By ADAM CROWE
A Seat on the Aisle
FIRST – a quick reminder that the Indianapolis Fringe Festival continues this weekend.
For readers seeking other fare, I’ve stepped just a bit West of Mass Ave. to bring you the latest production of a new theater company. Naptown African American Theatre Collective Inc, (NAATC) is presenting the Indianapolis premiere of Dominique Morisseau’s Detroit ’67.
An award-winning playwright (including a MacArthur Fellowship), Morisseau is the Tony Award Nominated author of the book for the musical Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations. Her most famous plays include Skeleton Crew and Pipeline – both performed at the Phoenix Theatre (by Summit Performance and the Phoenix itself, respectively).
Detroit ’67 is, as you’d expect, set in that year, in the city with a long history of racial discrimination and economic inequality. Chelle and Lank are siblings, living in the home their parents left them and making plans to host house parties as a way to make ends meet. They have very different ideas about what to do with a sum of money left to them by their parents, and as that conflict brews inside the house, external pressures build in the hot July of 1967 Detroit.
(From left) Ennis Adams, Jr., Dena L. Toler, LaKesha Lorene, and Daniel A. Martin in Detroit ’67 on stage now at Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre. (Photo provided)
Motown is central to Morisseau’s storytelling, and the play makes excellent use of it. As violence erupts in the neighborhood, that iconic music serves as a haven in the basement of the siblings’ family home. Childhood friends Bunny and Sly add layers of a chosen family as well as sparks of romance. The appearance of a young white woman, Caroline, completes the volatile mix.
Directed by D’yshe Mansfield, Detroit ’67 recreates a series of days of intense violence, while staying grounded in the lives of its characters. The performances are equal to the power of the story itself. LaKesha Lorene and Ennis Adams Jr. as the siblings at the center of the storm, carry their Black joy and the pain of their lives effortlessly. As family friends Sly and Bunny, Daniel A. Martin and Dena L. Toler provide exquisite counterpoints and make the most of the comedy in the play. Toler convulses the audience with just the right look or phrase and Martin continues a string of strong performances in Indianapolis. Finally, as Caroline, Sara Castillo Dandurand does her best with a problematic character that sometimes feels more a plot device than a real inhabitant of this world.
David Orr’s set and Danielle Buckel Klein’s costumes hold the show in a clear time and place, and Laura Glover brings her considerable talents in the lighting design.
Bottom line: NAATC is a long overdue addition to the Indianapolis theater scene. On opening night, every single seat in the Phoenix’s Russel theater was FILLED. This kick-off to the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre’s 2023-20243 season, Detroit ’67 successfully builds a world of hope and tragedy and transports the audience to a time and place that feels, for better and worse, all too resonate.
Detroit ’67 runs at Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre through Sept. 10. Tickets are available at the Phoenix website at PhoenixTheatre.org or by calling (317) 635-7529.
Read more great play reviews from A Seat on the Aisle at asota.wordpress.com.