River City Players put on thought-provoking piece

The odds were against the River City Players in putting on their latest production.

Valuable weeks were shaved off preparation time, and the community theater group was working with a cast almost completely new to its River City Yacht Club stage.

Despite the odds, the Players have come through with a strong production, full of strong actors, that is at times thought-provoking, alarming and even fun.

The Players' newest production is called "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" -- an episodic play that deals with the life and thoughts of pioneering black playwright Lorraine Hansberry through excerpts from her plays and personal correspondence.

Hansberry was the first black woman in America to have a play produced on Broadway, the racially charged "A Raisin in the Sun." That was 1959, just when the civil rights movement in America was about to explode.

Given that history, patrons of this new Players production can expect something much different than the usual light dramas, musical reviews and farces the Players are known for.

Nor will they see the familiar faces that usually make up the Players casts. Instead audiences will get a serious work full of fresh faces and a change from the usual.

The members of the eight-person ensemble cast, made up of Players both black and white, change characters from scene to scene, creating little vignettes that tell the story of black America and one of its artistic champions at a time of great change.

The writing is excellent, and the performances are passionate. Each cast member alternates from emotions that are sometimes joyous, angry and introspective.

The action takes place against a minimal set of a black hole surrounded by rectangles, never changing, pushing the focus to the cast and the message.

Hansberry herself comes through in the characters played by 9-year-old Taylor Dumars, Toni Pearson, Robin Phelps and Judy Pratcher -- all dressed in white and red, the colors of purity and passion.

They do an amazing job at portraying the fear and fury of growing up black in an America where black was bad.

Victor Reese channels the anger better than anyone else, playing an array of young black men -- from slave to breadwinner -- with amazing intensity.

The message of the play isn't just one of white guilt, though. Through Hansberry's characters, the audience also sees the racial self-loathing of a middle-class black child being ridiculed by the ghetto children. There's also the misogyny evident in the relationships between men women of all colors.

No, "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" isn't the Players' typical production, but by going out on a limb the group produced an excellent piece that will keep audiences thinking about its message for a long time after the house lights come back up.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182