Mining the Bible gets playful for Crystal Rae in Lions

The Bible really does contain all the stories. There’s love and death, jealousy, sacrifice, envy, betrayal, heroism, mercy and all matters of triumph and failure. It’s why artists have been drawing from and riffing on these stories for generations. The Bible is the superstore of the human thematic condition.

Houston multi-talent, writer/actor/producer Crystal Rae has mined this gold to great acclaim. In her recent Houston Press awarded play, Tied, about the 1963 bombing of a Baptist Church in Birmingham, Rae beautifully wove so many literal and allusion-based biblical stories, motifs and even name-checks in her work that even the non-believer was awed.

For Lions, a 60-minute show now onstage with Crystal Rae Productions and directed by Troy Scheid, Rae takes a step back from biblical insinuation and instead cannonballs directly into the deep end of Exodus. The Moses as a baby part.

If you didn’t think the bible had a story on interracial adoption, Rae is here to remedy that. But just as Tied addressed the Alabama bombing from the perspective of one victim’s father, Rae tells the story of Moses’ adoption from the one who adopted him – the Pharaoh’s daughter. The one who raised him and then watched him reject everything she gave him to return to his roots and save his people.

The premise itself is clever, relevant and just plain juicy. This is a “what a great idea” kind of show.

Thanks to Rae’s modernly elegant, often humorous and emotionally astute writing that mixes biblical fact with a good spoonful of narrative license, Lions is also a thoroughly engaging production.

We meet Moses’s adopted mom Bithia (Rae chose one of the traditional Jewish names for the Pharaoh’s daughter who is never actually named in the bible) as she’s locked in her tomb awaiting death. Payback for Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt via the parted Red Sea which then drowned the in-pursuit Pharoah and his army.

Rae herself plays Bithia, resplendent in a green metallic one-shoulder gown, gold snake necklace, winding gold bangles and a symbol ring on each hand which gets chimed every time Rae wishes to change a scene of track of dialogue. A perfectly graceful way to deal with a show with no props to speak of and not a whiff of lighting or sound.

But when Rae is on stage, we need no distraction from the acting. Not that there really is a stage – this first production was held in a small church hall with folding chairs. Despite the bright overhead lights and sightlines that are difficult when there is no slope to the seating rows, Rae holds us rapt.

From her excitement at being a new mother, her worries about her son’s odd behavior, fights with her racist sister to an ultimate letting go of the son she so adores, Rae holds each emotion out for us to touch and examine.

The surprise here is just how funny much of it is.

Moses is having visions of a world to come where he and the UL’s (Bithia refuses the call the Jews slaves, instead referring to them as Unpaid Labor or UL’s) will be free. Upon learning this, Bithia asks the audience, “Does your Teddy talk to UL’s from the future? No? That’s why I’m putting Moses on Ritalin.”

Rae could have pulled this off as a one-woman show, but here she gets some help and a much richer production with the addition of three other performers, all men donning head-to-toe black including hoodies pulled up. Hoodies up, they are a chorus of sorts, there to back Rae up. Hoodies down and the actors take on their own roles

Shon Brown’s resonant voice is perfect for Mr. Charles, Bithia’s bodyguard and friend/confidant to Moses who sees himself in the UL.

Chris Szeto-Joe does fine double duty as Bithia’s entitled nephew/heir to the throne, Tep and a social wo
rker who comes to check on Moses and offer his unwelcome assessment of the adoption situation.

Most importantly there’s Cardero Berryman, tasked with manipulating the puppet that is Moses for much of the show. Created by the wonderful Afsaneh Aayani, young Moses (obviously black because ancient Egypt, duh) is terrifically voiced by Berryman and handled quite well. However, a little more nuance would go a long way in helping us connect with this wooden boy. If the prevalence of puppets on stage in recent years has taught us anything it’s that puppeteering is a difficult art and getting the right movements, especially things like head tilts, can make or flatline a scene.

But let Moses sing, rap and dance, one of the most unexpected moments in the show, and it’s impossible not to howl with laughter at what Rae has given us and how Berryman (with assists from Szeto-Joe and Brown) brings it to life.

Lions does have it’s serious moments. Many of them. Moses is bullied for being black and un-royal. Bithia struggles with loving her son but knowing he’s not fully hers. Then there’s the whole owning/disciplining slaves issue.

Rae tackles it all and it’s a lot to ask for a one-hour show. If there is any deficit here it’s that Rae doesn’t have the space to fully dive into any of these issues, instead, they get played out and then symbol chimed away as Bithia moves onto another short memory or scene as she waits in her tomb hoping Moses will come back and save her.

But truthfully, after the gut punch that was Tied, it’s somewhat refreshing to see Rae take a lighter touch with her material. A delicious sorbet after a monumental meal so to speak.

No one will walk out of Lions mulling over the themes or what any of it means. Here Rae is simply trying to give us a different perspective and entertain us in the process. And she does it better than most. As a writer and an actor.

There is one more performance next Friday. Take your mom. Take your kids. Take yourself. It’s your one chance to laugh with Moses and cry with his adopted mother and have an hour to celebrate Rae as a truly remarkable Houston talent.

Lions continues Friday, September 13 at 7:30 at 2305 Dunlavy Street. For tickets visit Eventbrite.com. $30.