'Burgh Vivant

By Michael Buzzelli

“Show a little more. Show a little less. Add a little smoke. Welcome to Burlesque.” Cher’s iconic words reverberated through the theater at RED City Live’s “The Making of Burlesque,” a perfect summary of the evening’s entertainment.

The show starts off with a bang. Roxy (Elisa-Marie Alaio) appears on the second-floor balcony at Enclave (the barely restored, but definitely renamed Rex Theater in the South Side). She struts down the stairs and catwalks down the aisle to “Pasties and a G-String” by Tom Waits. Once on stage, she grabs her sleeve and tears it off.  The tearaway costume comes off in large swaths of fabric. Soon, she’s gyrating around in lingerie. Her lithe body writhes around. It’s hot, sexy fun.

Roxy summons the other Express Girls to the stage. She is joined by Davina (Savionne Chambers), Elektra (Sabrina Liu), Harlow (Jaide Frost), Stella (Nicola Molea) and Rose (Sarah Mattis). It’s the entire cast, with the notable exception of Kitty (Carly DiCola).

When Kitty does make her debut, she is the janitor, sweeping up and grabbing the discarded bits of clothing left on the floor by the other girls. She’s got a Mayim Bialik/ Miranda Hart vibe, awkwardly dancing with bucket and broom, wearing glasses, a frumpy polka dot dress, and sensible shoes. Later in the show, she pulls a nerd-to-hot-girl transformation straight out of an 80s flick.

Before the butterfly bursts out of her cocoon, she’s won over the audience. At one point, the audience chanted, “Kitty! Kitty! Kitty!” Everyone loves the underdog and class clown, and Kitty is both.

A video preview can be found here.

There is a plot to “The Making of Burlesque,” but it doesn’t matter. The show is a fantastic revue for the Express Girls, showing off their talents.

Note: “Talents” is not a euphemism. The girls are serious dancers having fun on the stage.  The girls have sharp, crisp movements, but they also dance fluidly together.

The show has some great numbers, all choreographed by Alaio. It’s an eclectic mix of music, including Eartha Kitt’s “My Discarded Men, ” to Brittney Spears’ “Work Bitch.” There are some specific showstoppers. The Express Girls rock out during Marilyn Manson’s version of “Tainted Love.” In the second act, they are spectacular in Valarie Pettiford’s “Big Spender.” At one point, they grab members of the audience, sit them in folding chairs and bump and grind lasciviously around their individual targets.

DiCola has a different style when she’s on stage alone, but, when dancing in the troupe, she fits in flawlessly. Her character is the comic relief, but she is more than that.

Alaio is an amazing dancer. She commands the stage. Her solo numbers are knockouts.

Chambers gets a solo and its divine.

Suz Pizano costumes bring the glam, delightful, frilly and fun. Too bad most of them spend so much time on the floor.

While the show has scantily clad women twirling about on stage, “The Making of Burlesque” is a show filled with joy.  It is naughty, but not dirty.

In a brief discussion with the RED City Live Entertainment producers and owners, Susie and Reid Gustin, the duo revealed that female audience members leave feeling empowered. Everyone leaves wanting to dance, whether clothed or not, it’s astounding.

RED City Live is bringing sexy back. I have to praise them like I should.

-MB

“The Making of Burlesque” returns in February 25 to the Enclave, 1602 East Carson Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203. For more information, click here. 

Claire DeMarco

Kevin (Jamison Stern) is having a bad time!  He’s broken up with his partner and he’s a wannabe but unsuccessful comedian.  Kevin finds solace in the secure confines of his parents’ attic. Kevin’s problems are compounded as they occur in a COVID-crazed environment as he is consumed with disinfecting shopping bags, lifting a huge package of toilet paper and washing his hands multiple times.

Note:  Weren’t we all?  

If you are isolated, lonely, scared and insecure like Kevin, you can’t imagine a more empathetic, kind, joyous or positive person like your idol Dolly Parton (Tricia Paoluccio) to be the main character in your dreams.   

