Teagle F. Bougere, Cole Wagner, Eric T. Miller and Frankie Zabilka (Photo by Earl Gibson III)
Reviewed by Molly McLean
Ebony Repertory Theatre
Through May 11
RECOMMENDED
When you walk into the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center to see Debate: Baldwin Vs. Buckley, you sit on the stage in the same simple chairs and fluorescent lights as the actors, surrounding them on three sides. The theater’s concrete walls are exposed. The tall doors backstage meant to accommodate scenery allow the actors on stage in view of the patrons.
The play, a production from the New York company “the american vicarious,” nears exact recreation of the words William F. Buckley Jr. and James Baldwin spoke at a debate held at Cambridge University in 1965. This means, unlike contemporary history plays, there are no anachronisms or condescension from the future. Instead, the audience hears two strong voices from the past, convincing us undergraduates to vote in favor of their line of thinking. The question of the night is: Is the American Dream at the expense of the American Negro? The debate-form thus creates additional stakes to the dynamic between audience and actor. The minimal production design focuses our attention on their words.
In between their speeches, we see the educational television broadcast of that night, which sets the scene of the packed hall and the audience’s response. The actors Teagle F. Bougere (Baldwin) and Eric T. Miller (Buckley) both hold the audience well, using any opportunity to make eye contact, ask rhetorical questions, or jump on laughter or discomfort as proof for their argument. Director and adapter Christopher McElroen has the actors prowl around the stage, always within arm’s length of the viewers. It is effective in activating the audience’s response. They in turn sigh, cluck, or shift their weight, all in well-lit view of one another.
Cole Wagner and Frankie Zabilka perform the opening speeches made by the undergraduates. This mostly functions as a way to heighten the tension as we watch Baldwin and Buckley prepare for their speeches. Bougere and Miller smirk, look away, or otherwise bide their time in measured and compelling ways.
The costumes (uncredited) are simple and clear. The stuffy, formal suits of the students represent, too, their new career in thinking. Meanwhile, the leads wear the confident style of the older intellectuals: Baldwin, a well-fitted gray suit, and Buckley, a large bow tie and glistening shoes.
McElroen comes onstage after the performance and asks the audience to respond to anything that was said by the figures in the play. It is a natural continuation of the piece’s content and form. Theatre is a way to see through time. In this play, the past looks us in the eye and asks us to do something, anything.
Ebony Repertory Theater, Nate Holden Performing Arts Center, 4718 W. Washington Blvd., LA. Open Fri., May 2; Fri.-Sat., 8 pm, Sat.-Sun., 2 pm; thru May 11. https://ebonyrep.org
