What: Symphony Space hosts a benefit reading of Tectonic Theater Project's seminal docuplay about the town of Laramie, Wyoming in the wake of the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard.
And? No piece of art exists in a vacuum. There is always context. The context of when the art was made, the context of now, this living moment when the art is being experienced, the context of the audience engaging with the art. So it is that we hear the words of the people of Laramie twenty-five years ago, and can think about the progress made for legal protections for queer people, as well as the terrifying regressions in more recent years, as queer and trans youth in particular are targeted by the government. And to see this play a week after the massacre in Israel, I cannot help but pair the description of the inhumane brutality inflicted on Matthew Shepard with what is happening there. The bewilderment that people can do these terrible things to someone else because of a deep-seated but hauntingly impersonal hatred. Zubaida Ula reminds us all, "We need to own this crime. I feel. Everyone needs to own it. We are like this. We ARE like this. WE are LIKE this."
What: Manhattan Theatre Club presents a new play by Qui Nguyen, a sequel to his celebrated Vietgone. Poor Yella Rednecks has the playwright looking back on his childhood in El Dorado, Arkansas, and the sacrifices and struggles his mother endured in order to succeed in a land where she barely speaks the language.
And? I hadn't realized this was a sequel, and it really made me regret having missed Vietgone. However, this play definitely stands on its own. It's an impressive mix of satire, hip hop, puppetry, and a moving tribute to the playwright's mother and grandmother. The cast is all largely excellent (though not always up to the challenge of the hip hop sections), but I want to pay special note to the women: Maureen Sebastian as Qui's mother Tong, whose steady presence and emotional range carry and center the play; and Samantha Quan, who plays a variety of roles, each with distinct voices and physicalities, such that you forget it's all one actor. Her performance as Qui's grandmother Huong is especially powerful (and hilarious). Tim Mackabee's scenic design is a bit cumbersome (and, at least at the preview I attended, they aren't locking the rolling pieces, so we can see them move slightly when the cast interacts with them), but it doesn't ultimately get in the way of what is a good play well-performed.
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Ben Levin and Jon Norman Schneider as Bully and Little Man. Photo by
Jeremy Daniel. |
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