Tracey Dukes and Eltony Williams (Photo by Shanelle Infante)
Reviewed by Martίn Hernández
Greenway Alliance at Greenway Court Theatre
Through June 29
In 1964, best friends and budding movie stars Harry Belafonte (Tracey Dukes) and Sidney Poitier (Eltony Williams) traveled to Greenwood, Mississippi to deliver $60,000 in cash to Civil Rights icon Fannie Lou Hamer (Joy DeMichelle) to support the Freedom Summer voter registration campaign. Holed up in the squalid attic of a safehouse for student activists, they await Hamer’s arrival, fearful that anyone approaching may be the Ku Klux Klan or local law enforcement hellbent on White supremacist violence. The two playfully spar at first, but things get tense when old animosities arise, and they challenge each other’s approach on how best to use their tentative privilege in supporting the freedom struggle of their people.
Given the current political climate, dramatizing this piece of Civil Rights history and furnishing an opportunity to debate the strategy and tactics of political action is certainly timely. However, playwright Mohammad Ali Ojarigi’s fictionalization is upended by lethargic expository text — more a stilted history lesson than a captivating theatrical interpretation. Iona Morris Jackson’s direction compounds the matter with a production that presents heavy-handed portrayals of William’s Poitier and Dukes’ Belafonte, even as her overall mise en scene is admirable as are the performances of the talented trio.
A reluctant Poitier, emotionally drained after a separation from his spouse, is persuaded by an insistent Belafonte to join the trip. He half-jokingly tells Belafonte to never contact him again after it is all over. We get hints that this is more than just playful bantering, a dynamic that Ojarigi fleshes out later when the two are in their hideout.
Next, video footage is projected of the real Fannie Lou Hamer famously testifying before the 1964 Democratic Convention’s Credential Committee. From center stage, DeMichelle first mimics Hamer’s recorded words, then delivers a transcription as a stirring monologue, chillingly reenacting the beating Hamer suffered at the behest of Mississippi’s White power structure while organizing Black folks to register to vote. While DeMichelle’s Hamer is not seen again until much later, her moral presence as an undeterred – and female – freedom fighter looms over the rest of the work while the male protagonists challenge each other’s commitment to the Civil Rights struggle.
As the two men wait for Hamer, they reminisce about their days as struggling actors, with Belafonte reminding Poitier that the latter was once his understudy. Poitier claps back that he is the better actor, pointing out that Belafonte got certain roles due to his lighter skin. Whatever their rivalry, both are now working their way up the Hollywood ladder; both are aware that as Black actors their support of the Civil Rights Movement could cripple their careers, like other colleagues who were blacklisted for their political actions. While Belafonte opts to be bolder and more open, Poitier has chosen discretion, working the inside game. And this tension over tactics, bolstered by unresolved personal and professional beefs, may threaten not only their relationship but the goals of movement at large.
Jack James Lawson’s set and lighting design complement Ojarigi’s heartfelt effort and Morris Jackson’s staging. Ojarigi offers a clever metaphor for the obstacles facing Black folk and how best to overcome them. This stymies Belafonte and Poitier but not Hamer whose answer is, “You gonna have to find the right tool.” Hopefully, we can all find the right tool soon.
Greenway Court Theatre, 544 N. Fairfax Ave., West Hollywood. See website for schedule; thru June 29. http://greenwaycourttheatre.org. Running time: 75 minutes with no intermission
