Review: Capital Fringe Comedies and Dramas are a (Mostly) Delightful Mixed Bag

Part of the excitement of DC's Capital Fringe Festival is not knowing when you'll stumble upon a true gem of a production. I was fortunate enough to find a couple when I indulged in two dramas and two comedies within 48 hours at Arena Stage.

If you'd like a powerful solo performance tailor-made for this moment in America, let SPOOK be your Fringe drama of choice. In a riveting 75 minutes, writer-actor Meshaun Labrone is African-American ex-police officer Daryl "Spook' Spokane. Accompanied by provocative video visuals (designed by Hope Villanueva) and an original hip-hop soundtrack, Spokane gives a live interview before his scheduled execution and offers his justification for murdering five fellow officers. As he recounts traumatic memories of his experiences as a black child and later a black policeman, it's impossible not to connect them to current issues of racial violence and systemic corruption. If this sounds heavy or harrowing, that's because it is. But Labrone's thoughtful writing, dark comedy, and passionate delivery create a sense of human understanding I didn't think was possible at the beginning of the show. The standing ovation at the performance I attended was well-deserved.

Mythic drama AMERICA'S WIVES also explores race relations in contemporary life, but is underdeveloped. Louis E. Davis narrates the action as Bald Eagle, drawing us into the hourlong fable with enthusiasm. I wanted to buy into it, but once Karen Novack (Mallory/Iyale) and Billie Krishawn (Olayemi/Iyawo) were introduced as the respective first and second wives to their abusive, offstage husband America, I was lost. Greedy, prudish, white Mallory berates cool, young, black Olayemi and is furious at her own loss of position as America's preferred wife. The acting is committed, and the extended metaphor is an interesting one: America as a spouse who giveth and taketh away. But the material is too reductive and exaggerated to convey any believable message about race and gender. Nigerian-American playwright Farah Laval Harris's voice is unique and needs to be heard, but this work needs refining.

Another exploration of female life in America is HOW'S THAT WORKIN' OUT FOR YA?, a set of four comedies written by different women and performed by the same set of four diverse actors over 75 minutes. Each mini-comedy includes the title line, to mixed effect. The most interesting of these, Patricia Connelly's MAD WOMEN, features an amusing role-reversal in a MAD MEN-style boutique New York advertising agency circa 1965. Lady ad execs (Carol Cadby, Natasha-lee Loyola, and Kanysha Williams) disagree on how to sell men's underwear, sexually harass their male secretary (Kevin Dykstra), and marvel at the recent bestseller "The Masculine Mystique." It's subversive fun. The other three sketches don't quite measure up concept-wise, but they're gamely acted and serve up the occasional brilliant, feminist line.

A surer bet for consistently funny, subversive comedy is the one-hour CHLAMYDIA DELL'ARTE: MORE SEX-ED BURLESQUE, created and performed by the ebullient Gigi Naglak and Meghann Williams. In costumes by Regina Rizzo, they sing, dance, and mime in support of sex education for all -- none of that abstinence-only, Mike Pence-approved stuff. In between their energetic, sometimes-political riffs on sexuality are edited video interviews of all kinds of individuals discussing their sexual habits and hangups. It's even intermittently practical, such as when wine-fueled cooking show hosts demonstrate a useful way to put on a condom (with bananas as models, of course). The overall result is a body-positive, inclusive sentiment that settles upon the audience like burlesque glitter.

Promotional images: courtesy of Capital Fringe website.

The Capital Fringe Festival takes place in multiple venues in Southwest Washington, DC, from July 7 through July 29. Tickets are available at capitalfringe.org and at the Logan Fringe box office, 1358 Florida Ave. NE, Washington, DC 20002.

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