Race, Sexism and a Play for Power

Trouble in Mind – TimeLine Theatre

Add one more name to the growing list of notable, adept African-American playwrights from earlier decades whose words still resonate today. Alice Childress may be an unfamiliar name to most theatergoers, but she made her mark as an actress, a novelist and an important playwright during the late 1940’s through the 1980’s. Ms Childress was a founding member of the American Negro Theatre, where “Trouble in Mind” had its Off-Broadway debut in 1955. However, despite the play being a critical and audience success, when producers showed interest in a transfer to Broadway, Alice Childress refused to kowtow to their demands. They wanted her to tone down the play’s volatile final moments, in order to make the story more pleasant and enjoyable for a commercial production. Ironically, this is precisely the point of Childress’ play.

In Ron OJ Parson’s scintillating production of this important play about race and sexism, we examine these problems head-on, as seen within the microcosm of the backstage theatre world. It’s 1957 New York City, and a new, fictional anti-lynching drama entitled “Chaos in Belleville” is about to go into rehearsal for its Broadway debut. Coarse, clueless Hollywood director Al Manners (an ironic name, since the man lacks any idea of polite social behavior) has been tasked with the job of bringing this play to life. The megalomaniac hides his bias and aggression toward everyone he considers to be lower on the creative ladder, especially toward his leading lady, by showering them with insincere flattery and flirtation. 

Manners has brought on board Wiletta Mayer, a legendary African-American actress with whom he’s worked before. She’ll play the leading role of the Mother in this drama. He’s also cast longtime Black character actor, Sheldon Forrester in the role of the Father; and, making his Broadway debut, young John Nevins, will portray their son. His character is at the heart of the “Chaos in Belleville,” having sparked trouble with the small-town Southern white citizenry by exercising his newly-given right to vote. Rounding out the African-American cast is Millie Davis, a pretty, passionate young actress who, like everyone in the cast, needs this job to pay the bills.

In addition, the company of “Chaos in Belleville” includes two Caucasian characters. A veteran of theatre, film and television daytime dramas, Bill O’Wray, is a middle-aged actor who is continually in need of everyone’s approval. The ingenue role in the play-within-the-play is being portrayed by Judy Sears, a newbie actress from an affluent family, fresh out of Yale Drama School. Al Manners is aided by his young, enthusiastic assistant director/stage manager, Eddie Fenton, and the theater in which the cast is rehearsing is ruled over by Henry, a sweet, slightly senile Irishman who is as endearing as he is hardworking.

The four Black characters represent a long line of African-American actors and musical performers who have, for years, struggled to survive in a predominately Caucasian-run show business. They’ve endured racial discrimination, belittling and stereotypical roles for as long as anyone can remember. “Chaos in Belleville,” touted as a turning point in portraying racial realism in the theatre, is simply just another racist and sexist play that will eventually prove to be the last straw for actress Wiletta Mayer. As this rehearsals begins, the Black actors remind one another, and endeavor to instruct newcomer John Nevins, that it’s to their advantage to just smile and nod at whatever is said by their White coworkers, especially their overbearing director. 

As the read-through gets underway, Manners is hard-pressed not to show his true colors. Although the play is set in 1957, when the Civil Rights Movement was being championed by the likes of activist Dorothy Irene Height and the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., the theatre world is showing very little change. The characters in this new play are all Mammies and Uncle Tom caricatures, with the Father sitting and whittling a stick for the entire play and the Black servant girl constantly exclaiming, “Lord have mercy.” But when Wiletta learns that the Mother she’s portraying has been written to simply give her son up to a lynching mob, the actress has had enough and has to speak her mind. The director constantly tells her to “find your motivation” but Wiletta can’t find any reason on earth why a mother would offer her child up to be dragged away and innocently put to death.

