Two Trains Running: An Exhilarating Trip

If artistic excellence were the only requirement, The Signature Theatre Company would be regularly transferring their productions to Broadway.  Their flawless new mounting of Two Trains Running, sensitively directed by Lou Bellamy and the second in their season honoring August Wilson, is as good an evening of drama as you're currently bound to get anywhere in New York.

 

The 1960's chapter of Wilson's ten-play cycle depicting black American experiences during the 20^th Century, Two Trains Running, like many of his plays, is set in Pittsburgh's Hill District.  Once a prosperous black community, by 1969, the year the play is set, the Hill District has met the fate of many northern American cities at that time.  The post-war migration of southern blacks to better lives in the industrialized north helped speed an exodus of whites to the suburbs, taking their job opportunities with them.  Black business owners and landlords found themselves fighting against Urban Renewal programs, where cities used eminent domain laws to force them to sell their property at a non-negotiable price to the government for the purpose of creating neighborhood-reviving civic buildings and housing projects.

 

One such business owner is Memphis (Frankie Faison, with the gritty passion of a street fighter), who is prepared to demand his own price in exchange for his diner at 1621 Wylie Avenue.  (Never mentioned in the play, 1621 is the year the Dutch West India Company, which became the world's largest slave trader, was chartered.)  His only employee, who he treats with as much disrespect as he claims the government is showing him, is the beautiful waitress Risa (a regally still January LaVoy), who intentionally scars her legs so as to discourage the advances of men; similar to methods used by attractive female slaves to try and avoid being raped by their masters.  There is a noticeable absence of words like "thank you" and "please" from both Memphis and the diner's regular collection of customers as she quietly serves them with an intentionally slow, but proudly upright gait; the sound of her heels clopping the floor resembling steady clockwork.

 

One such regular is the mentally handicapped Hambone (Leon Addison Brown delivering heartbreaking pathos), who Risa treats with motherly kindness.  Ten years ago a nearby white butcher reneged on the promise of a ham in exchange for Hambone painting his fence and ever since the few words that escape his lips are loud, uncontrolled demands for what is rightfully his.

 

Another customer looking for justice is Sterling (charismatic Chad L. Coleman), recently released from jail, unlucky at finding work and newly recruited into the Black Power movement.  Risa is attracted to his charm but rejects his invitations to join him at a civil rights rally.

 

Two regulars who make out pretty well from everyone else's hard times are funeral director West (a stern and immovable Ed Wheeler), whose business thrives as violence increases, and numbers-runner Wolf (slick and angular Ron Cephas Jones) who does well for himself because his customers know that their chances of hitting his jackpot are more realistic than their chances of getting an education and a good job.

 

Holloway (a warm and funny Arthur French), the elderly philosophical observer of the establishment, advises all with wishes to seek the help of local 349-year-old oracle Aunt Esther, the subject of Wilson's most recent Broadway play, Gem of the Ocean.

 

Derek McLane's run-down diner set, Robert Wierzel's graceful lighting, and Mathew J. Lefebvre's period costumes are all excellent.

 

The late 1960's, particularly after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a transitional time for the Civil Rights Movement, where proponents of non-violence were faced with frustrated youth that favored swift and, if need be, violent action.  In Two Trains Running, Wilson's characters chose different routes to the same goal while still trying to maintain some sense of community.  The three hour and ten minute production flies by to an exhilarating finish.

 

Photos by Carol Rosegg:  Top:  Chad L. Coleman and Leon Addison Brown

Center:  Frankie Faison and Arthur French

Bottom:  Leon Addison Brown and January LaVoy

 

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