#TCTheater veteran actor James Craven starred in
Jungle Theater's production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Driving Miss Daisy in 2013, a play that I (a White woman from Minnesota) saw and loved, seeing it for what it is on the surface - the story of an enduring lifelong friendship. But James, with his experience as a Black man, looked deeper, and asked questions about what was going on just outside the action of this play, in the American South in the mid-20th Century. He did not get satisfactory answers, but it did inspire him to write his own version of the play, which 13+ years later he has done, along with Combustible Company's Kym Longhi who also directs the piece. The result is an unflinching look at the ugliest parts of American history. The parts that we don't like to remember, that we like to pretend are over and done with, the parts that the current administration is trying to erase. But now more than ever it's important to remember all of our history, even or especially the ugly parts, to ensure they don't happen again. It's time for Miss Daisy, and all of the Miss Daisies out there, to wake up to the reality of what her dear Hoke's life was like, what his family's life was like, when he wasn't driving her around. As with all of Combustible's work, this piece uses movement to help tell the story, with the addition of historical images to really bring this history to vivid life. Unfortunately this is a super short run, and only three performances remain, but if you're able, please go see this powerful, sobering, and important new work (
through March 14 at the O'Shaughnessy's Frey Theater on the campus of St. Catherine University).
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Hoke (Dominique Drake) and the playwright (Nick Miller)
(photo courtesy of Combustible Company) |
The play is written in a meta style, with the playwright of this play (James Craven) and the playwright of Driving Miss Daisy (Alfred Uhry) depicted as characters, the former talking about his experience acting in the original play and his questions about it, the latter defending his play and his characters, repeating that they're based on his and his family's experience. But this play gives us more about the driver Hoke's life, learning to drive while serving in the US Army during WWII, and the ugly reception that he and other returning Black veterans received. We see Hoke's side of the hiring process, and the work, placed within the historical context of what was happening in the American South in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. The lynchings, the bombings (of Temples and Black churches), the Civil Rights movement. All the while the playwright and his White characters claiming, "I didn't know." But Uhry and his (Jewish) family are not entirely unsympathetic; the play draws parallels between racism against the Black community and anti-Semitism - the Klan was not a fan of Blacks or Jews, which should make them natural allies, if people in power weren't trying to divide them (see also Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s excellent PBS docuseries
Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History).
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| photo courtesy of Combustible Company |
The play was developed with playwright Talvin Wilks and his students at the U of M, and it has the feeling of an ensemble-derived work, although James Craven and Kym Longhi are the playwrights. The (intentionally) all-White ensemble (Michael DiPrima, Ariel Donahue, Joni Griffith, Renee Hatton, Lily Jones, Anna Pladson, and Ben Qualley) plays not only all of the minor characters in the story, the "White society" that surrounds Daisy and her son, but they also play crows, or bees, or soldiers, still dressed in their 50s era proper costumes (designed by Matthew Wilhelm), but creating other forms with their physicality. They fill in the world of the play, in which our main characters live. The excellent cast is led by Dominque Drake as Hoke (and the actor/playwright), who shows us the complex human behind the "magical Negro" trope; Nick Miller as the well-meaning but somewhat clueless playwright Uhry; Barbra Berlovitz perfectly embodying Miss Daisy, but also showing us more sides to her than we usually see; and Erik Hoover as her son Boolie, a little darker (and maybe more realistic) than the original version.
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what Hoke (Dominique Drake) was driving Miss Daisy
(Barbra Berlovitz) through (photo courtesy of Combustible Company) |
The play is performed in the black box theater next to the O'Shaughnessy at St. Kate's, with five large screens displaying historical images, beautifully woven together to highlight each moment of the story. Set pieces are minimal, a table, a bench, a few chairs, moved around as needed, but most of the location and atmosphere are created by the images and the movement of the ensemble. It's highly effective storytelling that combines the original story, the new surrounding story, physicality, recorded music (including some songs that will make you cringe), live music (by ensemble member Joni Griffith on violin), and images (video design by Jim Peitzman) to shed a new light on this familiar and beloved story we thought we knew.
This is a play that is especially important for White people to see, because Black people don't need to be reminded of the racist history (and present) of this country. It's startling, and disturbing, and eye-opening. There wasn't really any history in this piece that I didn't previously know about (except for the
horribly racist first woman to serve in the US Senate), but seeing it all put together in this visually arresting way, tying it to images from today's news, was revelatory. This is not an easy play to watch, but it's beautifully and effectively constructed to share our darkest history, tie it to today's world, and provide a call to action to those of us who know better. We can no longer pretend that we don't know what's happening, which this play (and everything that has happened in Minnesota this year) reminds us.
