Front Porch Arts Collective Presents CHICKEN AND BISCUITS Next Month

Front Porch Arts Collective, the Black theater company that built its award-winning reputation and audience base through collaborations with larger arts organizations, has announced its first self-produced performance: the regional premiere of Douglas Lyons' Broadway comedy "Chicken & Biscuits," which will run December 9 through January 8, 2023 at Suffolk University's Modern Theater in Downtown Boston. Lyndsay Allyn Cox will direct the performance.

Front Porch co-founder Dawn M. Simmons says the group is excited to bring the play and its playwright to Boston because they have developed a close working relationship. While in town to attend previews and opening night, Lyons and members of Front Porch will collaborate on workshop readings of his new play, "Invisible."

Cox calls the play "a fast-moving family comedy, with a little drama sliced in, that's relatable, honest and fun." She was attracted to the material immediately: "I look for pieces that are human, and where I can see parts of my life," Cox says. "I see myself in these people, this story, this family. And I think others will too."

"Chicken & Biscuits" centers on two sisters, Baneatta Jenkins Mabry and Beverly Jenkins, who are preparing to bury their recently deceased father. Baneatta, the elder (played by award-winning Boston actor Jacqui Parker, left, making her Front Porch debut), has become the de facto matriarch now that her parents, the Jenkins's, are both gone. Lovingly overbearing to her daughter Simone (sore from a recent breakup) and son Kenny (in a happy but closeted gay relationship with Logan, a white Jewish man), Baneatta is burdened by her role - often uptight and stubborn about her religious and family life. Hers is a solid marriage to the peace-making, dad-joking Reginald - now pastor of their home church after the passing of Reverend Jenkins - but she also holds a secret that could tear the family apart.

Younger sister Beverly is the boisterous, fun-loving life of the party...a single mom who embarrasses Baneatta and draws eye-rolls from 15-year-old daughter La'Trice. The family gathers at a funeral mass for the beloved Reverend Jenkins, bringing years of personal baggage along with their grief, their faith, their love, and their secrets. Gospel music, rapid-fire quips, fallin' out, and a happy-ending family feast all factor into the fun.

"Whether it's in North Carolina, Indiana, or Boston, the church is a central part of many Black communities," Cox says. "My focus for this production will be to reflect on what makes the experience of being Black in New England unique."

CHOOSING "CHICKEN"

Lyons' script is new but immediately familiar, Simmons says, drawing on the early 20th century tradition of family-centered plays that toured Black theaters in the American south (known as "the one-nighter circuit") and inspired playwrights like Tyler Perry, who mimicked the broad morality-based tone to great success, as well as Pulitzer Prize winner Jackie Sibblies Drury (the award-winning "Fairview"), and Pulitzer and Tony Award winner Michael R. Jackson ("A Strange Loop") who upended and skewered the format in acclaimed recent works.

"What was always true about these traditional Black theater productions, is that they were highly entertaining, created community gathering places, and attracted audiences who, at the time, weren't welcomed in other theater spaces," Simmons says. "That's the vibe of 'Chicken & Biscuits' and the vibe we wanted for Front Porch's first solo production. All are welcome on the porch." Simmons adds the December-into-January schedule offers a perfect night out for families gathering around Christmas and the New Year.

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