Hardly a week goes by without another tragic news story about the violent death of a young African-American. In fact, it’s become so sadly commonplace that one identity hardly registers before another death happens, rather like the quickly forgotten tune on the “B-side” of a tape or a recording.
Denying that sad melody is Kimber Lee’s new play, brownsville song (b-side for tray), which has just debuted locally at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati. The show premiered two years ago at the Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre in Louisville, and had a New York production later in 2014.
It’s a perfect choice for ETC — a moving, socially conscious work with textured characters and a story that digs deep into the sadness of a young man’s death and the affirming ripples that sustain his legacy.
Tray (played by Kameron Richardson, a recent drama grad of the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music) is a high school senior whose life has been cut short by an act of senseless violence. Lee’s play is not linear, instead flowing back and forth in time as Tray’s family remembers him and grieves his loss while moving toward hope.
In flashbacks we see him struggle to write a college entrance essay, juggle work in a coffee shop and be a responsible big brother to Devine, his kid sister, age 8 (played by Ari Johnson, a student at nearby SCPA). They’re being raised by a stern but loving grandmother (Deborah Brock-Blanks, an ETC veteran) since Tray’s mother (Lissa Urriquia Gapultos) has addiction issues.
ETC has mounted many productions featuring African-American characters — especially several of August Wilson’s Century Cycle plays — but brownsville song might be the most timely work they’ve presented. Two well-known African-American performers who won’t be in the show are supporting ETC’s artistic director, D. Lynn Meyers, as she seeks to assure authenticity and faithfulness to the playwright’s instructions concerning movement.
Torie Wiggins, a CCM drama grad, has played several roles at ETC, including Pearl in Black Pearl Sings and Camae in The Mountaintop. Darnell Pierre Benjamin just completed a campy performance as a drag artist in The Legend of Georgia McBride. Both have acted with Know Theatre and Cincinnati Shakespeare. Wiggins was recently featured in the Cincinnati Playhouse production of To Kill a Mockingbird. For brownsville song, Wiggins is Meyers’ assistant director and Benjamin choreographed the show according to the playwright’s explicit instructions.
Neither Benjamin nor Wiggins are Cincinnati natives, but they agree that the show has a message that should resonate in the Queen City.
“Fortunately — and unfortunately — it is still relevant,” Wiggins says. “That’s all I’ve got to say about it.”
Benjamin says brownsville song reminds him of when he first moved here.
“I had a hard time adjusting; I felt so separated,” he says. “Over time, it’s gotten better. What I hope more than anything is that people don’t look at this show as ‘Oh, that poor black kid.’ I just hope they see their own kids connected to this story, their own families.”
Wiggins agrees, adding, “I hope it pushes people to see how these people are victims of these times, how they deal with loss and how they have values. Even though Tray’s name didn’t become a hashtag, people can still find some connective tissue and some relativity there. This story is about finding empathy.”
“I think about people all the time wishing they could do something,” Benjamin says. “Having a conversation is what they can do. Have that conversation and take it home. Maybe somebody at home will take it somewhere else. That’s what causes change.”
Wiggins approached Meyers about assisting. “I had some free time, and I wanted to be involved,” she says. Meyers needed some help with background for the show, and Wiggins previously lived in Brooklyn and taught middle school in its Brownsville neighborhood. “I knew the neighborhood,” she says, “and I wanted to offer whatever I could.”
Wiggins expects to learn more about directing.
“Lynn is definitely good at bringing people together and elevating the work,” she points out. “She always defers to authenticity. In a play like this, that’s important. That’s how this collaboration happens.”
Assisting with staging the show has been a new experience for Wiggins and she says she is grateful for the experience.
“I want to do more directing,” she says, “and I can’t think of a better show to do that.”
Meyers recruited Benjamin when he was performing in ETC’s Georgia McBride and rehearsing for Pulp, now onstage at Know Theatre.
He desires to grow and develop as an artist. He’s choreographed dances before, but overseeing movement for a play is something new.
“I’m looking forward to how I’ll change after this show, to what’s going to come after this,” Benjamin says “Not necessarily in terms of work, but specifically in terms of me. How will I grow and change?”
Benjamin says playwright Lee has provided very specific descriptions for movement.
“For example,” he offers, “in the relationship between the brother and sister, there’s a sort of dance that begins early in the show and it sort of develops into a performance. There’s this middle ground of reality and other-worldliness between brother and sister, a relationship that never got to be fulfilled.”
Benjamin appreciates how Meyers assembles theater professionals who are the best choices for a production, lauding her casting abilities and the way she assembles “the right team of people.”
“Once you do that,” he says, “the magic just happens. She puts you in the project because she knows you have something to give.”
Wiggins and Benjamin both find the script to be strong and effective. And they believe this production will convince the audience.
“It’s going to do what the playwright really wants it to do, how she wants people to view the culture around Brownsville and what goes on there and how people deal with pain and loss,” Wiggins says.
BROWNSVILLE SONG (B-SIDE FOR TRAY) is at Ensemble Theatre through Oct. 30. More info/tickets: ensemblecincinnati.org.
This article appears in Oct 12-19, 2016.
