Stick Fly
This is an extremely interesting and provocative play, exceedingly well directed and acted, presented on a fine stage by seasoned professionals, and a must see.
The program notes quotes Jill Nelson writing about her summer stays on Martha’s Vineyard, the setting for this play:
There was no need to be the exemplary Negro here, or to show white people that we were as good or better than they were, or to conduct ourselves as ambassadors for integration and racial harmony. For the months of summer, the weight of being race representative, and all the political, emotional, and psychic burdens that come with demanding an individual represent a non-existent monolith – was lifted.
In Stick Fly, a wealthy black family congregates at their vacation home on Martha’s Vineyard; the sons of the family bring their fiancées, one, although brilliant, is from a lesser socio/economic class; the other, a white social worker dealing with children from, the inner city. The banter is fast and furious as these brilliant personages’ debate, argue, and get to know one another, slowly revealing true feelings and identities. The second act brings a more serious turn, as family secrets are revealed and some characters find they have more in common with other member of the family than they could ever have imagined.
The entire cast is flawless, my favorite being John Wesley who plays the roguishly handsome and graceful patriarch aiming to control every aspect of the lives of his family. Michole Briana White as the upwardly mobile wife to be, pounds her ideas and opinions home with a relentless and physical intensity. Avery Clyde is flawless as the white chick determined to find a meaningful and fulfilling relationship in spite of, and because of difference in race. Chris Butler and Jason Delane complement each other as vastly divergent brothers seeking their way.
At some points in the evening I wished the pace might have been a bit slower, the ideas less hammered home with that driven intensity of a house on fire, and I felt the ending a bit forced with that moment of the father’s introspection, and the concluding self conscious avoidance of sentimental, but these are fine distinctions that can be debated for a long time while the reality of the experience is an actual triumph.
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Theater: The Matrix Theatre
Web Site: http://www.matrixtheatre.com/
Tickets: 323 960 7740
Dates: EXTENDED Through June 28, 2009.