Dolly Parton is Kevin’s cheerleader, encouraging him, helping him see the positive side of life, to like himself.  The interaction between Dolly Parton and Kevin happens through dialogue and song.  “9 to 5” and “Jolene” are just a few of the songs sung by Dolly with Kevin occasionally joining in with other tunes.

 Paoluccio is brilliant as Dolly Parton.   The voice, the accent, the laugh, the tilted head, the walk.   It’s all there.  Trappings like the big blonde wig, glitzy clothes and very high heels complete the overall persona.

Note:  After the first few verses of the first song, ‘Burgh Vivant’s Lonnie the Theater Lady looked over at me and mouthed “is she lip syncing Dolly Parton”?   Definitely not!  

From her first appearance on stage to the finale, whether speaking or singing, Paoluccio is Dolly Parton!

Stern is wonderful as the unsure character made more insecure due to COVID and seclusion in his parents’ attic.  He grows through his interactions, discussions and sometimes angry moments with Dolly.  His comedic skills are highlighted as he dresses up as Dolly (wig, heels and clothes) lip-syncing as Paoluccio sings.  

The set is detailed but not overwhelming and provides hints that the occupant is looking at a long-term residency (a Halloween pumpkin, lit Christmas lights, a coffee stand, cozy bed and work desk, a full-length Dolly Parton poster on a door). 

What a wonderful new musical!

Kudos to Music Director/Orchestrator Eugene Gwozdz.

Direction and Choreography by Gabriel Barre.

“Here You Come Again” was written by Bruce Vilanch, Gabriel Barre and Tricia Paoluccio.

-CED

 “Here You Come Again” is presented by Pittsburgh’s CLO Kara Cabaret Series and produced in association with Point Park’s Pittsburgh Playhouse. The show runs from January 12 – January 29 at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. For more information, click here.

By Michael Buzzelli

Playwright Cheryl L. West takes an unflinching look at the life and times of an unsung American hero in “Fannie – The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hanner.”

Fannie Lou Haner (Robin McGee) was a sharecropper, who, at the age of 44, found out that Black People were allowed to vote in the state of Mississippi. She set off to register to vote and, the next thing you know, she became a leading figure in the Civil Rights Movement in the 60s.

Fannie circuitous route from her humble beginnings to her fight against Mississippi and the United States, et al, sounds like a superhero origin story.

The one-woman-show is told with song. The show never backs away from the more gruesome elements of the tale. America has an ugly history when it comes to Civil Rights. At times, it can be hard to watch McGee stand on stage and recount the more violent elements of Fannie’s past. It’s not for the squeamish.

McGee is joined on stage by the band, Morgan E. Stevenson, Spencer Bean and Dennis Garner.

McGee is charismatic, a powerful presence on stage, and the band is terrific.

The set, by Moriah and Isabel Curley-Clay, is magnificent in umber and burnt orange. The stage is enhanced by some fantastic projection design by Bradley Bergeron. At one point, a photo of Emmet Till drops in at the exact moment, stirring a flutter of turbulent emotions.

Note: The Civil Rights Movement started in the churches. At the time, the church was the only place to go for help if you were a poor and Black in the South. This show makes a lot of references to God, Jesus and the Holy Bible. At one point, the show seems to take on the energy of a big tent revival meeting, complete with call and response from the audience. It can be off-putting if you’re not a Christian.

While there are dark elements, the play is uplifting and joyous. Like a lesson from the bible, it starts off with some terrible injustice and bolsters you up with hope for the future with powerful words, both spoken and sung.

“Fannie – The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Haner” should be shown every election year. It instills the importance of voting and voting rights unlike anything before it. It is educational and informative, but, above all, entertaining.

It reminds us that we have the power to make America better than it ever was. We just have to keep our eyes on the prize: Liberty and Justice for all. It’s a perfect message for the Martin Luther King Weekend.

