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In the second act, Hero finds himself on the road with his boss-master and a Union prisoner of war , who provides yet another perspective to the mid-19th-century African American experience. The Union soldier also offers Hero a potential path to freedom, one that carries its own set of risks. Powerful plays and playwrights dominate the Center Theatre Group's 49th season at the Mark Taper Forum.
I had similar feelings years ago about him being a race traitor or an Uncle Tom. By virtue of the fact that there were two prominent black lawyers in this case — one of them was the hero, the other has to be the fall guy. Being able to step into his shoes allowed me to release the judgment that I had, and overall that’s what I think is fascinating about acting.
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Hero, Penny, and all of the slaves may use the term "freedom" liberally, but Father Comes Home From the Wars essentially represents Hero's quest to find out what the word freedom even means. Part 2, set later that summer, finds Hero in the Southern wilderness, attending his master the Colonel's every task, including looking after Smith , the Union officer from the 1st Kansas Colored infantry who has been captured. Sharply dressed in gray, Hero carries supplies instead of arms, and the interplay between Hero and his master-turned-Colonel is charged and shot through with layers of complexity. My wife and I will often have conversations about Good Times and The Jeffersons and Sanford and Son.
Her character’s self-referential acknowledgement of the absurdity of the situation, including the fact that suddenly a dog can talk, seems unworkable on the surface, but makes perfect sense in person. When the conclusion of the play is successfully reached, it continues to register memorably on the senses because it combines and utilizes American history, contemporaneity, and escapism with a fruitful and precise flair by everyone involved. Part two is arguably the most well-rounded in the way it is artfully crafted by the three actors who effortlessly hit every note. It is anchored by the Colonel, who is in the middle of nowhere, and is holding captive a soldier from the Union Army . Hero, who has now entered the war to do his Colonel’s bidding, is the catalyst of the scene.
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All the now-former slaves except Hero take off for the North, thinking they need to escape. At the end, Ulysses sits alone with Odyssey facing an uncertain future and, as a symbolic first act as a free man, burying the master. If he serves, he has been promised his freedom by the owner who says he values his worth, and who has a history of broken promises. "I got a chance at getting something," says Hero, whose decision will have reverberations among the master's other slaves.
There’s a character named Homer, a love interest named Penny and even a dog named Odyssey. What’s more, there’s a hero named Hero, who goes off to war and returns to find things have changed quite a bit while he’s been away. She received a Tony Award in 2012 for her work on “The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.” Her plays include “The Book of Grace,” “In the Blood” , “Venus” , “365 Days/365 Plays” and “The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World,” among others.
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They were doing incredible stuff that was very funny but also very socially conscious. It feels now like we’re entering a time where people are willing to push that envelope again. Parks mixes modern speech with 19th century dialects, and the costumes represent various time periods. That is only part of the boundary-breaking, as she also enjoys blending reality with fantasy. A case in point occurs in the final section, when she matter-of-factly makes Hero’s dog Odyssey capable of human speech.
Perhaps the notion of being inspired by a much-recounted epic felt too confining or maybe all this protesting is simply a dodge. Nobody can disprove Suzan Lori-Parks' oft-made claim that the inspiration for her play Father Comes Home From the Wars is her late father, career soldier Donald Parks, and not Homer's Odyssey. Then again, when you've written three parts, promise six more and name your characters Homer, Penny, and Odyssey Dog, people might be dubious. In part three, the truisms of the play are delightfully counterbalanced with a satisfying sense of mirth. Hero, whose whereabouts are unknown until he finally returns home with a new name finds that Penny may or may not be his significant other anymore, but instead Homer’s.
Her first film was “Girl 6,” written for Spike Lee, and she has written screenplays for Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington and Jodie Foster. Her adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God” premiered on ABC’s Oprah Winfrey Presents. Pulitzer Prize-winner Suzan-Lori Parks’ poignant new drama, “Father Comes Home From The Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3)” opens Sunday, April 17, 2016, at 7 p.m. Directed by Jo Bonney, the West Coast premiere of “Father Comes Home…” plays through May 15. Acting almost as a narrator, Murray’s suspenseful speeches, ensconced in a fun furriness, rife with cliff-hangers and bated breath, stir the audience into a frantic frenzy.
Hero returns to the plantation and to his sweetheart, Penny (Sameerah Luqmaan-Harris), for the final act, a tour-de-force homecoming that elevates everything that has come before. Parks, who is best known for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize winner “Topdog/Underdog,” proves herself a master at fusing the highbrow and the low. In addition to providing theatre of the highest caliber to the diverse communities of Southern California and beyond, CTG supports a significant number of play development and arts education initiatives. Garry Hynes, artistic director of the renowned Druid of Galway, Ireland, will direct the Druid production at the Taper. Hynes won a Tony Award for her direction of "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" on Broadway in 1998 and directed McDonagh's "The Cripple of Inishmaan" at CTG's Kirk Douglas Theatre in 2011, and also Arthur Miller's "The Price" at the Taper this year. The 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, "Disgraced" by Ayad Akhtar, will be presented in its West Coast premiere, June 8 through July 17, 2016.
One of my favorite things to do, when the ghost light is on and it’s just an empty stage — I’ll let my shadow spread right across the theater and I just say to myself, for the next few hours these folks are my responsibility. Part 2, also known as A Battle in the Wilderness, is the production’s high point. The Colonel, who has captured a Union soldier , displays pleasure in his cruelty toward Hero. His self-important perspective leads him to proclaim that no matter how bad things get, he always thanks God for making him white. Part 2, set in a wooded patch somewhere on a Southern battlefield, introduces us directly to the Colonel, a preening sadist who has captured a man he believes to be a white Union captain. Smith , likely to lose his leg that's been injured in war, is imprisoned in a makeshift cage, making him a literally captive audience for the Colonel's self-dramatizing racist antics.
And soon his fellow slaves begin wagering on whether he’ll join the Confederate fight. Phylicia Rashad, who directed Wilson's "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" at the Taper in 2013, will direct this groundbreaking play which depicts the racism and exploitation in the music industry through a 1927 recording session in Chicago with a legendary blues singer. "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" is inspired by the real-life Gertrude "Ma" Rainey. Ayad Akhtar was born in New York City and raised in Milwaukee. His play "Disgraced" premiered at the American Theater Company in January 2012 and was staged at LCT3/Lincoln Center in New York in October 2012.
Parks creates a song out of the situation, circling back to themes and dilating on the hopes and fears of a fateful decision that’s being made in the context not of freedom but of violent oppression. Parks expertly carries themes and conceits throughout the saga. The Colonel and the captured Captain Smith discuss Hero's "worth" in financial terms based on his skills, his conduct, and his purchase price.
A ruthless edit will have to be imposed if and when Parks completes this mammoth project and realizes her dream of the plays being performed consecutively. In a scene full of subversive plot twists, Brown heartbreakingly captures the awakening of Hero’s empathy for Smith — a compassion that is at once self-compassion. McKean, meanwhile, makes the most of the Colonel’s flamboyant perversity, strutting like a vicious peacock while wearing a feather in his hat and thanking the good Lord he was born Southern and white. Stay abreast of discount offers for great theater, on Broadway or in select cities.
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