Review: SKELETON CREW at Kansas City Actors Theatre

Kansas City Actors Theater last week opened their new production of “Skeleton Crew” a relatively new (2016) play by Dominique Morisseau on the City Stage located on the lower level of Union Station.

“Skeleton Crew” is about a changing society and how change is especially difficult in a fast evolving industry like automobiles.   The title “Skeleton Crew” refers to a factory cut back so that workers can only just perform the work needed to be done.  It is the final installment in a three play cycle by Morisseau focusing on the Black experience in Detroit.

It is ironic that this play should be presented in the midst of the first major all industry auto industry strike in the history of American labor.  In the real world, the UAW has made significant demands of the auto manufacturers. An impasse has been reached.  The union has struck the three major US Auto makers.

“Skeleton Crew” is written from the point of view of its characters.  All the characters and the playwright are African-American.   While some of the situations may be Afro-centric only, most of the discussion could apply to any ethnic group.       

The four characters we shall meet are employees of a stamping factory subdivision of a major American auto company located in the Detroit (MI) metroplex. 

Faye, Dez, and Shanita work an assembly line. Reggie has advanced from assembly work to become a foreman supervisor after fifteen years on the job. Like many similar factories, this one is in danger of being shuttered.   Assembly workers are represented by the United Auto Workers.  Reggie is afforded no such protection as a new member of management. 

Faye (Nedra Dixon) is the longest tenured of the workers. She has worked at the plant for twenty-nine years and is a person of some influence.   She is a Mom figure to many of her fellow workers and the Union shop steward. 

Reggie (L. Roi Hawkins), the foreperson, owes his employment and part of his success to Faye. Unlike the other characters, Reggie is isolated from the group.    He protects his workers as best he can, but they have grown to resent him as the instrument of management.

Faye is his connection to the people he once worked alongside.  He confides in her that the plant will close. Faye is caught in the uncomfortable position of being both the loyal friend to Reggie and the Union representative.

Faye intends to retire at the conclusion of the next year when a significantly more comfortable retirement kicks in for her. She seems lately cursed.  It turns out her female partner (Reggie’s Mother) has died.  Faye has survived Cancer, but not without considerable cost. Her savings are gone.   She has lost her home.  She is living clandestinely in the factory break room.  Her same sex relationship has caused an estrangement from her son.  All she has is her job.

The remaining characters are Dez (Petey McGee) and Shanita (Markeyta L. Young). 

Dez is a young black man who accepts that most of the world rails against him.  He needs his job, but will accept the closure as a matter of course.  He has decided his only way forward is his own independent business.

Shanita is a young, very pregnant, black woman still working on the line at this late moment in her pregnancy.  She likes her job and is dedicated to it.  She believes she is doing something worthwhile with her life.  She is concerned with the possibility that she will lose benefits if the plant does close.

A sweet relationship develops between Shanita and Dez.  The one between Reggie and Faye can only be described as bittersweet.

This is a strong cast working with difficult material.  One of the workers will have to be terminated.  Reggie does his best, but the person terminated is Faye.

We get a glimpse into the characters’ lives performed well, but I found the “no resolution” of the initial premise unsatisfying or at least a bit depressing.   I should have preferred a vision of a more positive future for these people.

“Skeleton Crew” is worth seeing and evaluating on your own.  It is certainly worth a discussion between you and whoever you see it with.

The production continues through October 1.  Tickets are available at www.kcactors.org or by telephone at 816.361.5228.

Photos provided by Kansas City Actors Theatre and Brian Paulette.