-MB

“Fannie – The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Haner” plays January 13 – 16 at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, 980 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, click here. 

by Gina McKlveen

A line of passengers waiting by the bus stop along Liberty Avenue chatter amongst themselves or stare at their phones, meanwhile behind them at The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s 820 Liberty Avenue gallery, BOOM Concepts presents a visual conversation with ceramic, photographic, illustrated, painted, fiber and videographic works in an exhibit titled BLACK ON BLACK LOVE. The exhibit is designed to be a multidisciplinary survey of different expressions of Black love and how its force is expressed within and amongst the Black Community.

The title of the exhibit pays homage to Queen Latifiah’s song with the same name. Within the center, or heart, of the exhibit is a portrait of the artist’s mother with a quote of another ‘queen’ who has exemplified Black love through the arts and music in Pittsburgh–Jacques Mae, a Pittsburgh native and international singer, actress, artist, activist, business owner, and teacher. Mae’s inspirational words, “Her love is so sweet so powerful like thunder yet soft like spring’s rain,” are written to the left of a black and white rendering of the artist’s mother. The artist, Camerin “Camo” Nesbit, stylistically and intentionally chose to outline his mother’s portrait with gold paint, emphasizing the silhouette of her hair which gives his mother a regal presence like that of Queen Latifiah.

Jacques Mae is also an art royal in the Pittsburgh community. She is integrally involved in several local arts organizations and efforts including Assemble, a Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (S.T.E.A.M.) nonprofit organization based in Pittsburgh’s Friendship, Garfield, and Bloomfield neighborhoods. Using her well-versed vocal background, she has also served as a teaching artist at 1Hood Media and The Corner Pittsburgh, inspiring the next generation to use their voices in art and advocacy.

On the wall opposite of Camo’s portrait of his mother is a nearly 20-minute videographic art display by KINSELLAND, a husband-and-wife visual retelling of their love story. Through poems, spoken words and visual imagery, viewers are welcomed into intimate settings and storytelling. The pair of headsets help make the experience more intimate between listeners and the artists, closing off the sounds of the external world, but allowing each one to perceive their own experience with their own ears.

Over the shoulders of these two displays are a pair of dangling jackets and hanging prints by the artist, Sakony Burton. The back of the matching jackets have embroidered letters with the same phrase that reads: “I CAN ALWAYS BE MYSELF WHEN YOU’RE AROUND.” A welcoming phrase that allows any viewer below to be themselves in this space, to explore the depths of the love the artists here have sought to portray.

Other works featured in the exhibit are those of artists Norman Brown, Dominick Mcduffie, KINSELLAND, atiya jones, Staycee Pearl, Junyetta Seale, and Marce’ Nixon Washington.

– GM

“Black on Black Love” runs from now until January 8, 2023.  Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s 820 Gallery, 820 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information click here.  

By Michael Buzzelli

Ella (Callie Brielle McIntyre) sits in the corner yearning for a life beyond the drudgery of her daily life when Prince Topher (Sam Greene) gallops into her neck of the woods seeking a sip of water from her well in “Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella.”

Once the prince’s thirst is slated, his chief advisor, Sebastian (Adam Koda) tries to fend off Crazy Marie (Angela Jade George), but Ella defends Marie insisting she is harmless.  The prince takes pity on the pauper and notices Ella’s kindness, but the needs of the realm draw him out of the woods and back to his castle. While he’s on the throne, Sebastian manipulates him into having a masquerade ball to find a potential mate.  Sebastian’s distraction is part of his dastardly plan to keep the prince from learning about all of his evil deeds, even though a local rabble-rouser, Jean-Michel (Jackson Miller) is loudly protesting to anyone who will listen. 

Meanwhile, Ella’s evil stepmother, known simply as Madame (Marguerite Reed), and her two daughters, Gabrielle (Maya Fullard) and Charlotte (Mary Felix) return to their thatched hut after a long day of shopping. Madame is cruel to her stepdaughter, favoring the daughters from her first marriage. Because she’s covered in soot from cleaning the fireplace, the wicked stepmother mocks her and calls her Cinderella.

When Lord Pinkleton(AJ DePetris) announces the upcoming festivities the townspeople swell with cheer, ignoring Jean-Michele.

