I have been hearing allot about this new play that starts previews tonight at MTC and it’s author is getting allot of attention (the second play in the series is at The Atlantic next season) Early reports are appreciated as always
“On a plantation during the Civil War, a mystical tree stretches toward heaven. As the battle rages on, the tree protects a young slave, James, while he reads newspapers about the imminent possibility of freedom. When a brooding stranger arrives, James and his makeshift family take the man in. Soon, an unexpected bond leads to a striking romance, and everyone is in uncharted territory. But is love powerful enough to set your true self free? This lyrical and lushly realized play is part of poet, filmmaker, and playwright Donja R. Love’s exploration of queer love at a pivotal moment in Black history. Directing is Saheem Ali (Kill Move Paradise)”.
I've got a friend working on the production and I've got a comp for next week, so I'll let you know. All I know is that the theater is set up in a thrust space.
For the life of me, I can’t understand why CC is showing this run as sold out when it truly isn’t. Use code “DONJA” on their site and more tickets will show.
the code unlocked tickets for the date I wanted! Since I'm not sure of it's origin, Im praying that the offer issn restricted to members of a club/union, age group or students
I feel the complete opposite. I thought the writing was very weak, the main actor awful, the design was pretty boring and the director had good ideas, but no follow-through.
So agree. I wanted to like it so much but really didn't.
I must first say, I'll take an ambitious failure like this over any upper middle-class-white-people-around-a-sofa play. But it is fails and falls short in almost every way.
The writing has some gorgeous language (it's unsurprising the playwright is also a poet) and a definite, fascinating voice. (I particularly enjoyed the anachronistic flashes of vocabulary among the poetry.) But a huge, huge weakness is in the storytelling and plot. Events and tension don't carry over into the next scene, resulting in an jerky, episodic feeling it doesn't seem to be intending.
To switch to the direction for a moment, I also agree the direction had promise but often felt underdeveloped and unfocused. The acting feels broad and unspecific at times and the hyper stylized parts don't seem to go anywhere. In particular, the segues between scenes seemed like they could add to something but ultimately seemed just there to fill empty time.
My largest criticism is how little time is devoted to the love story. We get to see so little of them falling in love. And it means we invest in each character separately, but not as a couple. (And don't get me start on plays about homosexual love where the only sex scenes are heterosexual. I'm not advocating for sex scenes, and I don't really like nudity onstage, but it always strikes me as odd when the only act shown is heterosexual. Can someone think of a play that's a heterosexual love story that only has gay sex portrayed onstage, while the central one is off?)
I so wanted to love it, but the execution let the ambition down.
Very interesting observation! And I agree, I just felt it was all underdeveloped, and when the tree starting saying "Love" i was like...this seems a bit obvious and literal...
Alexander Lamar said: "For the life of me, I can’t understand why CCis showing this run as sold out when it truly isn’t. Use code “DONJA” on their site and more tickets will show."
The code "DONJA" is still active and unlocks $25 tickets. Code is from playwright, Donja Love-Nicholas - publicly posted on his twitter. Anyone can use them.
joined:6/26/15
joined:
6/26/15
Posted: 6/5/18 at 9:52am