Providence Black Rep's Black Maria

The opening of Black Maria had the feeling of being significant date in the arc of history that the Providence Black Repertory Company has created for itself.

A capacity crowd filled the theater as Board Chair Michael Van Leesten  spoke of the 10 year vision for the Company, which includes an expanded performance space and an in-house restaurant.  The Theater Company already shares a strong sybiotic relationship with the nightly programming at the Xxodus Cafe .

Artistic Director Donald King introduced the play, and the author of the Black Maria, Kevin Young, who was in the attendance for opening night.  King asked the audience to take the emotional journey with him.  He suggested that we think of the play as we would an opera, giving our attention to the larger emotions and actions of the play.  

Black Maria is a collection of poems that tell the story of A.K.A. Jones, a "soft-boiled" detective, and Delilah Redbone, who King described as having "a narrative we all know": a young girl from a small town who goes to the city to find her fame and fortune.  As envisioned by Young,  the city is Shadowtown, a place where Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade would feel completely at home.   It is written in five acts, or "reels".  The Black Rep performed the piece with one intermission.  

Kevin Young has written a beautiful, stylish piece of fiction with Black Maria. In directing the piece for the stage Donald King was very focused on honoring the work of Black Maria as it existed.  King took artistic liberty in condensing characters and creating action to move the prose forward, but there was no dialogue that wasn't previously Young's prose.  A small example of the dialogue/poetry from Black Maria:

"No wonder when
That detective stumble in-

smelling of catharsis
& cheap ennui,

begging to be
given an extra week

with his knees-
I wanted him like nobody's

business.  His
blown kiss.

Never laundered
like money, that dick's suit

stayed rumpled like the pages
of a paperback dropped

in the tub, drowned, the end
you read first to find out

whodunit, never
mind why."

The cast, Alexis Brown as Delilah Reddbone, Aaron Andrade as A.K.A. Jones, Raidge as The Boss and Bob Jaffe as The Naked City deliver the dialogue beautifully, while expressing the action that the spoken word created or was created to help the audience understand the words that were being spoken.  

I found the reference to opera to be, particularly, meaningful.  The words, spoken, were no less beautiful just because I didn't always understand what they were meant to express.  When I thought of the production in terms of an opera; having a iron grip on every detail of the characters, action or dialogue became less pressing.

In his book, Young has a "voiceover" at the beginning of each "reel".  The "voiceover" sets up the scene and gives a broad-brush description of the action.  This technique would be very helpful if carried over into the stage production.  The straight-on narrative would also break-up the densely allegorical poetry for the audience.

The Providence Black Repertory Company's Black Maria is a completely innovative production.  It is in a category by itself, locally.  That any theater company in New England could pull this production off, is amazing.  That this small, young, company pulled it off so beautifully is a testament to the talent and dedication of the cast and crew at the Black Rep.

Black Maria runs at the Black Rep through March 11, 2007.  Tickets can be purchased through Arttix RI at www.arttixri.com or by phone at 401-621-6123

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