By Manning Harris
fmanningh@gmail.com
The Alliance Theatre has pulled no punches in its selection of a winner in this year’s Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition: “The C.A. Lyons Project,” by Tsehaye Geralyn Hébert, running through March 8 on the intimate Hertz Stage.
It’s a bold choice because the play is multidisciplinary, combining dance and drama, demanding real expertise in both disciplines from its performers. Also, in its unblinking look at the African-American dance scene in the 1980’s, as AIDS became an epidemic, it’s more unsparing, intense, and sexual than an Alliance general audience is used to. But that’s why we have the Hertz Stage, where you’ll often find the best “pure theatre” in town, e.g., “Choir Boy” or “Carapace.”
But the Kendeda judges have gambled, because so much of “The C.A. Lyons Project’s” visceral power comes from the dancing. How could one perceive the play’s total effect from just the printed page? It’s a fair question, because the dancing is often spectacular; and seen up close in the Hertz, it can take your breath away.
But there’s a story to be told here, and its genesis is in playwright Hébert’s personal loss of a friend, an electrifying dancer “who died in his mid 30’s and inspired her title character,” writes Julie Bookman in the program. C.A. Lyons, wonderfully portrayed by James Brown III, is an intensely charismatic young man who leads a black dance troupe in Chicago. As he falls ill from AIDS, his muses “The Three Graces of the 20th Century,” must find a way to preserve their mentor’s art and legacy.
They are Amandla Sister Afrikia (née Amy Kent), played by Francesca Harper; Bethlehem Dunning, played by Tiffany Denise Hobbs; and Chaos Unit (née Christine Cross), a fiery, rebellious hip-hop, ballet dancer, played by Danielle Deadwyler. Each of these women has her own story and special relationship to C.A.
And so does Clyde “Pretty Boy” Wylie, also in the dance company, played by Juel D. Lane. In addition, there are Richard Kent (Keith Randolph Smith), Amandla’s supportive father; Rosetta Kent (Donna Biscoe), homophobic and not so supportive; and Gracious Dunning (Michelle A. Banks).
I think the first words spoken in the play are “What do you fear?” This is a question every aspiring artist must face, and it’s a question that almost everyone in America was asking as the AIDS pandemic spread death and terror. If you’re too young to remember the 80’s (Ms. Hébert isn’t; I’m not), it’s hard to imagine the mindset of many people at that time. What we don’t understand (AIDS), we fear; and what we fear, we tend to hate. Tragically, much of the hate was directed at the victims, rather than the more rational course of finding preventive means and a cure.
AIDS and its effect on black artists like C.A. Lyons (and on all its victims) should be the main focus here. Instead, we find ourselves involved in “The Three Graces” more than C.A. Lyons. This is unfortunate. And when Mr. Brown is offstage, the energy of the entire piece wanes. If you were watching a biography about Jimi Hendrix, whom would you be most interested in?
But there are thrilling high points: The Act I finale, an energetic dance version of “O Happy Day,” had the audience cheering and many on their feet. This is the pinnacle of excitement of the whole evening. The second act is quite short.
The acting is, thank goodness, uniformly excellent. As I mentioned, this is a bold, quite experimental piece to win a major playwriting competition. For me it’s still a work in progress. But when it’s cooking, it’s rivets you to your seat. Ms. Hébert and Director Kent Gash (former Alliance associate artistic director) just need to find a few more of those moments.
For tickets and information, visit alliancetheatre.org.
