BWW Reviews: A Bridge Rep Rep: Oreos and a Father-Son Car Ride

Fufu & Oreos and Sixty Miles to Silver Lake in repertory by Bridge Repertory Theater of Boston at Deane Hall, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, MA; Box Office 617-933-8600 or www.bridgerep.org

Creative Team: Juliana Beecher, Lighting Design; Tyler Kinney, Costume Design; Anita Shriver, Scenic Design; Andrew Duncan Will, Sound Design; Ryan McEniry & John Tracey, Properties; MJ Halberstadt & John Tracey, Production Management; Mark DiGiovanni, Technical Direction

Fufu & Oreos, performances through February 27; Created and performed by Obehi Janice, Directed by Rebecca Bradshaw; Production Stage Manager, Marc J. Franklin; Dramaturg & Assistant Stage Manager, Wairimu Mwaura

Sixty Miles to Silver Lake, performances through March 1; Written by Dan LeFranc, Directed by Shana Gozansky; Production Stage Manager, Keagan McCarthy; Assistant Stage Manager, Ryan McEniry; CAST: Barlow Adamson, Kristian Sorensen

Bridge Repertory Theater of Boston presents two very different short plays in repertory through the month of February, but they are linked by a common theme of struggling to navigate between two worlds. In her solo piece Fufu & Oreos, Obehi Janice must reconcile her Nigerian heritage with her American lifestyle, with the added baggage of family expectations and playground perceptions. Playwright Dan LeFranc tests the mettle of young Ky as he repeatedly journeys with his father back and forth between the homes of his divorced parents in Sixty Miles to Silver Lake.

Although it is a one-woman show, Janice is rarely alone on the stage as she populates the conversation with her parents, a plethora of aunts and uncles, a couple of therapists, a television host, and herself at various ages. In the theatrical tradition of Anna Deavere Smith, Janice is both playwright and actress, portraying a range of characters with nuance that enables her to tell her story to the audience with humor, pathos, and intelligence. From her childhood growing up in Lowell as the daughter of Nigerian immigrants and visits to their homeland, to the awkwardness of being different on the playground, to trying to understand her origins well enough to explain them to others, and figuring out a way to accept the multitude of components that make her who she is, Janice takes us on a non-linear journey through each of these chapters. She is a young woman, but has much to tell and employs a list device to cover a lot of territory (she actually picks up a clipboard when she adds and subtracts events and people that comprise her life) that works to a point. She does not shy away from difficult subject matter or intimate personal revelations, but sometimes leaves you wanting for more details.

As far removed as Lowell is from Nigeria, that interval is dwarfed by the emotional distance between Denny (Kristian Sorensen) and his father Ky (Barlow Adamson) as they try, try, try, and usually fail to connect while riding in dad's Volkswagen for their weekend visits. The discomfort between them is palpable, thanks to Sorensen's eye-rolling, slumping body language, and overall sulky demeanor, and Adamson's frustration, squirming, and goofy faces. Sixty Miles delves into some of the difficulties of a part-time familial relationship and how they play out at different junctures (Denny is portrayed at various ages from 8 to 17). There is a constant power struggle between father and son; Denny seems driven most by the need for a reliable tether to rescue him from his perceived free-fall, while Ky wants desperately to be connected with his son, but most often manifests his desire by being a jerk.

The actors spend the entire play (approximately seventy minutes) in a real sawed-in-half VW, but there is some sense of movement, thanks to Juliana Beecher's lighting design and Andrew Duncan Will's highway sounds. Credit director Shana Gozansky for drawing solid performances from the acting duo and mapping out a through line from LeFranc's non-linear structure, but it is sometimes difficult to follow the chronology when there are rapid scene cuts, punctuated by bright flashes of light or recorded snippets of echoing conversations. However, Gozansky skillfully builds from the light, mundane early scenes to the heavier, darker closing scenes to achieve a crescendo that, if not entirely satisfying, at least represents a capitulation.

Director Rebecca Bradshaw closely collaborated with Janice in developing Fufu* for the Bridge Rep production. She understands where Janice the playwright wants to take her audience and guides Janice the actor (and her community of characters) on that path. Anita Shriver's scenic design consists of a wall of packing boxes; one slides open to produce a bed, some contain props, and Janice clambers atop a pile to retrieve a cage that houses her treasured bird. Costume designer Tyler Kinney has her barefoot, wearing a black jersey dress over black leggings, but adds a few colorful pieces of Nigerian traditional dress that Janice dons at the end of the play, including a striking head wrap or gele. Kudos to the properties guys Ryan McEniry and John Tracey, especially for the oreos.

Although I attended the two previews in one day, each of the plays can stand on its own with strong performances and strong direction. At a time when the Boston theater community is examining the issue of gender parity, it bodes well that one of the playwrights is a woman and that both directors are women. However, that's nothing new for Bridge Rep. Next up, Producing Artistic Director Olivia D'Ambrosio takes on The Bard's Julius Caesar.

*Fufu: A staple dish of Nigeria, made from pounded yams.

Photo credit: Marc J. Franklin (left: Kristian Sorensen, Barlow Adamson) (right: Obehi Janice)

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