Southbridge
Written by Reginald Edmund
Directed by Russ Tutterow
at Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago (map)
thru March 3 | tickets: $32 | more info
Check for half-price tickets
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Historical mystery needs to provide more clues
Chicago Dramatists presents
Southbridge
Review by John Olson
A young black man named Christopher Davis was lynched in 1881 in Athens, Ohio, following accusations that he had raped and mutilated a 59-year-old white woman. The mob promised him a fair trial rather than a lynching if he would confess. He complied with their demands, but the mob lynched him anyway. For this world premiere play, author Reginald Edmund has taken this historical event and some of the real-life people involved in it and imagined a backstory. What if Davis was not actually the attacker, and if not him, then who? The play begins with Davis in custody as an angry mob gathers outside. The sheriff (Gene Cordon) asks Davis (Manny Buckley) to convince him of his innocence, in which case he may be able to save him from the advancing mob. This sets up a flashback of Davis’s story, and upon meeting the other characters we see they may all have had some reason to attack the widow Lucinda Luckey (Wendy Robie).
The actual event is a significant and intriguing moment in history. It was at this time that lynchings of black men became frequent; though primarily in the south, they occurred in Ohio as well. Ohio had been a free state itself, but Athens – in the southeast corner of the state – was only some 25 or 30 miles from former slave territory and surely race relations there must have tense.
While Edmund’s writing certainly shows talent, and a poetic grace, Southbridge fails to take full advantage of the dramatic possibilities in the subject. The play lacks sufficient backstory or context to get us invested in the story. We learn little about Davis’s history or why we should be on his side. While it’s not hard to assume he’s a good man that’s been unjustly accused, we need to be shown that more clearly and begin to care and fear for him. In early scenes, we see that he is involved with a shrewd aspiring businessman – the historical figure Edwin C. Berry (Lance Newton), who seeks to build a new and elegant hotel in Athens. He helps Davis gain employment from the widow Luckey, in hopes he can convince her to invest in his planned hotel (which in reality was eventually built). Our sense is that these two men are a little devious, but we can’t be sure. We also see Davis is married to the school teacher Nadia (Ashley Honoré), and that he has had difficulty finding employment, but it’s not clear exactly how these two came to be together. Also, Edmund gives little social context for the story. We don’t see much of the racial tension in the community that must have surely existed. The only white characters are the Sheriff – who appears to be a reasonable and just man – and the lonely Mrs. Luckey – who not only hires Davis, but becomes physically and romantically attracted to him as well. We experience the racism mainly through the recorded offstage cries of the mob.
Edmund’s play thus fails to immerse us in the story and establish stakes we care about. Largely a series of two-person scenes, the dialogues are often overwritten and play for too long. The story Edmunds tells could be told more economically, probably in no more than 90 intermission-less minutes.
Tutterow has assembled a fine cast who gives the piece a strong reading. At the center, Manny Buckley projects an innocence and sincerity that supplements a lot of the deficiencies in the script. It’s a very watchable performance. And, it’s a treat to see Wendy Robie, who many will remember as Nadine Hurley from David Lynch’s TV series “Twin Peaks”. She communicates the widow’s intense loneliness and desperation, giving her urgency to seek companionship from as unlikely a match as Davis. Newton gives a slick sliminess to Berry and Cordon is as mysterious a sheriff as some of the characters from “Twin Peaks”. Honorè has a convincing anger as she learns of the widow’s interest in her husband.
There’s potentially a good play in here, with some trimming of the overlong scenes and some fuller backstory or context. Right now, it feels longer than its two hours of stage time and fails to deliver the emotional punch it seeks.
Rating: ★★½
Southbridge continues through March 3rd at Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago (map), with performances Thursdays-Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays 3pm. Tickets are $32, and are available by phone ((312-633-063) or online through their website (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at ChicagoDramatists.org. (Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes, includes an intermission)
Photos by Jeff Pines
artists
cast
Manny Buckley (Christopher Davis), Gene Cordon (Sheriff Ward), Lance Newton (Edwin C. Berry), Wendy Robie (Lucinda Luckey), Ashley Honoré (Nadia Davis)
behind the scenes
Russ Tutterow (director), Michael Mroch (scenic design), Samantha C. Jones (costume design), Jeff Pines (lighting design), Joseph Fosco (sound design, original composition), Aimee Plant (props design), Izumi Inaba (make-up design), Jennifer J. Thusing (stage management), Chris Rickett (fight choreography). Rebecca Willett (assistant director), Dana Lynn Formby (dramaturg), Beck Mock (production manager), Jerrod Bainter (technical director), Andrew Iverson (master electrician). JeNae Taylor (assistant production manager), Jeff Pines (photos)
13-0202
