BWW Reviews: St. Louis Actors' Studio and the Black Rep Combine Their Efforts for Informative PALMER PARK

The late 1960's were a time of great social upheaval, and race riots broke out in a number of major cities, leading to what has been termed "white flight", as the Caucasians abandoned the urban areas for the suburbs. The latest production at the Missouri History Museum, Palmer Park, written by playwright Joanna McClelland, is a joint effort between the Black Rep and the St. Louis Actors' Studio that examines this time in our history. But, it focuses specifically on an integrated neighborhood known as Palmer Park, where huge beautiful homes could be purchased relatively cheaply because of their proximity to downtown Detroit. Here, middle class African Americans could mix (in a strict 65% white, 35% black ratio) and mingle in an idyllic setting where many long held myths were shattered.

The story begins as realtor Sol Rifkin (winningly played by Tom Wethington) is in the process of selling a beautiful Palmer Park home to Martin and Kate Townsend (nicely essayed by Chad Morris and Rachel Hanks). Their neighbors Dr. Fletcher Hazelton and his wife Linda (played with flair by Reginald Pierre and Jeanitta Perkins, respectively) welcome them and immediately invite them to a cocktail party to get to know the rest of their neighbors. Sol and his activist wife Harriet (an earnest Laura Coppinger) are present along with lawyer Ron Marshall and his wife Alice (an embittered Phillip Dixon and a bouyant Candice Jackson), as well as appliance salesman Phil and Gretta Lamont (played with aplomb by Aaron Orion Baker and his real life wife Emily).

The first half of this informative work is just a little too preachy and, well, informative for its own good. It's a perfect fit for the venue, but it's not so much a true play as a series of vignettes and fourth wall-breaking monologues that explain the difficulties of the times in a way that's more fit for the classroom than the stage. The second act is a little better, but many may find getting there a real challenge.

Director Ron Himes does a solid job, but the writing works against him, never really developing these roles beyond the caricatures they're initially portrayed as. That's not to say the acting is bad, far from it. The actors make the most of what they're given, but it rarely dips below the surface or stays long enough on one topic or situation to engage the viewer completely. Jennifer 'JC' Krajicek does fine work costuming the troupe, and Patrick Huber makes clever use of slide projections to portray the era and the actual homes themselves. Huber's lighting scheme is fairly straightforward, and Robin Weatherall's sonic design effectively, but predictably relies on the usual Motown sounds familiar to those times for the most part.

Palmer Park succeeds in illuminating a time in our history that's long since past, and it also sadly makes us wonder why things have gotten progressively worse in any number of ways. The play continues through November 20, 2011 at the Missouri History Museum.

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