Review: BOOTYCANDY: Shock Therapy

Bootycandy

Written by Robert O'Hara, Directed by Summer L. Williams; Scenic Design, Jenna McFarland Lord; Costume Design, Amanda Mujica; Lighting Design, Jen Rock; Sound Design, David Wilson; Production Stage Manager, L. Arkansas Light; Assistant Stage Manager, Fatimah Mateen; Fight Consultant, Greg Maraio; Dialect Coach, Amelia Broome; Wig Stylist, Vanessa Chouman

CAST (in order of appearance): Tiffany Nichole Greene, Maurice Emmanuel Parent, Jackie Davis, Johnny Lee Davenport, John Kuntz

Performances through April 9 at SpeakEasy Stage Company, Roberts Studio Theatre in the Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, MA; Box Office 617-933-8600 or www.SpeakEasyStage.com

Up until a couple of weeks ago, Maurice Emmanuel Parent was giving a bravura performance as a straitlaced Christian minister in colonial Rhodesia in the Nora Theatre Company's production of Danai Gurira's The Convert. Now you can see him channeling Michael Jackson's dance moves while he grows from a precocious young boy, to questioning teen, to a gay black man in the New England premiere of Robert O'Hara's Bootycandy at SpeakEasy Stage Company. Based on the author's own experiences of growing up black and gay in America, the play is a series of loosely connected vignettes that rely heavily on humor and satire to confront racial, sexual, and cultural stereotypes. It is not for the faint of heart nor for those who are easily offended by profanity, vulgarity, or nudity, but everyone else should shake their booty and get on down to the Boston Center for the Arts.

Company One co-founder Summer L. Williams makes her SpeakEasy Stage directing debut and shows her skill by keeping this wild ride on track, while capturing the appropriate tone and energy for each of the separate scenarios until they finally connect in the end. Meanwhile, she trusts the abilities of her actors to portray nearly two dozen characters and we reap the benefits, getting to see five knockout performances by Parent as the protagonist Sutter, Tiffany Nichole Greene, Jackie Davis, Johnny Lee Davenport, and John Kuntz. All but Parent play multiple roles, such as mothers, siblings, writers, preachers, lesbians, a white man, and a grandmother. Costume designs by Amanda Mujica and Vanessa Chouman's wig stylings contribute to defining the characters, but the distinguishing features of posture, tone of voice, facial expression, and attitude are deftly crafted by the ensemble.

Bootycandy has been compared to the structure and tone of George C. Wolfe's play The Colored Museum, which was produced at the Huntington Theatre Company this time last year. Both have eleven scenes that can stand alone as mini-dramas or character studies. Kuntz is gripping in a solo piece as a guy accosted on the street late at night by a would-be mugger, only to take the character deeper in a subsequent sketch when he meets Parent and Davenport in a bar. In another scene, Davenport stands tall and proud as Reverend Benson, teaching and preaching to his congregation about rumors of homosexual behavior among the choir boys. He is equally impressive as Sutter's Old Granny who is not too old to extort money from the young man when he visits her in the nursing home.

Greene (Young Black Mom) and Davis (Middle Aged Mother) play Sutter's mom at different stages of his life, displaying a remarkable continuity for the character, and they are hilarious as sisters carrying on a telephone conversation in a patois that demands strict attention to digest. I missed a lot of it, but their body language and histrionics told me all I needed to know. We see a totally different side when Greene (Intifada) and Davis (Genitalia) play a couple of lesbians who have decided to uncouple in a clever sketch about non-commitment. My favorite of Greene's roles was her mostly nonverbal portrayal of Young Sibling, adorned with pink bows in her 1970s Afro, who squeals with delight whenever her mother (Davis) utters profanity ranting at big brother Sutter.

In any show consisting of a series of vignettes, the quality may vary, but O'Hara's writing shows impressive range and much of it is laugh out loud funny. Although there are a couple here that go a little long, the payoff for your patience may be a great dramatic moment, a hearty laugh, or Parent moonwalking across the stage. While the entire cast is outstanding, Parent is both the heart and the connective tissue that make the nonlinear Bootycandy a compelling theatrical experience.

Photo credit: Glenn Perry Photography (Johnny Lee Davenport, Jackie Davis, Tiffany Nichole Greene, Maurice Emmanuel Parent, John Kuntz)

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