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Tag: Main Street Theater

  • Christmas Theater 2025, Part II – Houston Press

    There are two distinct locales for this critique: the Regency manse at Pemberley (Georgiana and Kitty, Christmas at Pemberley at Main Street) and C.S. Lewis’ mystical realm of Narnia (Narnia, the Musical, at A.D. Players). Both places are required viewing during the holiday season; G and K for the adults, Narnia for the kiddies (although adults might learn a thing or two, also).

    Georgiana and Kitty, Christmas at Pemberley

    Lauren Gunderson remains the most produced playwright in the U.S., so says the statistical bible of theater production, American Theatre magazine. Who, I hear you asking? This young prolific writer has penned a raft of plays that have struck a chord with audiences: The Revolutionists, Silent Sky, The Half-Life of Marie Curie, The Book of Will, I and You, among others. She focuses on women in historical contexts, to honor their courage, grit, and determination to match men in whatever field they espouse. She gives these under-appreciated women their due, deservedly so.

    She hit gold with her social satire trilogy, Christmas at Pemberley, a witty, Wildean triple bill that asks the question, What happened to everybody after Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Where are they now? The Janeites turned out in droves to re-connect with the five Bennet sisters and learn their fate, and, during the holiday season, one of her triad is playing somewhere in America. Be it Miss Bennet, The Wickhams, or Georgiana and Kitty.

    Clever, intelligent Elizabeth and her cat-and-mouse maneuverings with Fitzwilliam Darcy was so thoroughly covered in P&P that I assume Gunderson and co-writer Margot Melcon decided that these two had enough print time, so they sought to mine the other four daughters. Bookworm Mary, an observer with sharp tongue and bon mots, takes center stage in Miss Bennet; wayward and flighty Lydia, the youngest, is the protagonist of The Wickhams; and Kitty is somewhat the focus of Georgiana and Kitty. Somewhat, because Darcy’s sister Georgiana is soloed almost exclusively. Poor Kitty is a plus-one. And dear, sweet Jane, the eldest, is relegated through the triptyph as almost non-existent, sitting on the divan either pregnant and doing needlepoint or as a new mother on the divan doing needlepoint. Yemi Otulana is a striking presence on stage, but Jane is so underwritten and underused you wonder why Gunderson and Melcon even included her. 

    So the play falls to Georgiana and actor Lindsey Ehrhardt, who has a field day in the role. She is headstrong, at odds with her stuffy brother, and a prodigy at the piano. She composes on the side, but under an assumed male name. This ruse will be the fulcrum around which the second act – and her love story – revolves. Ehrhardt never disappoints, whether playing the haughty and pompous Anne de Bough in Miss Bennet or the liberated, outspoken Georgiana. If she keeps her light under a bushel, it isn’t for long. She blazes.

    Robby Matlock (so memorable in Stages’ The Lehman Trilogy as youngest brother Mayer, the “potato”) plays Henry Grey, in love with Georgiana from afar ever since he met her at one of her concerts. Prejudiced Darcy neither approves of this match nor her playing in public. Matlock knows just what he’s doing with his awkward poses and obsequious bows, but we know the flame for Georgiana will not be extinguished. No matter the obstacles – and there are many to be thrown in his path – he will win her, he thinks, even after years of not seeing her. It’s a detailed performance, right in every way.

    Clara Marsh, as Kitty, has to battle with a few plot predicaments that don’t ring true, but she rides over them with a bubbly and true personality. Ian Lewis, who has lost his rich Irish accent since last he played Thomas O’Brien in 2023, still possesses devilish charm in spades. As boisterous Lydia who refuses to be bored at Pemberley, Helen Rios needs a net thrown over her to keep her down. Way over the top. Always the diplomat, Laura Kaldis, as Elizabeth Bennet, is all poise and soothing sister to her siblings, charming and attractive as the robin’s egg blue of Pemberley’s wallpaper. Tsk-ing in the background or making peace between her adored husband and his once-adored sister, she and Darcy (a proud and ramrod Spencer Plachy) don’t have much to do in this play except run interference for the others, but Darcy’s heartfelt apology to Georgiana at play’s end is the moral of the tale and is rendered with conviction and sincerity. Bravo, Plachy.  