Shariba Rivers, who dazzled audiences in Raven’s “Hoodoo Love” and Paramount’s “Sweat,” is once again spectacular as Wiletta Mayer. She tries explaining rationally to Al Manners, her narrow-minded director, just how horrible she feels about playing this role as it’s callously written. But instead of provoking understanding or guilt at what the playwright has created, Wiletta angers Manners to the point of a violent, uncontrollable rage. Al Manners is brilliantly played by Tim Decker, last seen at TimeLine in “Spill.” The electrifying chemistry that sizzles between Ms Rivers and Mr. Decker points up their characters’ inability to effectively communicate to each other. The scene becomes a bloodshed battleground. Because of the audience’s close proximity to the action, it’s as if all the frustration and fury being hurled about the stage is also directed at us. We feel both Wiletta’s defeat and resentment, while we can also understand Manners’ anger when he screams, “People think it’s wonderful to be white.” No one in the rehearsal room can fully comprehend all that he’s had to endure to get to this place in life.

While Manners continues to patronize and shame his cast, he displays his frustration at having to be politically correct with his Black actors. With two undeserving bystanders, Al Manners all but sweeps them into a corner. He belittles and screams relentlessly at his poor, undeserving (if somewhat naive and clueless) stage manager, Eddie. The role is earnestly played Adam Shalzi, a talented young actor who stood out in Steppenwolf’s “Lord of the Flies” and Organic’s “The Diviners.” And kindly, accommodating Henry, the theater doorman and custodian, finds Manners’ temper tantrums and tirades to be far too insulting and inexcusable. Charles Stransky brings just the right balance of realistic hospitality and humanity to Henry, while nicely mastering a charming Irish dialect and the hint of an old man beginning to show his age.

The supporting cast are all excellent. Kenneth D. Johnson is touching as Sheldon Forrester. The monologue he delivers in which the actor confesses that he was witness to a lynching, back when he was a little boy, is heartbreaking. Tarina J. Bradshaw, seen recently in Raven Theatre’s “The Last Pair of Earlies,” is saucy and sensational as Millie Davis. This talented actress with the winning smile often provides the comic relief in Childress’s play. And making his TimeLine debut, Vincent Jordan is a charismatic and appealing John Nevins. Jordan was a hit as both Chuck Berry and Maurice White, in two musical revues at Black Ensemble Theater. Hopefully we’ll be seeing a lot more of this gifted actor in the future. 

Jordan Ashley Grier, who was recently seen in Court Theatre’s “Arsenic and Old Lace,” also beautifully directed by Ron OJ Parsons, starts out as a sweetly simple and sincere Judy Sears; but by Act II, she has begun to understand and empathize with the pain felt by her African-American cast-mates. And character actor Guy Van Swearingen, a founder and familiar face at A Red Orchid Theater, has appeared on nearly every Chicago area stage. He makes his TimeLine debut appearance as an often employed New York actor who, despite never wanting for work, is always filled with insecurities.

This production is made all the more authentic by Christine Pascual’s beautiful, well-tailored period costumes. Caitlin McLeod’s sparse, but utilitarian 3/4-round scenic design brings the action to within inches of the audience. Enjoy all the posters of past New York shows that are on display. Notice, too, how all the headshots decorating the backstage wall are only famous White actors who’ve supposedly appeared at this Manhattan theatre. While some of the acting choices are as showy and melodramatic as the characters in the play-within-the-play, that may be overlooked as this production delivers its relevant theme. 

To be sure, Alice Childress’ nearly-forgotten play boldly attacks the age-old problems of racism, sexism and the overreaching play for power that were prevalent in the 1950’s. But, as we soon come to realize, these same situations are still occurring today. And, although the theatre has made some big advances in the past two years, with the Black Lives Matters and the Me Too Movement, there’s still a long way to go.

Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented November 9- December 18 by TimeLine Theatre Company, 615 W. Wellington Ave., Chicago.

Tickets are available in person at the box office, by calling 773-281-8463 or by going to www.timelinetheatre.com.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.