Skip to main content

Our Lady of 121st Street by Stephen Adly Guirgis at the Signature Theater

Thank God for Stephen Adly Guirgis.

By the time the first act of Our Lady of 121st Street ended, I thought, "wow, that was the most enjoyable hour of theater in months." The hour just flew by, and I found myself completely engaged and engrossed in this world on stage. Usually when I'm bored at the theater I find myself trying to see how many episodes of The Simpsons I can name with the names of characters in their titles. At Our Lady of 121st Street, there wasn't a thought of Bart Simpson in, well...sight.

That's because Stephen Adly Guirgis' writing clearly shows that he understands people, how they act and talk, and well, he's not full of shit. As someone who was born and raised and has lived in New York City her entire life, it is refreshing and exciting to see characters on stage who think and act and sound like true New Yorkers. Within five minutes of the play's opening scene, I couldn't help but realize that I could relate an anecdote from my own life to the situation happening on stage. And as someone who grew up Catholic in New York City, Our Lady of 121st Street really felt relatable, and well, real. This is New York, not some romanticized version written by someone who grew up elsewhere and moved here in their twenties. It's authentic, in a way that is rarely seen on stage these days. And it's authentically funny and authentically moving; these characters could seem like stock ones but there's nary a cliche insight. There's no contrivances. The swearing and vulgarity doesn't seem offensive and out of place either. And why? Because the writing is so strong.

The current production at the Signature Theater (admittedly my favorite of the New York non-profits), directed by Phylicia Rashad, is top-notch. The excellent pacing let's the language truly shine, the lighting by Keith Parham, and Walt Spangler's set help create a terrific and impressive atmosphere.

And the cast! The cast! Rashad has assembled one of the strongest ensembles I've seen in a long time, all of them looking and acting like real people. Like the people of New York I see on the streets everyday. While they're all wonderful, the standouts for me were Hill Harper, Erick Betancourt, and the always reliable Quincy Tyler Bernstine.

If I had one minor criticism, it's that I would've cut the intermission and let it run 100 minutes or so. I can also see how someone might have some qualms with the text; we don't really get closure in the traditional sense. But that's not the play Guirgis wrote. These people have all come together because of Sister Rose, they're the focus, not her missing body. And that's how life is.

Regardless, we should all feel lucky that someone as authentic and talented as Stephen Adly Guirgis is writing plays and we get to see them.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Apologia by Alexi Kaye Campbell at the Roundabout Theatre Company

During the writing workshops I took as a student, writers were often told, "you have all of this information in your head but none of it is on the page. We don't know what you know." Someone should've said that to Alexi Kaye Campbell while writing his play Apologia . Apologia takes place in the English countryside house of expat Kristin Miller, who was some sort of political activist (just in title, we never really know what she does per say, but Vietnam is mentioned) and some sort of super famous art historian (I know what you're thinking: those exist?) who has written a memoir that excludes all mention of the sons she basically abandoned when they were children. Oh, yes, and it's her birthday, which is just an excuse for her family to gather at that very moment. Yes, this is a classic version of what I like to call a "family gathers, secrets revealed" play. So Kristin's son, the one who has his shit together, Peter, arrives with his Ameri...
Post a Comment
Read more

Yerma by Simon Stone at the Park Avenue Armory

Simon Stone's new adaptation of Lorca's Yerma now playing at the Park Avenue Armory is one of the most interesting productions I've ever seen. Stone, who also directs, has created a unique vision and staging, and gets terrific performances by his cast (especially Billie Piper). Unfortunately his own adaptation lets the production down. Yerma has a simple plot: a woman wants to have a child, and the obsession over conceiving one completely takes over her life and ruins it. The Lorca original makes this a community and social issue; it is the woman's duty to provide her husband with an heir, and if she cannot, she will be ostracized by society. Stone's version has set it in the twenty-first century, a time during which is it not out of the ordinary for women to remain childless. Of course, some stigma still exists around women not becoming mothers (whether by choice or otherwise), no matter how much we tell ourselves that women have the choice to do whatever they wa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fireflies by Donja R. Love at the Atlantic Theater Company

Okay, look, I get it, two-handers are tough. You have two characters with which to tell your story, and you have to somehow tell this story with as little exposition as possible. You have to show, not tell. Are you listening, Donja Love? Love's current play, Fireflies , tells the story of a married African American couple in 1963. He's a preacher, traveling the southern part of the country to speak at the funerals of other African Americans who have died due to racial terrorism. (When the play begins, the church bombing that claimed the lives of four little girls in Birmingham has just occurs.) She's a doting and devoted housewife who goes so far as to write her husband's speeches and sermons for him. But what her husband, Charles, doesn't know is that she secretly smokes, she wants to abort the baby she's carrying, and she writes explicit letters to a woman she's in love with whom she only met once, briefly. Oh, and did I mention she, Olivia, has PTSD a...
Post a Comment
Read more