    Dare I say, many complications arise for the indefatigable and irrepressible Bennet sisters, yet the comic play keeps all the balls in the air with immense grace and charm. It has a lovely way of blending the ancient regime with our new one. Clever and witty, the repartee is Austen-like, skewing toward the distaff at Darcy’s expense. There’s a satisfactory twist at the end which is neat, a proposal long overdue, family arguments to get settled with sisterly wiles, recitals at the pianoforte, and Donna Southern Smith’s radiant costumes to keep you enthralled. There are tail coats to be whisked up before sitting for the men, and multiple empire gowns for the ladies of the manse with detailed embroidery or diaphanous overlays.

    It’s quite the picture at Main Street’s Pemberley. Immerse yourself in another world that often looks surprisingly like our own.

    Georgiana and Kitty, Christmas at Pemberley continues through December 21 at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and 3 p.m. Sundays at Main Street Theater, 2540 Times Boulevard. For more information, call 713-524-6706 or visit mainstreettheater.com. $15-$64.

    Everett Baugarten and Amber Ward in Narnia, the Musical Credit: Pin Lim

    Narnia, the Musical

    Not to be confused with Narnia, the Ballet, or Narnia, the Interpretive Dance, or Narnia, The Symphonic Poem, Narnia, the Musical (off-Broadway, 1993) is exactly what it says it is. The show is built for kids, and for the most part they should eat it up. Of course, I doubt they will understand the religious parable that C.S. Lewis weaves through his hit books that chronicle the adventures of the four Pevensie children (Lucy, Susan, Peter and Edmund) sent into the English countryside to escape the German blitz on London during the early days of WW II.

    Inside the immense wardrobe in the Professor’s gothic country house, the children enter a magic portal that transports them into the fantasy world of Narnia, where talking fauns carry umbrellas (he talks in this show, but no umbrella), unicorns run free, cantankerous married beavers bicker, and there is now perpetual snow and ice. There’s winter, but no Christmas, say the enchanted inhabitants. The tyrannical White Witch rules the kingdom., but the actual king is Aslan, the mighty and fierce Lion, who is the actual ruler. His return is dreaded by the Witch and by the prophecy of her power being defeated by “two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve.” Hence, any humans in her kingdom are immediately killed or seduced into her service, as is Edmund by Turkish Delight and the promise to be made king.

    In an abbreviated adaptation by Jules Tasca of Lewis’ classic tale The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,the musical skips over motivation and character development to give us archetypes and easy-to-decipher plot points. The music, by prolific composer Thomas Tierney, is a bit Sondheim-light with jagged melodies that cry for that master’s orchestrator, Jonathan Tunick. Ted Drachman’s lyrics are fine and serviceable, but the music, prerecorded, sounds thin and undistinguished via synthesizer. That’s too bad, because a few of the numbers are quite memorable: “Doors and Windows;” “Narnia (You Can’t Imagine), sung hymn-like by Saroa-Dwayne Sasa as Mr. Tumnus, the faun; a jazzy “Hot and Bothered,” sung by the White Witch (a deliciously evil Amber Ward with the belt of Merman); Aslan’s gorgeous ballad to a repentant Edmund, “From the Inside Out,” or his anthem “To Make the World Right Again,” both rendered in the sonorous tenor of Daniel Z. Miller. There’s gold in this score, it’s just insufficiently mined.

    Watch and listen to Mark Quach and Leah Bernal as Mr. and Mrs. Beaver. You can’t miss ‘em. They delightfully chew up the scenery and sing up a storm. What a pair of English music hall vaudevillians.

    I must say, the child actors are very good indeed. And they can sing. Jonah Mendoza’s Peter can really sing, loud and crisp, and effective. It was a pleasure hearing him. Everett Baumgarten’s falsetto relayed  Edmund’s petulance and vanity; Paige Klase’s Susan was no-nonsense in her anti-war stance; and little Annalise Wisdom, as young Lucy, displayed great chops in the lovely “A Field of Flowers,” an ode to Aslan.

    The pacing by director Ashlee Wasmund is lackluster with awkward pauses or entrances and exits abnormally drawn out. Even the turntable turns too slowly. Pick up the pace, please, or else the kids will be falling asleep after the opening number.