Pinkleton proclaims that everyone is invited to the ball.

Spoiler?!

If you guessed the part where Cinderella’s evil stepmother prevents Cinderella from attending the ball, you’ll probably guess the rest. Something about magic and midnight, a glass slipper, yada, yada, yada.

Side note: I never understood why all of Cinderella’s clothes transform at midnight, except for that single glass slipper. I guess that’s shoe business.

Actually, Oscar Hammerstein, II, and Douglas Carter Beane put a new spin on an old tale. The prince gets a bit more of a back story. He’s more than a knight in shining armor in this musical adaptation.

Tomé Cousin directs a lively version of this age old story, finding fresh and innovative ways to showcase all of his talents. He has expertly picked his cast.

Greene is a dashing and charming prince with a voice big enough for Broadway.

It’s easy to fall in love with McIntyre’s Cinderella. She is a marvelous choice. Her rendition of “In my own little corner” is delightful.

Greene and McIntyre have chemistry together. Their duet, “Ten Minutes Ago” is a showstopper.

The other characters are decidedly over-the-top, but it’s a perfect choice for this bigger-than-life spectacle. Skip “The Nutcracker” and take the kids to see this instead. Hint: “The Nutcracker” will be back next year, but this is lightning in a bottle!

George’s Fairy Godmother, literally and figuratively, shines like a star, aided by a sparkly dress complete with gossamer wings.

Felix’s Charlotte also gets a grand moment singing “Stepsister’s Lament” with the distaff members of the ensemble.

Cousin, who has choreographed shows in the past, turned the choreography over to Eileen Grace Reynolds. She steps up to job with aplomb.

The scenes and props are incredible. Noah Glastier’s cottage in the woods is an efficient set piece that packs up like a suitcase and moves on and off the stage.

Shout out to Damian Dominguez who’s costume design simply amazes. Each costume is fantastic, beautiful dresses at the ball, princely attire for Topher, and even beautifully designed patchwork rags for Crazy Marie.  Dominguez stuns the audience with three spectacular costume changes (one for Crazy Marie and two for Cinderella). It’s stagecraft of the highest order. It’s practically magic.

This production is magical. A must see during its very brief run. I could not proclaim it more loudly if I were Lord Pinkleton, the exhausted and very funny town crier.

It seems impossible that a local college production of “Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella” could compare to a big Broadway show, but Cinderella and her Fairy Godmother are all about making the impossible possible. Go out and have a ball!

– MB

“Cinderella” runs from December 7 – 11, 2022 in the PNC Theatre inside the Pittsburgh Playhouse, 450 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, click here.

By Claire DeMarco

Ralphie Parker (Sebastian Madoni), like all other kids as they approach Christmas, anticipates a day full of fun and presents.  This upcoming holiday in Indiana in the 1940’s is especially exciting.  Ralphie has a specific Christmas wish that has absorbed all of his time, thought and attention.

What Ralphie wants for Christmas more than anything is an “official Red Ryder Carbine Action 200 Shot Range Model Air Rifle”.

Note:  Got that?

Although he doesn’t realize it, Ralphie’s determination for an “official Red Ryder Rifle…” actually turns into a clever marketing plan.  Subtle hints, overt ads mysteriously delivered in the mail, a homework paper with reasons why it’s important to have this gun contribute to Ralphie’s relentless pursuit.

Reliving this past Christmas season now as a grown up is Adult Ralph (John Shepard).  Interspersed among the tactics to reach his goal, Adult Ralph narrates and walks us through snapshots of his life as a child. He introduces us to Mother (Jamie Agnello) and Old Man (Tim McGeever), his brother Randy (Will Chambers), teacher Miss Shields (Hope M. Anthony), childhood friends and one bully.

Although most of the vignettes are not reflective of Ralphie’s quest for the ultimate prize they are memories of that time in his life.

The show is witty, hysterical and fun for all ages. 

McGeever is a rock star, specifically as he contemplates winning a “big prize” and his possessive control of the “big prize.”  His physical movements, facial expressions and comedic timing are spot on.

