BWW Reviews: FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS (PARTS 1, 2 & 3) is Suzan-Lori Parks' Civil War Odyssey

Though the idea of a cycle of plays chronicling experiences of Americans of African descent may bring to mind the work of August Wilson, Suzan-Lori Parks seems to have ancient Greek drama in mind with the first three entries of her ambitious 9-play cycle, Father Comes Home From The Wars.

The opening trio of one-acts now at The Public explores an intriguing premise; the opportunity for a slave to earn his freedom by joining the Confederate army.

Part 1, A Measure of A Man, opens in far west Texas, 1862, with "The Chorus of Less Desirable Slaves" taking bets on whether or not the presumably more desirable Hero (Sterling K. Brown) will accept an offer from the "boss-master" to gain his freedom by going off to war as his servant-slave.

Though Hero faces death, and quite possibly a reneged promise if he marches off with the Confederates, there no doubt the cruel master will retaliate harshly if he refuses. The woman he loves, Penny (Jenny Jules), offers her opinion, as does the father figure known as The Oldest Old Man (Peter Jay Fernandez), but the most significant contribution to the discussion comes from Hero's friend Homer (Jeremie Harris) who lives with the consequences of his attempt to escape.

Though there isn't much in the way of action in this first play, it introduces the rich style of language Parks is using; an elevated level of lyrical poetry mixing tragic tones and gentle, pathos-laden humor.

In Part 2, A Battle In The Wilderness, we see Hero's master as a pompous, strutting colonel (Ken Marks) guarding a Union prisoner (Louis Cancelmi) who he presumes to be a wealthy northerner. When they're left alone, Hero discovers the surprising truth.

Hero returns to the plantation in Part 3, The Union of My Confederate Parts, as Texans begin getting word of The Emancipation Proclamation.

Prior to each play, balladeer Steven Bargonetti accompanies himself on guitar, setting the mood with blues numbers written by Parks.

Director Jo Bonney's excellent ensemble of actors takes cues from the playwright's references to The Odyssey, playing with an elevated realism. Neil Patel's sparse set is reminiscent of the Greeks and costume designer ESosa accents period costumes with contemporary touches.

But the playwright is the undisputed star of the evening, with her engaging words and thought-provoking observations.

The boss-master's boisterous proclamation, "I am grateful every day that God made me white," seems ridiculously funny at first, but as he continues ("For me, no matter how much money I've got or don't got, if my farm is failing or my horse is dead, if my woman is sour or my child has passed on, I can at least rest in the grace that God made me white."), the monologue grows all the more sobering.

But the passage that truly resonates today comes when Hero considers the prospect of being a free man and losing the protection he had being a white man's property.

"Today I can say 'I belong to the Colonel.'... That's how come they don't beat me. But when freedom comes and they stop me and ask and I say 'I'm my own. I'm on my own and I own my ownself,' you think they'll leave me be?"

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