Review: 'Arena Riffs' Offers Psalmayene 24's Compelling THE FREEWHEELIN' INSURGENTS

It's close enough that we can almost taste it - almost smell the dust backstage, feel the warmth of the klieg lights, hear the rustle of anticipation among the seats before us.

We're almost there. Praise be.

And while we wait for those joyous moments of reunion, we can check in on our local artists and see what they've been up to lately. Arena Stage has commissioned a video series, Arena Riffs, which enable us to re-connect through something like "Knee Plays," or intermezzi. But these videos are more intensely personal.

Playwright Psalmayene 24's contribution to Arena Riffs is "The Freewheelin' Insurgents," a day in the life of four actors as they cope with the pandemic and the forces arrayed against them, both as artists and African-Americans.

Survival, as artists and human beings, can feel like warfare at times like these, and Psalmayene 24 gives us a company coping in various ways. And with a more subtle choreography by Tony Thomas (conceived to fit the screen) you get four portraits, each unique and compelling.

"The Freewheelin' Insurgents" unfolds as a series of vignettes, conversations, raps, with a wink (at the top) to the musicals they're 'supposed' to be doing. Masks temporarily off, gigs remote, and the news and its drumbeat combine to create a restlessness that follows them to the deceptively serene Rock Creek Park, where they can rehearse in the biting cold. For Dante (Justin Weeks), the isolation has prompted a mental health crisis, which makes his friendship with the feisty Church (Louis E. Davis) all the more valuable. Meanwhile Noble and Zora (Gary L. Perkins III and Shannon Dorsey) have grown closer together, moving and practically speaking together as one.

Things almost start to happen-good things-but don't. That's the story of the past year. But rest assured they'll be back, and waiting for you.

For now, check them out online-we need this.

Production Photo: Louis E. Davis as Church, Shannon Dorsey as Zora, Gary L. Perkins as Noble, and Justin Weeks as Dante. Photo courtesy of Arena Stage.

Running Time: 30 minutes.

Performances of The Freewheelin' Insurgents are available online as a part of the Arena Stage Riffs series. For tickets and more information, visit:

https://www.arenastage.org/tickets/arenariffs/

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