Note:  The “big prize” is a leg lamp with lampshade.  Nice gam, if I say so!

Shephard is great at blending his role as narrator into the scenes without distracting from the scenes themselves. He is both the storyteller and a quasi-participant.

Agnello is great as she uses gestures and body language without speaking, counteracting McGeever’s obsessive control of the “big prize.”

Anthony shows her chops with two different and clever comedy routines.

Madoni excels as Ralphie in a consistent and well-balanced performance.

Great job Colin Bozick, Will Chambers, Suraya Love Collins, Eamonn McElfresh, Zora Rose, Charlie Julian Stull, Jude Ziggy Glover, Adjoa Opoku-Dakwa and Nikolai Zevchak.

The set is reflective of a 1940’s era home – an ice box, console radio, red and white linoleum kitchen tiles, typical furniture pieces.  The transition from the home setting is smooth as the scene changes to a school room or a department store Santa Land.

Excellent direction by Michael Berresse.

A Christmas Story, the Play” was written by Philip Grecian and is based on the 1983 film also titled “A Christmas Story”.

-CED

“A Christmas Story – the Play” is a production of Pittsburgh Public Theater.  It runs from November 30 – December 23. For more information, click here.

by Gina McKlveen

On December 1, 2022, the Carnegie Museum of Art in partnership with the Carnegie Mellon School of Art hosted one of its many artist talks that is part of a series called, “Refractions: 58^th Carnegie International Conversation Series.” Inside the Carnegie Museum of Art Theater, two revolutionary artists—James “Yaya” Hough and etta cetera—sat side-by-side in conversation with each other and the moderator, Dana Bishop-Root, who serves as the Museum’s Director of Education and Public Programs.

Yaya is a seasoned artist who has had a love for expressing himself through the arts since his childhood. He grew up in the Hill District of Pittsburgh and recalled some of the struggles he faced in his early years that were “not friendly to the development of an artist.” At seventeen, after being convicted of murder, Yaya was sentenced to prison and served a 23-year mandatory life sentence without parole.

While in the prison system, Yaya rediscovered his love of the arts. Initially, his motive for making art was as a tool to change the conditions of his own environment. However, along the way Yaya realized that art had a unique ability to bring people together to make ripple effects in the community. So Yaya treated his role as an artist in prison with great responsibility, focusing first and foremost on building relationships with people—an ethos he continues to bring into his work to this day, as evidenced by his most recent work for the Carnegie International, A Gift to the Hill District, which is featured not within the Museum walls, but in the Hill District community and created in collaboration with the neighbors who live there.

A Gift to the Hill District, is Yaya’s first public commission in his hometown, but he has been involved with Mural Arts Philadelphia for over a decade, served as the inaugural artist-in-residence at the Office of the District Attorney of Philadelphia, and created more than 50 works of art that have been installed at State Correctional Institutions across the United States.

Yaya crossed paths with etta cetera, artist and board of director of Let’s Get Free: The Women and Trans Prisoner Defense Committee, though an art exhibit hosted through BOOM concepts, a creative art space for marginalized voices in Pittsburgh. Yaya described one of the pieces he created for that exhibit as a “found object piece”—a collection of walnuts and a nail painted in white with an image and some text attached and etta recalled bringing a group of 17-year-old students to the exhibition, intentionally noting to these students that they were the same age as Yaya when he received his prison sentence. Like Yaya, etta’s view of the artist as a connector in the community serves as a path that leads to critical thinking, which can set people free.

For her own entry into the arts, etta also began at an early age when during her public-school education art became her favorite subject and all she wanted to do was be in the art classroom. She went on to work in Baltimore at the American Visionary Art Museum and discovered one of her foundational artistic inspirations, Beehive Design Collective, which introduced her to the paper mural art form that blended her creative expression with social advocacy efforts.

