It was a hot time in Detroit nearly 50 years ago when race riots were destroying inner-city neighborhoods. Dominique Morisseau’s recent play will take audiences back to that era but in a very personal, down-to-earth way: A brother and sister are trying to hold onto their childhood home by having after-hours basement parties to spin new Motown recordings and raise some scratch for house payments while the world around them is burning. The police have other ideas, and Chelle and Lank don’t agree about the best way to spend the proceeds. It’s a tense drama against an historic backdrop.
Through April 5. $28-$44. Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, 1127 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-421-3555, ensemblecincinnati.org.
This article appears in Mar 11-17, 2015.
