"Paradise Blue" at Penumbra Theatre

In 2015, Penumbra Theatre produced Dominique Morisseau's Detroit '67, the first of her three-play series known as The Detroit Project, set in her hometown. Now almost ten years later, they're bringing us the second play in the series, Paradise Blue. In between they've produced a few other plays by Morrisseau, and we've seen the final Detroit play Skeleton Crew at Yellow Tree and the Guthrie (directed by Austene Van who was in Detroit '67). So if you're an avid #TCTheater goer, this is your long-awaited chance to complete this trilogy. But don't worry if you haven't seen any of the others; the three plays are stand-alone, set in different decades and featuring different characters and storylines. But what they have in common is the beautifully real and relevant way they explore Black culture in Detroit specifically, and in America as a whole. From the 1967 Detroit Riot, to the closing of an auto plant in the late aughts recession, and in this play - a jazz club in the late '40s. A fantastic cast and stunning design bring this powerful story to vivid life on Penumbra's stage, continuing through March 9.

"To Let Go and Fall" by Theater Latte Da at the Ritz Theater

No better way to kick off Twin Cities Pride month than with a beautiful and sad love story between two men that spans time, distance, disease, memory, and music. To Let Go and Fall is a world premiere new play by Playwrights' Center core writer Harrison David Rivers, who over past few years has given us several beautifully written and meaningful new plays (see also This Bitter Earth). And because this is Theater "we don't do musical theater we do theater musically" Latte Da, this play incorporates music in such a way that the story wouldn't be the same without it. The result is a truly lovely exploration of a relationship, beautifully realized by the cast, director, and every element of design, as I've come to expect from TLD.

"Benevolence" at Penumbra Theatre

Five years after producing The Ballad of Emmett Till, Penumbra Theatre returns to the 1955 horrific murder that became a catalyst in the Civil Rights movement with the second installment in playwright Ifa Bayeza's trilogy - Benevolence. While Ballad was about Emmett himself - his life, family, and community as well as his tragic death, Benevolence explores the lives of two couples involved in his story. The first act focuses on the white woman who accused Emmett of assaulting her, and her husband, one of his murderers who was acquitted and then later confessed. The second act focuses on a black couple whose lives were touched by violence in the wake of the trial. The playbill notes, "like the land in its time, the play is segregated." It almost feels like watching two different plays, or two one acts around the same theme. Both are, like the first part of the trilogy, devastating and engrossing, and shed more light on this important historical event and the people involved. This world premiere play continues at Penumbra through March 10.

"This Bitter Earth" at Penumbra Theatre

Playwright Harrison David Rivers is having a moment here in #TCTheater. This spring he's had two world premieres (History Theatre's A Crack in the Sky and Theater Latte Da's Five Points, with music and lyrics by Ethan D. Pakchar and Douglas Lyons), and his play the bandaged place was the final reading in the Playwrights' Center's (where he's a core writer) Ruth Easton series earlier this month. And now, the jewel in the crown of Harrison David Rivers' 2018 #TCTheater productions is Penumbra Theatre's regional premiere of This Bitter Earth (which premiered at San Francisco's New Conservatory Theatre Center last fall). This brilliant play artfully combines the political (referencing several of the killings of young black man in recent years, interracial relationships, and gay rights) with the personal (an achingly beautiful love story). The talented two-person cast and creative team have created a visually and emotionally stunning production that engages the mind, the conscience, and the heart.

"The Dutchman / The Owl Answers" at Penumbra Theatre

In one of those strange theater-going coincidences, the night after I saw two one-act plays at the Guthrie, I attended opening night of Penumbra's presentation of two one-act plays. Both paired plays by different playwrights linked by a common theme. But unlike the theater comedies The Critic and The Real Inspector Hound, The Dutchman and The Owl Answers are dense and meaty dramas dealing with heavy issues. They might not make you laugh (except, occasionally, uncomfortably), but they will definitely make you think. Written in the '60s as part of the Black Arts Movement, these plays take an unforgiving look at the racism, sexism, and classism of the day, that still have implications in today's world. A stellar ensemble cast and top-notch production design tie the two very different plays together and highlight the playwrights' messages. Though they are not easy to watch and I can't say I understood everything that was going on, I certainly came away with much to chew on, and a greater understanding of our shared history. Which is pretty much a given at Penumbra Theatre.

"The Ballad of Emmett Till" at Penumbra Theatre

On what would have been Jordan Davis' 19th birthday (a black teenager who was killed by a white man because of events that happened outside a store where he was buying bubble gum), I went to see a play about Emmett Till. History repeats itself, and theater is there to tell the stories and speak the truths that cannot otherwise be told or spoken. And when it comes to African American history, which really is our shared history, no one does it better than Penumbra Theatre. The Ballad of Emmett Till is the story of a smart, funny, precocious 14-year-old boy from the South Side of Chicago with his whole life ahead of him, until one summer in Mississippi when he unknowingly violates the unwritten rules of the 1950s South - do not touch a white woman, do not talk to a white woman, do not look at a white woman. The light-hearted and music-filled play takes a turn into darkness when Emmett is kidnapped from his uncle's home in the middle of the night several days after "the incident," driven around in a truck to various locations, beaten, tortured, shot, and dumped in a river with a weight around his neck. A note in the playbill from Co-Artistic Directors Lou and Sarah Bellamy says it best:

We will not make the tragedy of this child's death easy for you. We will not stage gratuitous violence. We will not erase the flagrant racism of the environment that justified his murder. We will celebrate, with heavy hearts, the dignity and grace of a child who paid the price for our nation's tolerance of hatred and discrimination. It will be what you have come to expect from Penumbra Theatre Company, a frank and unflinching depiction of issues that urgently need our attention.

I admit I didn't know many of the details about Emmett Till's life and death (read more about it here), so it was quite educational for me. But this is not a dry and sober history lesson, it's an entertaining and captivating play, a celebration of life and family, with wonderful music (music direction by Sanford Moore). You almost forget the tragic ending looming over the story as you get to know these characters and share in their life and family. But it all comes crashing down when Emmett is taken, and we see scenes of the torture, Emmett's mother's reaction, the trial and its aftermath.

Darrick Mosley as Emmitt Till
with Greta Oglesby, T. Mychael Rambo,
and Shá Cage

At the center of this wonderful six-person ensemble is Darrick Mosley, who plays Emmett with great spirit and energy. Shá Cage and Greta Oglesby play the women in Emmett's life with strength and sympathy. H. Adam Harris, T. Mychael Rambo, and Mikell Sapp play multiple roles from amusing to threatening, including the two men who kidnapped and beat Emmett. Playwright Ifa Bayeza writes in such a way that there are sometimes multiple versions of a character onstage, so that we can more clearly see the different sides of them. In one particularly moving scene, we see two mothers testifying at the trial and grieving their son in different ways, one the strong and farsighted woman who insisted on an open casket, which became a spark in the Civil Rights Movement, one the emotional woman witnessing the mutilated body of her baby.

The simple but effective set (by Maruti Evans) consists of a raised platform in the center of the stage, and wooden planks on the walls upon which are written the words of the murderers who, after being acquitted of the crime and therefore protected by double jeopardy, admitted that they killed Emmitt in an interview with Look magazine. It's quite sobering to watch Emmitt's story play out surrounded by those hateful words.

The Ballad of Emmett Till is a beautiful, tragic, spirited, and very well-done play. Emmett's final words to the audience are, "Is it done?" That is a question to ponder. (Playing now through March 2 at Penumbra Theatre.)