Review: Dael Orlandersmith's 'SPRITUS/VIRGIL'S DANCE Shines in its Humanity

Sometimes in the midst of the hubbub of the Contemporary American Theater Festival’s program, you have a rare opportunity to visit with a truly remarkable artist who is willing to tell you an intensely personal story from life.  When this happens you find yourself on a journey that is both familiar and yet unique; an often-jagged trail from youth through early, crazy adulthood to maturity, culminating in a kind of peace with oneself that so many of us crave and can’t quite achieve for ourselves.

You come away from shows like this not just content, but rejoicing in the character’s personal triumph, no matter what shape that may take.  It’s a special, human kind of satisfaction which we might not have realized we needed—but which we truly need nonetheless.  It’s an alternative to the “knockout” shows we usually associate with theatre, and a welcome one.

This year, Dael Orlandersmith reigns supreme in the Studio 112 space at CATF, telling the story of Virgil, a native of the Bronx.  Curated and written with care, and based on Orlandersmith’s interviews and research, the humanity of the piece shines brilliantly.  That Virgil’s journey includes some wonderful songs (which were Virgil’s parents’ favorites) only endears you more to him and to his remarkable life, and Lindsay Jones' sound design does a marvelous job evoking the bygone days of the 60's and 70's.  Remarkable, precisely because it is so unique.

Under the able, guiding hand of director Neel Keller, we follow Virgil’s story from its Bronx roots to the soul-less young professional scene in Manhattan, culminating in a heartfelt return to roots.  The journey is intensely personal, as Virgil develops a friendship with a local funeral home director—whose example of compassion and love for Virgil’s parents (both of whom pass in the course of the story) helps us realize that service to the dead of the community can be one of the most amazing, life-affirming gifts. 

Takeshi Kata’s set is deceptively simple, a handful of circular areas behind beaded curtains, each of which (lit with care by Mary Louise Geiger) evokes and reveals key moments in Virgil’s story.  Kaye Voyce’s costume—plain black, with silver accents—establishes Orlandersmith’s presence as a storyteller with style.

As it so often happens, a ‘small’ show in the Festival’s experimental black-box space proves to be one of the finest efforts to be seen.  Orlandersmith’s work in “Spiritus/Virgil’s Dance” is well worth the visit, and will touch you in unexpected, welcome ways.

Photo:  Dael Orlandersmith, from the Kimmel Cultural Campus 2014 Theater Residency.

Running Time:  70 minutes without Intermission.

Spiritus/Virgil’s Dance runs as a part of the Contemporary American Theatre Festival, through July 30 in Studio 112 at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

For tickets visit https://catf.org/buy-tickets/ .  You can also email the box office at boxoffice@catf.org or call them at 681-240-2283.

 

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