"Making it through the night" - Michael Bradford speaks with SGN about Fathers and Sons

"Making it through the night" - Michael Bradford speaks with SGN about Fathers and Sons

by Miryam Gordon - SGN A&E Writer Fathers and Sons By Michael Bradford Directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton Starring William Hall, Jr., Reginald Andre Jackson, Tracey A. Leigh, Wilbur Penn The Hansberry Project at ACT Through May 25 It's flat-out a disservice to think of this as a "black" play, just as it would be a disservice to other universal themes to segregate them into niches and then only those who identify with that niche would see the play. This play is any dysfunctional relationship, but mostly about the breakdown between father and son, and the determination the son makes to be a different kind of father to his son. It could be mother and daughter or father and daughter or & you get the point. It's just written in the "black" vernacular. The son is a writer who tries, as many writers do, to "write the specific to get at the universal." Playwright Michael Bradford takes that to heart, as well. This specific family is of a son (Reginald Andre Jackson) and daughter-in-law (Tracey A. Leigh), the father (William Hall, Jr.), and the grandfather (Wilbur Penn). Specifically, grandpa was a jazzman and abandoned his son for the road and other women. The father also left the son on his own, not for jazz, but for other women. The son is determined to parent his four-year-old in a consistent and committed fashion. But the four-year-old is missing. He's been stolen from a playground on his daddy's watch. So, while daddy didn't leave his son, daddy still has failed him by not watching hard enough. Through this specific story, the dense, complicated, strained relationships can be explored. All four actors are strong characters and bring the story and family to life in a beautiful - if strained - way. The feelings and motivations of the characters are clear, emotionally logical and reach each audience member in his or her own experience. Wilbur Penn also has the job of accompanying himself with a trumpet, which he does with panache. His role, the grandfather, is particularly enigmatic because he introduces each act with words of "wisdom" that seem to turn out to be all words and no content. The grandfather never learns and never redeems himself, much as we might long for him to do so. The setting, by Matthew Smucker, is a lovely rendition of a New York apartment with an amazing view of sunrise. Scattered children's toys remind us of the presence of the missing boy. Lighting designer, L.B. Morse, has a large job helping us understand if it's day or night. A lot of the activity seems to take place in the very small hours of the morning, near dawn. A lot of the play reflects on mornings. There are many mentions of dawn and waiting for it. Is it meant to imply a reflection on how many times we have to start over and over again in our relationships, and our resolve to do better each day? Michael Bradford, in reaction to that question, says, "I think that, especially in the black church, there is a lot of metaphoric vernacular of the dark of the night and the difficulty making it through the night, as a metaphor of the difficult moments in life. And if the person can find the wherewithal to make it, the morning is a glorious thing. In the African American church, the strength to make it rests in a faith in a higher power. In the play, I flipped the script and made the higher power 'love.' So that, as Leon says, that is the thing that will get them through the literal night and, of course, the metaphorical night of Marcus' having lost his son. "I certainly want to imply that there is always possibility of being better. Just because it used to be that way, doesn't mean it has to continue being that way. Even in this generation, we hit upon what we think it should be: this is the definition of a man, this is a definition of a woman. Instead of, 'We are two human beings. And how do I treat you as a human being?' We get hung up on definitions and we don't even know where half of these definitions come from that we live our lives by. You can be too busy 'being a man,' and not find time to actually love." The end of the play leaves open whether the four-year-old is dead or not. Bradford likes that ambiguity. "I really didn't want anyone to be concrete and say, 'Stephen is dead.' Theater ought to be more poetic and for me poetry is, 'I'll give you a little bit to push you in the right direction, and I'm going to trust that you'll run with it, put some pieces together. Bring your imagination into the theater, don't check it and expect theater to tell you everything you want to know.' It's perfectly all right to me if people walk out of the theater with questions. Hopefully, they'll be interesting questions." Bradford sums up his intention of the theme of the play. "What it is to be in the world, live in the world, not how it is to be dead. Once we throw dirt on you, that's all you're going to do in the world. Leon [the father] has been able to find something to say to his son that he needed to hear. He's able to convince his son that love is bigger than anything else. He literally prevents him from walking out the door to commit a murder, so symbolically he's able to give something to his son that his father couldn't give to him. That's what allows [Leon] to be better than he's ever been." For more information, go to www.acttheatre.org or call 206-292-7676. Comments on reviews go to sgncritic@gmail.com

ACT Continues Late Night Cabarets in May

by E. Joyce Glasgow - SGN A&E Writer ACT is continuing its Central Heating Lab, Late Night Cabaret offerings every Saturday in May at 10:00 p.m. with Black and Tan - A Juke Joint. These performances are designed to compliment mainstage performances at ACT, in this case, the production of Fathers and Sons. Each Saturday will feature a house jazz band comprised of Owuar Arunga on trumpet, Mark L. Sampson on keyboard, Farko Dosumov on electric bass and Joseph Mascorella on drums, along with other special musical guests, and jazz poetry performed by local poets Tina LaPadula, Matt Gano, Roberto Escalon, Lucien Grant, Angela Dy and Ragnii Edins. These cabaret evenings are being curated and hosted by Seattle poet Laura "Piece" Kelly-Jahn. Tickets ($10) can be purchased in advance through ACT or at the door 30 minutes before show time. The Central Heating Lab is also presenting Comedy Cornucopia, comedy evenings every Sunday in May, at 8:00 p.m. in the Bullitt Cabaret. These evenings feature local comic artists including stand-up, improvisation, films, and funny musical acts. Tickets ($10) are available through ACT. Visit www.acttheatre.org for more information and tickets.