Review: New England Premiere of APPROPRIATE Opens SpeakEasy Stage's 25th Anniversary Season

appropriate

Written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Directed by M. Bevin O'Gara; Scenic Design, Cristina Todesco; Costume Design, Tyler Kinney; Lighting Design, Wen-Ling Liao; Sound Design, Arshan Gailus; Fight Choreography, Angie Jepson; Production Stage Manager, Adele Nadine Traub; Assistant Stage Manager, Julie Marie Langevin

CAST (in alphabetical order): Bryan T. Donovan, Katie Elinoff, Tamara Hickey, Melinda Lopez, Brendan O'Brien, Alex Pollock, Eliot Purcell, Ashley Risteen

Performances through October 10 at SpeakEasy Stage Company, Roberts Studio Theatre in the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, MA; Box Office 617-933-8600 or www.SpeakEasyStage.com

appropriate is a family drama. appropriate is a race play. Appropriate (adj.) means suitable or fitting for a particular purpose, person, occasion. Appropriate (verb) means to set apart for some specific purpose, to take without permission or consent. Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins enjoys ambiguity and messing with traditional concepts and constructs, and that is precisely what he does in appropriate, his 2014 Obie Award-winner for Best New American Play. SpeakEasy Stage Company begins its 25th anniversary season in its inimitable style with the New England Premiere of this breathtaking drama, directed by M. Bevin O'Gara.

You may enter the theater tickled by the question of the appropriate pronunciation and definition of the title, but I guarantee that you will leave the theater with more substantial questions bouncing around inside your head. Many of them will concern the family in the play and how they can ever deal with the detritus of their messy lives, built on the dysfunctional foundation of their southern heritage, but appropriate pushes a lot of buttons as it digs up issues that resonate in our own lives and our society as a whole. After a summer of incidents that fueled the "Black Lives Matter" movement, in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court weakening the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and facing the reality that Barack Obama's election did not propel us into a post-racial era, there are so many reasons why this discomfiting play reminds us that it is way past time to continue the national conversation that the Founding Fathers tabled.

In appropriate, three siblings, their partners, and their children convene at the family's dilapidated plantation in southeast Arkansas to settle the estate of their recently-deceased father. First-born Toni (the multi-talented Melinda Lopez) is divorced and lives in Atlanta and, by proximity, was the only one to be there to see and suffer through her Daddy's demise. She is also the only one to feel his loss on an emotional level, perhaps more so because of the trouble she is having with her teenaged son Rhys (Eliott Purcell) who wants to go live with his father. Middle child Bo (Bryan T. Donovan) flew down from New York (first-class, it must be noted) with his wife Rachael (Tamara Hickey) and their two children, precocious 13-year old "I'm almost an adult" Cassidy (Katie Elinoff) and her 8-year old brother Ainsley (Brendan O'Brien). To their surprise, they discover their long-absent, black-sheep younger brother Frank (Alex Pollock), now calling himself "Franz," and his free-spirited young girlfriend River (Ashley Risteen) occupying the house when they arrive for the weekend.

Toni immediately jumps to the conclusion that the prodigal son has returned to collect his share of the spoils, but we quickly learn that the pickings are slim. That is until they discover an artifact that, although gruesome and repellant on many levels, may fetch a fetching price online, far in excess of the value of all of the myriad items the old man hoarded which they were planning to auction along with the property. Jacobs-Jenkins quickly lays the groundwork for us to understand the family dynamics and the coarse nature of the sibling relationships. Already stressed by grief and loss, the found photo album, filled with images of dead African Americans, exacerbates the situation as each of the characters has a visceral reaction to its contents, yet views it in a new way when its pages are illuminated by the glow of dollar signs.

Jacobs-Jenkins incorporates elements from the works of major white male playwrights who wrote iconic American family dramas. If imitation is the highest form of flattery, it is practiced here with mastery. He borrows their tropes to craft his own unique story and characters, and the ensemble of actors in the SpeakEasy production carve out brilliant individual performances that rival anything one might see on a Broadway stage. Lopez bears the dramatic brunt, paralleling Toni's lot as the world-weary family elder. Her posture and tone of voice telegraph where she's coming from before her words inform us. Hers has been a rough road, filled with disappointment and heartache; the big sister who cared for her younger brothers finds herself under attack for not doing enough to prevent their financial predicament. She reacts with a mix of bewilderment and belligerence, before ultimately surrendering to forces she cannot control.

appropriate is marked by a quartet of strong female characters; Hickey and Risteen go toe-to-toe with Lopez, and Elinoff (a few years out of college) is entirely believable as a pubescent girl straddling the line between childhood and being a grown-up. Bo and Rachael are a power couple and she is efficient, helpful, and caring, until she isn't. When the gloves come off, her animal instincts take over and she fights to protect her own, transforming from Tiger Mom to tiger. River serenely goes with the flow, seldom wavering from her calm demeanor, yet steadfastly standing up for her man and herself. Risteen, who has been impressive in recent roles at Zeitgeist Stage and Hub Theatre Company, gives an understated performance that is perfectly in sync with her character's persona.

Donovan is a burly guy who can commandeer a lot of space while he captures Bo's take-charge attitude. He is impatient and doesn't hesitate to use his size to intimidate everyone except his wife (he meekly defers to her). Like his siblings, Bo continues to play the role he occupied in the family constellation when they were growing up and is no more likely to let either of them deviate from their past than they are of him. Frank is the biggest victim of this (Toni refuses to call him Franz) and it drives a major plot line. He has come back to the not-so-welcoming fold to make amends and try to heal, but they're not buying it. This type of character, the edgy outlier, is in Pollock's wheelhouse and he does not disappoint. Purcell is spot on with his adolescent angst and O'Brien makes the most of his few moments in the spotlight.

O'Gara skillfully interprets Jacobs-Jenkins' script, finding the nuggets of humor that organically arise from human nature, even as the higher stakes raise the tension. She is abetted by Angie Jepson, whose fight choreography here is among the best I've seen, and Cristina Tedesco's incredible set design. The crumbling property is accentuated by Wen-Ling Liao's lighting design and sound design by Arshan Gailus. Tyler Kinney's costumes add to the characters' images. The props people and stage crew deserve a shout out for putting it all back together night after night.

appropriate is a fresh, new play that defies categorizing. As much as I didn't know what to expect from it, it was not what I expected. There are many surprises, but nothing that happens is superfluous, and each development follows seamlessly from what precedes it. It is a great way to start the next quarter century of SpeakEasy Stage Company and you don't want to miss this one.

Photo credit: Nile Hawver/Nile Scott Shots (Bryan T. Donovan, Melinda Lopez, Alex Pollock)

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