When I Think of Home
Playwright Lynn Nottage is presently enjoying an abundance of riches.
Last spring her period drama Intimate Apparel made its New York debut to considerable acclaim and quite a few awards, including best play from the New York Drama Critics Circle and the Outer Critics Circle.
Now, just as that show is ending its run, her new play, Fabulation, Or the Re-Education of Undine is making its world premiere at Playwright’s Horizons.
While both plays center around the lives of Black women facing adverse circumstances in New York City, and drew their inspiration from Nottage’s family background or personal observations, there are few other similarities. Intimate Apparel was a dark, brooding portrayal of one woman’s loneliness and yearning at the turn of the 20th Century, but Fabulation soars as a fast-paced comedic jab at contemporary African American “buppie” culture and the pitfalls of forgetting ones roots.
Nottage displays deft skills in capturing both realistic characters and authentic dialogue, and under Kate Whoriskey’s direction and the splendid work of a mostly ensemble cast, they are displayed to their satiric best.
Charlayne Woodard stars as Undine Barnes Calles (with a spanish pronunciation on the last name), a high-powered public relations exec who specializes in splashy social events with A-list guests. As the play opens, she is married to Herve, a swarthy Argentinean who swept her off her feet at a party one night, giving her access to a higher class of people at a time when she was dating a gangsta rapper.
But Herve absconds with all of her money, leaving her penniless and pregnant. With her business in free fall and her bourgie friends abandoning her right and left, what’s a woman to do? Go crawling back across the river to the Brooklyn projects where she grew up and a family she hasn’t seen in 14 years. Home may not be an easy place for her to live, but it sure does lead to funny moments.
The re-education of Undine is precipitated by the fact that Undine has completely re-created herself. Nottage says she was inspired by a magazine profile of National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, where she was left with the impression Rice was willing to give up anything to get what she wanted in life.
The reality of Undine’s new life smacks her upside the head at every turn: family members with unfulfilled dreams; old neighborhood friends in the same place they were when she left; drug pushers in the hood; the welfare beauracracy, and the various personalities she meets in a substance abuse counseling session.
Woodard has a history of playing highly emotional characters whose boundless energy is barely contained below the surface and she’s just delightful to watch. She rides the humor and the pain Undine experiences.
But she is also surrounded by a bunch of gifted performers who handle the enormous task of playing several characters, and they all play them superbly. Melle Powers, Stephen Kunken, Daniel Breaker, Robert Montano, Myra Lucretia Taylor, Saidah Arrika Ekulona, and Keith Randolph Smith are the collective co-stars of this show.
Scenic designer Walt Spangler makes optimal use of the intimate 96 seat Peter Jay Sharp Theater space. Located on the fourth floor of Playwrights Horizons’ one year old home on W. 42d Street, it is a beautiful place to see a play.
Fabulation runs until July 2.
Posted by bernie at June 14, 2004 12:25 AMTrackBack