Now, etta says she sees every piece of art as a freedom prayer and her work seeks to show the humanity of incarcerated people. Specifically, etta mentioned the project “Let Grandma Go,” and described the story of an 80-something-year-old prisoner, Betty Heron, who knit a horse which etta used as an example to show the humanity of the elderly women still in prisoned. etta wants people to ‘see the thing’ that these prisoners create because prison has a way to isolating and invisibilizing people, especially women and trans prisoners who don’t have equal access to resources, including art materials, in prison as their male counterparts. Her collaborative work Across the Walls (2022), a 22-minute black and white video, details the first-person experiences of two women recently released from prison after serving over 40-year sentences, and five others who are still incarcerated. Her hope with this work is that people will see it and be ignited to do something to change their own community.

As a final parting for the evening, etta offered ways to get involved with Let’s Get Free: The Women and Trans Prisoner Defense Committee including Operation Break Bread—a visiting program that connects people in Pittsburgh with people who are incarnated at the two local women’s prisons, Write Time, a weekly virtual meeting space to write letters to people in prison, and Creative Resistance: Picture a Free World, an art show and fundraiser seeking submissions for visual art and poetry through February 1, 2023. More details on Let’s Get Free are available at: https://letsgetfree.info/.

-GM

The public can view A Gift to the Hill District at 2317 Center Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 and Across the Walls (2022) is on view at the Carnegie Museum of Art’s Heinz Architectural Center (Floor 2). “Refractions: James “Yaya” Hough & Let’s Get Free” will air on Artists in the World, a new WQED and Carnegie Museum of Art Podcast. The next “Refractions: 58^th Carnegie International Conversation Series” artist talk will take place on December 15, 2022 from 6:30-7:30 PM at the Carnegie Museum of Art Theater.

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By Michael Buzzelli

Travel with me to a foreign land, the exotic locale of “Sketchville.” The travel guide would tell you that Sketchville is “a bustling metropolis of wild ideas, goofy premises, and side-splitting one-liners.” All aboard! You’re gonna want to catch this train.

A plethora of local talent wrote sketches for local comedians. Can one be a locavore for laughter? Why the hell not?

The original all new material features sketches written by Eoin Carney, Kathi Finch, Jennifer Holz, Stephanie Kozikowski, Adam Lauver, Michael McBurney, Frank McDade, Ryan Nuzzo, Kevin O’Brien, Mike Rubino, Brian Schimmel, Matt Solter, and Scott Trampus.

Put your cell phone on mute. Brian Schimmel skewers “Uber Eats” in a sketch performed by Kevin O’Brien and Matt Solter. It’s a perfect parody for our times when our smart phone has gone from powerful tool in you pocket to intrusive nebby nose.

In Kazoo Police, Stacey Babyak gets pulled over by cops that sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher. Unlike Lucy Van Pelt, she can’t understand them. It’s a hilarious thread that weaves throughout the show.

Adam Lauver’s “Dolly” is a revelation. When Dolly Parton (Haley Holmes) goes into a recording studio to perform her hits, the producer (wryly played by Beth Geatches) learns that Dolly has tweaked her song to reflect the times. It’s another hilarious bit in a string of hilarious sketches, and Holmes is pure Parton throughout, while Geatches gets off some sardonic glances, and exasperated sighs.

Geatches has another triumphant moment as a panicked passenger on the Titanic, while the band plays on in Matt Solter’s sketch, “Titanic Sell-Outs.”

Ryan Nuzzo’s “Gay Jeopardy” is an instant classic. Nuzzo parodies one of America’s infotainment institutions in this sketch. The premise is simple but sublime as host Gary Grinder (Matt Solter) asks some fierce Jeopardy questions filled with ribald jokes enough to gag a drag.

Stephanie Kozikowski’s “Bachelorette Survival Kit” is a side-splitting sketch. When Montaja Simmons’s bride-to-be gets an unusual idea for her bachelorette party that may or may not involve a famous cryptid from the Pacific Northwest.

There’s even a song and dance in Scott Trampus’ “A Man in My Position,” delightfully performed by Kevin O’Brien and Matt Solter.

