Preview: "brownsville song (b-side for tray)" at Shotgun Players

Shotgun Players rehearsal photo by Jessica Palopoli

I don't often go to see previews of plays (I like to see them in their finished form), and I normally wouldn't write about one, but this one feels appropriate. We decided to go last night because a couple of friends of ours who also love theater were going, so we figured we could then discuss the play after, as we always do. And we have tickets to see the show later in the run, which means I can give it the full treatment later. And on top of all that, I had written about the staged reading of the play last year. So this gives me a chance to follow the development of this show from read to preview to full production in a way that is somewhat uncommon.

I will say that a lot of what I wrote about the play last year still holds. It's quite well-written, and now having seen both the entire length of the play (I missed the start of the reading!) and a more complete staging, I can appreciate some of the subtlety of playwright Kimber Lee's writing.

The Play

This is a family drama. Focused on grandmother Lena (Cathleen Riddley, reprising her role from the reading) and her two grandchildren, Tray (Davied Morales) and Devine (Mimia Ousilas), the plot line involves Tray's efforts to win a scholarship to college while trying to navigate the tough street life of Brownsville. In the course of the play we get to see both the fun, loving interactions of the characters and the hard, tough ones. Lena walks the line between encouraging the kids and laying down the law while dealing with her own fading memory and the emotions of her own experiences.

The wild card in the play is Merrell (Erin Mei-Ling Stuart), who is Devine's mother, but who has been out of the picture for some years in rehab. A lot of the tough bits deal with the reality of Merrell trying to reclaim some part of her life with a family she had abandoned. Watching the differences between Lena's and Tray's interactions with Merrell is particularly poignant.

Something I appreciate much more on seeing the play again is the way Lee weaves past and present into the flow of the narrative. We know from the outset that things will not end well for Tray, and by taking us back and forth between scenes in Tray's life and scenes after he's gone, we avoid the unrelenting descent into tragedy. Perhaps best of all, it gives the playwright and her characters the ability to both tell and show us things about Tray in ways that a straight narrative could not. I appreciate the nuances of this much more on this second viewing.

The Production

This being a preview, I won't go into too much depth about the production elements that will surely be changing over the course of the run. However, there are some items I want to draw attention to.

First, I really like the set design by Randy Wong-Westbrooke. Combined with Allen Willner's lighting, the set manages to hold Lena's apartment, the streets of Brownsville, the gym where Tray works out, and sometimes a Starbuck's. Other than the Starbuck's going on and off, everything else manages to just be there, and characters can transition between spaces nicely, so that scene changes are very smooth.

Another thing that strikes me is the emotional content of the play. Like much of life in Brownsville, the interactions in the play could be explosive, but director Margo Hall has done a terrific job of keeping the lid on, so things tend to simmer instead of boiling over. That taste of what it takes to get through life in Brownsville day by day without going ballistic is gripping. Lena's character in particular has so many opportunities where she could just lose it, but she has obviously learned that her survival (and that of her family) depends on her keeping it together. Similarly, Tray navigates the joy of playing with his little sister, the sullen teenage jousting with his grandmother, and the complex and difficult interactions with Merrell with difficulty. I'm really impressed with Morales's portrayal of Tray, and his ability to flow among those different kinds of interactions. I imagine that will only get stronger as the run of the play continues.

And since I've talked about everyone else, I should mention the last member of the cast, William Hartfield, who plays Junior. Although it is a small role, it is important, and his scenes with Tray and especially with Lena are keys to the whole story. He does a good job.

Bottom Line

I liked this play a lot when I read it and when I saw the staged reading. There is a lot of power in it, and in the hands of director Hall and a very strong cast, I think it will blossom. Mostly, I'm impressed with the way the play tells a very sad, tragic story, yet instead of leaving the audience feeling depressed and perhaps helpless, it tells the other side (the B-side, if you will) of the story: the story of hope and effort and perseverance and of living even a challenging life on one's own terms. It would be easy to define Tray's life by his tragic, untimely death, but instead, we understand that he is defined by how he lived and played and worked and aspired.

It's a very human story, and one that manages to uplift where we expect to be beaten down. I'm looking forward to seeing it again, as the cast refines their work and settles into their roles even more. It would be very easy to be put off by the premise of a story about the untimely death of a promising young man in the ghetto, but that's not the takeaway. It may be bleak at times, but there is life and goodness in this story.