The time is now… and then. The place is Georgia… and elsewhere. It’s an intense drama with moments of humor — creative, unusual uses of dance (haircut, chained rhythms — choreography Marsae Mitchell) — all weaving a complex and intimate tapestry of Civil War history, masculinity, homophobia, and the love between a queer Black kid and his father.
Director Gary Anderson has brought this rolling premiere of Terry Guest’s new script to Williamston Theatre, gathering an excellent cast of four. The wonderfully engaging Stefon Funderburke is the son, loving/fearing his father, well played as an understandable villian/hero by Scott Norman (with a funny but unnerving interlude where he also portrays the cop father of his son’s white friend.) Timothy Hackbarth is excellent as the white friend/more-than-friend shaped by his own history. Jesse Boyd-Williams shines/haunts as “Apparition” bringing to life strong visions of the past.
The set is a ruinous but beautiful old house rising out of a Georgia swamp (Scenic Design by Jennifer Maiseloff; Lighting Design by Becca Bedell. Swamp sounds and a little water based mist add literally and figuratively to the atmosphere.
This was a matinee audience, not the youngest crowd in the world, but still we came slowly and sincerely to our feet at the moving climax of this play. One can only wonder about the “Part 1” tag to this title. Will there be a “Part II”? Have we/can we evolve/improve/accept...?
This touching and thought-provoking play continues through November 6. See it — ALL of it, now unobstructed by the pesky support poles that have been expensively replaced by new support from above.
Tickets/info at http://williamstontheatre.org