BWW Reviews: SUNSET BABY at Rep Stage in Columbia - A Powerful and Prescient Presentation

When Rep Stage Co-Producing Artistic Directors Suzanne E. Beal and Joseph W. Ritsch selected SUNSET BABY I'm sure they had no idea about the circumstances surrounding the timing of their May selection.

Due to the turmoil in Baltimore City last week, a 10 p.m. curfew was issued and this resulted in many theaters in the area moving their normal 8 p.m. starting times to 7 p.m. to allow patrons and actors from Baltimore the opportunity to arrive home before 10 p.m. So Rep Stage's curtain was also at 7 p.m. on opening night (which I believe is a great idea for all theaters to use in the future).

The logo for SUNSET BABY shows the Black Power fist reminiscent of the 1960's.

According to the playwright, the play was written n 2011 and 2012 and she was attempting to explore moments in American history. Her earlier work DETROIT '67 referred to the riots in that city and won the 2014 Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History.

SUNSET BABY surrounds the lives of three individuals. There is Kenyatta, a former Black activist who spent many years in prison for armed robbery, his daughter Nina (named for the famed Nina Simone whose music is heard throughout the play) who is just getting over the death of her mother Ashanti X (also a famous political activist) from a drug overdose, and her lover and partner in crime Damon. Morisseau named Kenyatta Shakur after Tupac Shakur, the son of two Black Panthers and Ashanti X was an ode to Malcolm X.

Nina's uncluttered Brooklyn apartment has bare furniture, an old couch, a bookcase, refrigerator (filled with mainly alcohol), a radiator, a window with bars for protection and strangely, a calendar featuring the Eiffel Tower. (Kudos to set designer Daniel Ettinger.)

Jefferson A. Russell plays father to Nina Kenyatta in one of the strongest performances I have ever seen him portray. A convicted felon who left his family, wife Ashanti and daughter Nina when she was five, to concentrate on his politics, returns to see Nina just after his wife died after he has heard that letters from his wife to him in prison were never mailed and that these letters were the focus of many and worth a great deal of money. He arrives unexpectedly to Nina's apartment after being release from prison for armed robbery and appears shocked at her appearance.

Nina is "dressed to kill" both figuratively and literally...a "short" tight dress, high heel boots, a leather bustier, and long hair and has all the appearances of a lady of the street. (Costume Design by Julie A. Potter). Nina treats her father with hostility and labels him a "stranger". Nina admits to "robbing her own people". She's a hustler trying to survive in the inner city by committing small-time robberies along with her drug-dealing friend Damon. They keep their cache hidden in books. (You may be reminded of the hit television show "The Wire".)

While the play focuses on do the "letters" exist, does Nina have them, how much are they worth, and is she willing to sell them to her father, there is so much more within.

The true heart of the play is the abandonment of children by their fathers.

Both Daman and Kenyatta have something in common. Damon as it turns out has a 7 year-old son who he rarely sees and can't understand why he wasn't invited to his son's birthday party. Nina castigates him since she recalls her father abandoned her when she was five. Kenyatta comments to Nina, "Family is one of the things you lose when you're willing to lay down your life to advance freedom."

According to the playwright, "The play explores the gaps between generations, movements, and the effect that absent fathers have on their young daughters. That dynamic is rarely examined on the stage: we usually talk about the effect it has on young boys, but what about our girls?"

One of the many questions raised is Kenyatta only after the letters or does he want to reconcile with his daughter he abandoned? Which comes first, revolution or family? But the key issue is the role of fathers in today's society. This issue has been raised constantly amid the unrest in Baltimore last week.

Nina has a goal of leaving the U.S. for England or Paris or any where she can view sunsets and relax and enjoy life without any tension. (There's a great visual of Nina as a young girl on a beach viewing a sunset.)

One way to help achieve this goal is to sell the "letters" of her mother.

Playing the role of Nina is Valeka J. Holt who is astonishing. I predict a great future is ahead of her. One gets to see her transformation from the hardened criminal to that of a young woman who has just lost her mother, when she strips herself from her make-up, wig, and clothes into a bathrobe, sits on her couch, covers herself in a wrap which was covering the couch and weeps. It's a powerful moment. Director Joseph W. Ritsch gets the most out of this talented cast.

Manu Kumasi nails the role of Damon, Nina's lover.

Look for both Holt and Russell appearing together at the Roundhouse Theatre in January, 2016 in FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS by Suzan-Lori Parks.

The playwright is being discovered now by Hollywood where she has become a writer on Showtime's comedy "Shameless".

Thank you Rep Stage for bringing Morisseau's work to the Baltimore/Washington area. I'm sure we will see her work again.

There will be a Pre-Show lecture "The Art of Dominique Morisseau by Guest Dramaturg Khalid Yaya Long on Saturday, May 16, 2015 at 12:30 p.m. at the Monteabaro Recital Hall. This event is free and open to the public.

SUNSET BABY continues until May 17, 2015 in the Smith Theatre of the Horovitz Visual and Performing Arts Center on the campus of Howard County Community College. For tickets, call 443-518-1500 or visit www.repstage.org.

The 2015/2016 Rep Stage Season has been named "The Year of The Woman" with all plays written by women. Look for THE BALTIMORE WALTZ by Paula Vogel, TECHNICOLAR LIFE by Jami Bandli, HUNTING AND GATHERING by Brooke Berman, and ANTIGONE PROJECT, a play n 5 parts conceived by Chiori Miyagawa and Sabrina Peck which includes HANG TEN by Karen Hartman, MEDALLION by Tanya Barfield, ANTIGONE ARKHE by Caridad Svich, A STONE'S THROW by Lynn Nottage, and RED AGAIN by Chiori Miyagawa.

cgshubow@broadwayworld.com

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