Went to a play last night and still managed to get home in time for the Best Original Score dance medley. The horror, the horror. But we didn't go to the play just to avoid Oscar bloat.
The Huntington Theatre Company production of Lydia R. Diamond's "Stick Fly" is the hot show in town at the moment, having just added a bunch of performances due to audience demand. Louise Kennedy's enthusiastic review may be one reason for that, and I'd second most everything she said.
Set in a wealthy African-American family's summer home in Edgartown, "Stick Fly" has us watch as the two grown sons come home with their girlfriends - one edgy and troubled, the other white. Boozy conversations reveal old grudges, secrets and surprises, yadda yadda, but this is a play about race and class. And still funny moment to moment, though serious at its core.
Top billing goes to Nikkole Salter as Taylor, the edgy one, an entomologist whose work gives the play its title metaphor. She wants to talk issues. Rosie Benton is sharp and funny as Kimber, the white one, who in perhaps too schematic a move by Diamond happens to study inner city youth issues. Jason Dirden and Billy Eugene Jones are good as Kent and Flip, the brothers, who start the weekend thinking they've got no problems except ordinary family dynamics with each other and their domineering dad, Joe, played by Wendell W. Wright.
But don't overlook 18-year-old Cheryl, who's helping out with the house - and don't make the mistake Taylor does and call her the maid. Cheryl provides much of the comedy early on, with her sassy take on the privileged bunch she's feeding and cleaning up after. But she moves closer and closer to the heart of the play. Amber Iman is terrific as Cheryl, though her big speech to Wright's father figure near the end of the play sounds more like the playwright talking through her than any teenager I ever heard. (Pictured: Iman and Wright.)
That second act maybe runs a little longer than it needs to, but under Kenny Leon's direction, this is an entertaining, thought-provoking and funny show. David Gallo's set is smart and evocative, and the Wimberly Theatre has become my favorite place in town to see a play, intimate despite holding 370 seats. Better click now if you want to get tickets.