Director Parag S. Gohel gives each of the actors (Montaja Simmons, Fred Betzner, Kevin O’Brien, Stacey Babyak and Beth Geatches. Front row: Maame Danso, Matt Solter and Haley Holmes) a moment to shine.  Without his firm hand, it’s easy to see how the show could have devolved into a three-ring circus. Instead, Gohel guides the show with aplomb. Some actors could have been louder or more boisterous in presenting the material, but this show was reviewed from a final dress rehearsal.

Can it get silly at times? Yass, queen! But that’s the point of it. You can sit down, tune in and spend some time laughing out loud amongst friends. It’s a lovely evening out of your house, and there are enough sketches to keep you in stitches in “Sketchville.” It’s worth the trip.

– MB

“Sketchville” runs from December 1 to December 10 at the Arcade Comedy Theater, 943 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222.  For more information, click here. 

By Michael Buzzelli

When Mo Foster (Thaddeus Daniels) misses a payment, Davis “call me Mister Harlin” (Reginald “Reggie” Lee Wilson) buys his ancestral home and orders him and his son, Cricket (Lamar K. Cheston), to hit the bricks by noon the following day. But the house itself isn’t ready to give up on the Foster family.

The barriers of the space-time continuum break down in Layon Gray’s “Searching for Willie Lynch,” as several generations of the Foster family inhabit the surreal residence.

In 1925, Rahman (David N. Roberts) and Phebe (Ashley Victoria Scott) rush into their home seeking refuge from an unfortunate incident. In 1965, Basil (Layon Gray) and Charlene (Nicollette Ellis) are about have a baby, despite the fact that finances have tightened unexpectedly. In 2008, Peanut (Anthony Goss) stops by to pick Cricket up and take him the poles to vote for America’s first Black President, Barrack Obama when Mr. Harlin comes knocking.

If you’re wondering why there is no character named Willie Lynch in a play called, “Searching for Willie Lynch,” look no further. Lynch is the name of a slave owner who allegedly read a letter to teach his methods to slave owners on how to keep Black people divided for 300 years.

In a moment of anger, Cricket recites a portion of Lynch’s insidious letter to Mr. Harlin. He says, “Don’t forget you must pitch the old Black male vs. the young male. You must use the dark skin slaves vs. the light skin slaves, and the light skin slaves vs. the dark skin slaves. You must use the female vs. the male, and the male vs. the female.”

It’s a dark moment fueled by rage, but it paints a bigger picture of the conflict between Mr. Harlin and the Fosters. It paints a frightening picture of race relations in America. Knowing the problem, however, can get us to a solution.

“Searching for Willie Lynch” has mystical and mythical elements that enhance a generational story.  It’s a base it is a story about love – romantic, spiritual and familial.

All of the actors are superb with many strong performances throughout as the generations crisscross through the house.

Ellis’s Charlene is an overworked woman in the last month of her pregnancy. She exudes grace, confidence and love. She’s a joy to watch.

Cheston plays Cricket with aplomb. He is dynamic and charismatic. He is also uniquely outfitted in a vibrant dashiki supplied by Kelly Davis.

Goss’s Peanut gets a heart-rending monologue. It is a powerful performance.

Phebe is probably the most underdeveloped character in the piece, but Scott hands in a layered performance.

Gray, the writer, director and actor, infuses the story and his character with a deep, devoted love. You can feel his fondness for the characters and the actors oozing out of him.

Herb Newsome’s set is simple yet homey, stuck in the early Twentieth Century. Kudos to Olga George for properly appointing the set with artifacts of each era.

“Searching for Willie Lynch” is a play about connection. It is the kind of play we need after a pandemic. It was a perfect play to watch after hearing that a certain divisive (read racist) political candidate is running for president again. It is a play that reminds us that we need to stand up and fight injustice, to fight for your family.  Fight for love.

It’s also a play that reminds us to vote.

-MB

“Searching for Willie Lynch” runs until November 20 at the New Horizon Theater company, inside City Theatre’s new rechristened Dr. Vernell Audrey Watson Lillie Theatre, 1300 Bingham Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203. For more information, click here.