when gentrification was again changing the neighborhood — and again was accompanied by new issues.
Ms. Scott Wilson's Buzzer lacks the completely believable cast of characters populating Raisin . . . and Clybourne Park. It also pushes too many hot buttons, and too schematically so, to really pull us in emotionally. But like Joel Drake Johnson's also imperfect Rasheeda Speaking, it's an intriguing addition to the conversation about difficulties still lingering in the "post-racial" society that elected an African-American president.
Ms. Wilson has first-hand knowledge of life in rough as well as gentrified urban areas. She grew up in Newark, NJ before its more recent turnaround. She's also lived in gentrified Crown Heights, Brooklyn. For various reasons her familiarity with all aspects of newly livable neighborhoods have made her keenly aware of how complicated our post-racial lives still are.
To explore and explode these still unresolved problems, Wilson has created an interesting, if not totally plausible ménage à trois drama. She's set it in a large, newly converted apartment in a ghetto neighborhood still in the early stages of gentrification.
Jackson (Grantham Coleman), the apartment owner, is an ambitious black lawyer. He's a ghetto kid who made the leap into upward mobility through scholarships at top schools. He sees his return to the neighborhood he grew up in as a great investment as well as a way of giving back and belonging as he never did.
Suzy (Tessa Ferrer), the white girl friend Jackson hooked up with in college, is an inner city school teacher more interested in educating other young Jacksons than corporate success; which makes him sure she'll be willing to move in with him and up to dealing with the still in flux neighborhood. Since she loves him and is smitten by the spacious, handsomely appointed apartment, getting her to move in is an easy sell. That's not the case when it comes to agreeng to having Don (Michael Stahl-David), Jackson's best friend since prep school, stay with them to recover from his latest bout with drug addiction. Her reluctance is exacerbated by her own history with Don.
But agree Suzy does. And, improbable as this roommate set-up is, it effectively allows the playwright to open her Pandora's Box of knotty questions about belonging in one's work or home place, loyalty and betrayal.
Along with the tensions that flare up and escalate inside the apartment, there's a subplot about the danger lurking in the still scary street scene as symbolized by that broken buzzer. The cell phone to which Jackson is so attached also brings on one brief intimation about a cloudy undercurrent in the American Dream career.
Jackson actually has a lot in common with Amir, another fictional lawyer, this one in Ayad Akhtar's 2013 Pulitzer winning Disgraced . The buried insecurities beneath the Pakistani-born Amir's relationship with his wife and close friends start erupting at a dinner party. Similarly problems with Jackson's decision to invest in his old neighborhood, commit himself to Suzy and help his old buddy once more surface as soon as they all move in. The knots in the triangular relationship driving this drama are clearly meant to parallel the unspoken pro and con aspects of gentrification.
The play's single act is built around scenes which, under Anne Kauffman's pacey direction, meld together through quick, at times overlapping, conversations. The hyper-kinetic pace is well supported by the stage craft, especially the work of the scenic and lighting designers, Laura Jellinek and Matt Frey. Jallinek's uncluttered scenic design evokes the spaciousness and amenities of the apartment with a series of walls at one side. At one point there's a stunning visual surprise to support the Pinteresque menace of the outside world.
All three actors ably tackle the prickly question of which of their characters really fits into this transitioning neighborhood. For Jackson what starts as a smart move turns out to be anything but, forcing him to face unwelcome truths about his relationship with both Don and Suzy. For Suzy, the still dicey neighborhood kicks up feelings of racial distrust as well as a long-ago sexual attraction to Don.
That leaves the screwed-up Don, who as a teenager spent two years living with Jackson and his mom, the one who knows how to deal with and understand the "hood" guys threatening Jackson and Suzy's equilibrium. Not only is Don the play's most fully developed character, but Michael Stahl-David 's performance is also the most dynamic.
Buzzer comes to the Public after two previous productions at Chicago's Goodman Theatre and Pillsbury House Theatre of Minneapolis. It's flaws notwithstanding, its being economical to mount and timely, will undoubtedly see it produced elswhere.
Following are links to Tracey Scott Wilson's previous plays at the Public Theater: The Story and The Good Negro
Note: This is a 3-charater play even though the program includes Brett Diggs as a cast member in the walk-on role of a tenant named Brian.
|
Buzzer by Tracey Scott Wilson Directed by Anne Kauffman Cast: Grantham Coleman (Jackson), Tessa Ferrer (Suzy), and Michael Stahl-David (Don) Brett Diggs (Brian) Sets:Laura Jelinek Costumes:Clint Ramos Lights: Matt Frey Sound: Bray Poor Fight director: David J. Brimmer Stage Manager:Luke Anderson Rnning Time: 90 Minutes, no intermission Public's Martinson Theater 420 Lafayette Street From 3/24/15; opening 4/08/15; closing 4/26/15 Reviewed at April 4th press matinee |
|
REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V): Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email. . .also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review. For a feed to reviews and features as they are posted add http://curtainupnewlinks.blogspot.com to your reader Curtainup at Facebook . . . Curtainup at Twitter Subscribe to our FREE email updates: E-mail: esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.com put SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message. If you can spare a minute, tell us how you came to CurtainUp and from what part of the country. |
|
Book of Mormon -CD