A 'Pecan Tan' Comedy;
Plus, "LeDroit's Home Team"

By Carol Chastang
SeeingBlack.com Theater Critic

Talk about "Pecan Tan" and Black theater! Click here.

"Pecan Tan"

Darryl Jerome sees himself as a Black man doing his best to take care of his family. His mother-in-law thinks Darryl is a loser who, because of stupid mistakes like "asking the clerk for directions on the way out, and not hiding his face," got caught trying to rob a fast-food restaurant. "This man had no future as a career criminal," declares Mrs. Davis, slowing shaking her head in disdain.

The African Continuum Theatre Company's production of "Pecan Tan" at the H Street Playhouse in Washington, D.C. opens with Darryl trying to convince his wife Thelma that he has changed his ways and is a new man, ready to accept some adult responsibilities. Thelma is wary, because through 25 years of marriage she's been the grown-up. And they're still living in her mother's house.

Yet Darryl (Randall Shepperd) sees an opportunity for redemption when he learns from a detective that he has a grown child he has never met. Suddenly, he becomes a carpenter, busily hauling plywood and building an extension to the house—a room for his new daughter, who is headed to South Carolina to meet her father.

Playwright Tanya Barfield takes a thought provoking look at racism, delusional expectations and dysfunctional families in "Pecan Tan" and makes it entertaining. She uses humor to convey several messages, and as her words spill from her character's mouths we see the absurdity of their perspectives on life. The world view of Darryl's mother-in-law Mrs. Davis (Willette Thompson) is the most hilarious. She starts the day with a glass of vodka, spends a better part of the day drinking, is quick to turn on someone, and has a hard time accepting anyone else's point of view. Thompson has the best lines, and delivers them well. She's kind of evil and totally convincing as the matriarch who dishes the dirt and the insults with a sense of entitlement—she's earned the right to complain because she's had to put up with so much foolishness for so long.

Darryl's long-ago liaison was with a White woman who named the child Olga, and he imagines his daughter's skin to be "Pecan Tan" in color. He fantasizes about father-daughter bonding with a sweet young woman who admires her dad. He tells his brother-in-law Jimmy (Mark Payne) that he's also looking forward to a family reunion, a nice party with lots of warm hugs and laughs and potato salad. Jimmy is another long-lost family member who has just returned from California and is now an annoying new-age disciple.

A hurricane hits about the time Olga shows up, and the storm is a metaphor for the shock and ensuing arguments that occur in the house when Darryl, Mrs. Davis and Thelma get a glimpse of Olga.

Thelma, Mrs. Davis, Jimmy and Olga find a way to inch towards each other and then bond by talking trash about Darryl. This round of trash-talking, however, is really well-written and funny, and the actors—under the able direction of Jennifer L. Nelson—convey the universal experience of family bonding under crisis—like telling jokes after a funeral. One more plot twist emerges, yet the folks see that focusing on differences is somewhat irrelevant when it comes to family. They realize that sometimes it's probably wiser to just shut up, take off the boxing gloves, and share some potato salad.

Playwright Hits Home Run with "LeDroit's Home Team"

By Bijan C. Bayne
SeeingBlack.com Contributing Writer

There's no place like home, and writer Will Gorham has found one in the genre of theatre. D.C.-based, independent TV producer Gorham's first foray into drama, "LeDroit's Home Team", is an engaging lesson about the importance of family and community. Set in 1947 in the Washington, D.C. community of LeDroit Park, the story centers around former Homestead Grays baseball player Todd Wellesley (Stan McKinney) and his aspiration to open a tailor's shop over the objections of his wife Renee (Carleen Troy). Renee is a social striver who seeks acceptance in an elite Negro ladies club. She is grooming the Wellesley's 16-year-old daughter Barbara (Stephanie Carlton) for a life among the Talented Tenth. Renee's upward mobility at the expense of family unity is apparent to others, particularly her jovial brother, Rayford (M. Keith Island, a dead ringer for Fats Waller).

Rayford is Todd's best friend, and supportive of his entrepreneurial dreams. Island brings a a manner of ease and sympathy to the role and evokes loyal buddies such as Art Carney's Ed Norton or Fred Flintstone's Barney Rubble. Rayford's got jokes, but he's no clown. He chides his icy sister for discouraging Todd from entering the business world. When Renee calls him "…an ignorant buffoon…", he retorts he is "…an intelligent buffoon…". McKinney delivers a solid performance as an unappreciated husband. Todd is tender, yet determined. As naysayer Renee, Troy models the insecurity of a colored woman who needs to "belong." Fashionably attired on the outside, she lacks inner peace.

Supporting players complete this portrait of that period's Black middle class. Chester West plays the aptly-named realtor Elmsworth Charms, and Saletha Gipson is the representative from te MetroLite Social Club. The decorum, diction and body language of early post-war Washington is all there. Doffed hats, cordial words, proper posture. When Renee upbraids Todd, she neither swivels her neck nor places her hands on her hips.

Gorham was inspired to write the play by reading Brad Snyder's book, "Beyond the Shadow of the Senators", a history of the (Washington) Homestead Grays baseball team. The Grays were a Negro League powerhouse of the 1940's, led by sluggers Buck Leonard and Josh Gibson. Gorham conducted extensive research on LeDroit Park (near Howard University), and its stories and residents. In his debut production, we see a Black America where learning and excellence are not considered "White" attributes, and a world before television and Dr. King.

Everyone but Renee can see that Todd is an exemplary family man with the best of intentions. Her own aims become painfully clear, and derail some of her personal dreams. Sweet daughter Barbara is embarrassed by her mother's snobbishness, and both brother and husband ask Renee "What happened to you?" As in "A Raisin in the Sun", the question arises, "What does a family do when opportunity surfaces?" The answer, and message, is timeless.

"LeDroit's Home Team" seeks a future home after its recent successful one-nighter at the Spectrum Theatre in the Washington suburb of Rosslyn, Va. The story and players are worthy of a city run.

— March 4, 2005

© Copyright 2001-05 Seeing Black, Inc. All Rights Reserved.