PicksInSix Review: PASS OVER - Fleetwood-Jordain Theatre

Searing Performances Drive Poignant ‘PASS OVER’
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Ronald Keaton

There's a striking production of “Pass Over,” the tale of two lost souls trying to find their way, now playing in Evanston at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, produced by the Evanston-based company Fleetwood-Jordain Theatre, through August 10. Stylishly directed by their producing artistic director Tim Rhoze, this provocative story of two young men looking for their own kind of 'promised land' comes from the hand and heart of Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu, whose creative juices here have seen this play go through an original production at Steppenwolf in 2017; a film recording of one of those performances headed up by Spike Lee; and a Broadway premiere, complete with a new ending, in 2021. So, this piece already has a high pedigree of regard.

Two young Black men, Moses and Kitch, live in a depressed part of town (could be Chicago, could be any large city, really), wondering about their next meal, and dreaming of the future.  They try to list all their friends who have died at the hands of the police—only to realize there are so many, they simply can't list them all. And what hangs over their heads on their street corner is the stark reality that one or both of them could be next. The stakes for survival are almost impossibly high.

Yet they continue to fashion, in their minds and their conversation, a future that shines for them, that gives them pause whenever it comes up. Moses (arguably the stronger influence between the two, given a wonderful fleshing out by Tyshaun Meekie) is talked into initiating a game they apparently play daily, the ‘Promised Land Top Ten,’ one might call it. This time Moses counts off while Kitch (an almost innocent character through the fine skills of Tyrone Norwood, Jr.) tells what he looks for. Air Jordans, travel, a girlfriend, on and on he goes. Both young men play the game fully, and it's lighthearted and smart, and full of hope... a hope always tempered by the reality of their conditions.

The two are interrupted by an impossibly naive gentleman called Mister, whose pseudo Little Red Riding Hood attitude shows him with a basket of food, an awful sense of direction and a really bad knowledge of the ghetto. Later on, we see an entitled, angry white police officer who shakes the men down every chance he gets. Both roles are played by Tiemen Godwaldt in distinct and individual manners. Fun to watch.

There is a strong influence here from other literary sources, especially Samuel Beckett. The ghost of his classic “Waiting For Godot” shadows heavily here—not inappropriately by any means. But Kitch and Moses both share similar outlooks in their own 'waiting' for the sun to figuratively shine for them. The rapport between Mr. Meekie and Mr. Norwood is thick with camaraderie and familiarity. It has to be; the language in the play is just as thick and almost poetic in its idiosyncratic creation, with sharp and poignant airs in the exchange between them.

Mr. Rhoze deserves special mention here.  He has directed the play with a deft delicacy in recognizing the moments at hand. Much of the work seems almost improvised, a tribute to the actors and the director who allows them to ride it as far as they can. Mr. Rhoze also has created a sparse set with a streetlight as a focus and suggested cityscapes lining the background. It reflects the simplicity of the scene and belies the intense complications that these men face daily. Oh, and the title becomes a kind of reverie between Kitch and Moses. "Pass Over" takes on several different guises throughout—from being the escape from the neighborhood to a surprising exploration of slavery, and then to a proposed suicide pact between them. It's quite an eloquent study of the dreams that these young men conjure and what they might be willing to do to make them come true.

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | RONALD KEATON received an Equity Jeff Award for the performance of his one-man show CHURCHILL. www.solochicagotheatre.com  Coming soon, his new solo play “Teddy’s Last Ride.”

PHOTO|Basil Clunie

Fleetwood-Jordain Theatre
presents
PASS OVER

Noyes Cultural Center
927 Noyes Street
Evanston
though August 10

WEBSITE

Saturdays 7pm
Sundays 3pm

TICKETS

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC

PicksInSix Review: Joe Turner's Come and Gone - Goodman Theatre

Riveting Performances Drive Goodman’s “Joe Turner”
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Ronald Keaton

“A man forget his song, he forget who he is”… It was a line shared by Bynum Walker, a ‘conjure man’ whose awareness of life and people is reflected in Walker’s role as the compass, the conscience of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” the staggering August Wilson play now at the Goodman Theatre through May 19.  There are several themes that flow throughout the play, all expertly articulated by Mr. Wilson—the song inside us all, identity, search, discovery, prejudice, the effect of money, the comparison of status, the supernatural, on and on.  It quietly inspires us to follow on one hand, then forcefully repels us with its stark reality on slavery and its influence on culture and society.

The story is so thick and full of imagery that it’s a real challenge to distill its essence in this forum.  It ostensibly takes place in and around the steel mills of 1911 Pittsburgh, focusing on the boarding house of Seth Holly (an easy, yet riveting portrayal by Dexter Zollicoffer), who charges guests a weekly rate “up front” and works at turning scrap metal into dustpans; and his wife Bertha (an elegant and comforting TayLar), whose natural ease belies her character’s real moral center in the house. And there’s a cast of wide-ranging tenants and visitors, whose performers all deserve kudos.

There’s the aforementioned Bynum Walker (Tim Edward Rhoze is eloquent, rock-steady and takes Walker’s purpose into firm hands); Rutherford Selig (a stoic, wonderfully deadpan Gary Houston), a peddler and ‘peoplefinder’ who visits the house on Saturdays; Herald Loomis (a dynamic presence from A.C. Smith), whose life was forever altered by ‘Joe Turner’, being kept in slavery for seven years, and whose search for his wife is both heroic and tragic; Mattie Campbell (the wonderful Nambi E. Kelley), a woman waiting for her own man to come home, but who wants to find direction through the eyes of others; and Jeremy Furlow (Anthony Fleming III in a real star turn), playing guitar, romantically preying on women and fighting his bosses all the way to unemployment.

Then there’s Molly Cunningham (Krystel V. McNeil, in a strong rendering of a character with conflicting impulses), a single woman on her own road, whose huge strain of independence tempts all the men in the house; Martha Loomis (Shariba Rivers skillfully inhabits her with both a sense of obligation and a feeling of dread), Herald’s wife, who is finally found after all the years of separation; Zonia Loomis (a simply heartbreaking presence by Kylah Renee Jones), who has accompanied her father on this endless quest at the tender age of 11; and Harper Anthony (the charming Reuben Mercer), whose scenes with Zonia result in a first kiss and a realization of growing up.

The grand Goodman spirit Chuck Smith, an avid and long-supportive interpreter of Mr. Wilson’s cycle, directs this play like a symphony conductor, with all the crescendos and quiet moments we can witness, as well as displaying Mr. Smith’s own deep affection for the playwright’s words and thoughts.  The not-so-abstract and stylish set design by Linda Buchanan shows an authority in understanding what’s needed to help tell this complex story.  And here’s something I’d like to mention.  It takes a real professional to keep this moving so smoothly and to affect how an audience perceives it all; the production stage manager Mars Wolfe surely had Mr. Smith’s vision in hand like it was personal.  Exquisite work.

Finally.  We began our reaction here with a referral to song, that we create our lives (or should) with a message of some kind.  Mr. Wilson recognizes that our message is indeed a song inside us, waiting to come out and be recognized in a world that doesn’t always know to do that.  “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” is a truly extraordinary piece of theatre, of storytelling, of the song that resonates for all of us within the human spirit. 

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | RONALD KEATON received an Equity Jeff Award for the performance of his one-man show CHURCHILL. www.solochicagotheatre.com  Coming soon, his new solo play “Echo Holler.” www.echoholler.com

PHOTO|Liz Lauren

GOODMAN THEATRE
presents
August Wilson’s
Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

NOW EXTENDED
through May 19

TICKETS

WEBSITE

For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

ARCHIVE

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC