Review: AMERICAN MOOR at Green Room Theatre Company

Keith Hamilton Cobb’s award-winning play American Moor is an experience--one that has the power to transform your notions of extant racial issues, specifically in the world of theatre politics. Coachella Valley audiences can see this production through April 3. Since it is running at various venues as part of Green Room Theatre’s Newish Shakespeare Festival, specific information appears at the end of this review. You will never forgive yourself if you miss it. For details, please visit grtccv.org.

Award-winning actor Eddie Stephens has the gift. He delivers an extraordinary, non-stop performance as a seasoned Black actor (Keith) who comes to an audition for the role of Shakespeare’s Othello, secure in his conviction that he understands the character and can bring both his performing and life experiences to the role. The less-experienced, pedantic White director, stunningly portrayed by Ronald Douglass, opens the audition by making remarks in stark contrast to the actor’s perception of his character. Kaboom!

Douglass, who plays the opinionated White director, skillfully creates the counterpoint between his preconceptions and the actor’s vision, and emphasizes the effect of his attitude on the actor. Well done, Ronald. I look forward to seeing you in future local productions.

Kathryn Ervin directed American Moor with the insight gained from a lifetime of looking into the hearts of actors and elevating them to a excellence. Now a Professor Emerita in the Department of Theatre Arts at California State University San Bernardino, her work includes Pippin, Rowing to America, In the Heights, Urinetown, Once On This Island, and Invisible, based on The Invisible Man, novels with that title by Ralph Ellison and H.G. Wells. She has been a visiting director at several universities and theatres nationally, and the co-author with Ethel Pitts Walker of An African American Scenebook. Kathryn is a past president and currently a consultant for the Black Theatre Network, a national organization for all those interested in celebrating the beauty and complexity of black life onstage.

For those who have never read or seen or may have forgotten Shakespeare’s Othello, here’s brief recap to prepare you for what will be an unforgettable theatrical experience.

After a harrowing early life, Othello the Moor arrives in Venice and, after years of service, rises to the position of General—the noble commander of the Venetian army. When we first meet him, Othello embodies the heroic, highly respected warrior. He enjoys a close friendship with Brabantio, a wealthy and powerful Venetian Senator—that is, until Othello and Brabantio’s daughter Desdemona elope without her father’s permission.

The other main characters in Shakespeare’s tragedy, none of whom appear in American Moor, are Iago, the manipulative villain who drives Othello to his downfall, and Desdemona, Othello’s beloved, whom he kills. Othello does mention Brabantio’s name.

UPCOMING VENUES

Carl May Community Center, Desert Hot Springs
March 21 and 22

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Indio
March 27 and 28

Revolution Stage, Palm Springs
April 3