    The biggest disappointment is Afsaneh Aayani’s puppet for Aslan. Her prior work in Houston theater has always been amazing, clever, often verging on the astonishing. But here, big ol’ lug Aslan is a bore. Moved by three puppeteers, among them Miller as his voice, head, and front leg, Aslan has no grace, charm, or much imagination. His mouth doesn’t even move. Really, we’ve seen The Lion King and The Life of Pi. We know how incredibly believable life-size puppets can be, even when manipulated by onstage hands. But this Aslan needs an overhaul. 

    The Sunday matinee performance was sold-out, so the story of Narnia still sells. An international best-seller for decades, always listed as one of the great reads for children (and some adults, too), Lewis’ magic carpet ride speaks to children of all ages. A.D. Player’s production, abetted by Tatiana Vintu’s fanciful sets, Kristina Miller-Ortiz’ whimsical costumes, David Palmer’s lighting, those talented kids, the grand ol’ troupers enlivening the Beavers, and Joel Sandel’s crusty ol’ Father Christmas and a wry, all-knowing Professor, keep this story of faith, hope, and community alive for another generation. It just needs more magic.

    Narnia, the Musical continues through December 23 at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at A.D. Players at The George, 5420 Westheimer. For more information, call 713-526-2721 or visit adplayers.org. $10-$85.

    This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

    D. L. Groover

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  • Purlie Victorious Still Triumphs at Main Street Theater

    Despite Ossie Davis’s Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch garnering some famous fans after opening in 1961, folks like Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Eleanor Roosevelt, and eventual film and musical adaptations, the play didn’t get a Broadway revival until 2023.

    The revival proved the play still had plenty to say, so much so that it’s now the first production of Main Street Theater’s 50th anniversary season, and it’s a doozy.


    But first.


    The play begins in the recent past with the titular Purlie Victorious Judson returning home after a 20-year absence. Purlie’s family home sits on a Georgia cotton plantation owned by the bullwhip-carrying, Confederacy-loving Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee, who keeps the Black cotton pickers in debt to keep them working for him, a practice Purlie sees akin to slavery. But Purlie’s back with a plan, the “all-consuming passion” of his life now to buy Big Bethel, a rundown barn that was once a church, and return it to its glory so he can preach freedom in the cotton patch. As Purlie says, “Freedom is my business.”

    To get Big Bethel, though, Purlie needs money; specifically, the $500 inheritance Cotchipee owes his late cousin Bee. Enter Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins, a young woman Purlie’s recruited from Alabama to impersonate Cousin Bee. Though Purlie has a supporter in his sister-in-law, Missy, his brother, Gitlow, is afraid Purlie’s scheme will land them all in jail, a risk he is loath to take as Cotchipee recently named him “Deputy for the Colored.” On top of that, Lutiebelle looks nothing like Bee, nor does she have Bee’s education. But for this, Purlie’s got an ace up his sleeve: “White folks can’t tell one of us from another by the head!” he declares.

    click to enlarge

    Kendrick “KayB” Brown, TiMOThY ERiC, Wykesha King, and Krystal Uchem in Main Street Theater’s production of Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch by Ossie Davis.

    Photo by Pin Lim / Forest Photography

    It’s hardly a spoiler to say things don’t go exactly to plan in Purlie Victorious, a still stinging satire that proves to be resonant today, 64 years after it originally premiered. It’s both a testament to Davis’s writing and, unfortunately, an indictment of our society. The dialogue is witty and memorable, with lines like, “Some of the best pretending in the world is done in front of White folks,” eliciting knowing hums from members of the audience.

    Director Errol Anthony Wilks keeps the show moving and accessible, though his choice to lean fully into the comedy is at times at the expense of letting the play’s more serious beats breathe (Lutiebelle laundry-listing her best traits for a second time following an encounter with Cotchipee, for example). Davis’s characters are sketched in broad strokes from stereotypic archetypes, but subversive in places and bold in others, and Wilks and the cast are skillful at playing those notes. And there’s no one more bold than Purlie himself.


    Davis not only wrote Purlie Victorious, he originated the role, and you can tell it’s a part he wrote for himself it’s so good. Purlie is a hero, quick and clever, and wonderfully verbose. And TiMOThY ERiC, recent co-winner of the Houston Theatre Award for Best Actor, wears the role of Purlie like a second skin.


    “Something about Purlie always wound up the white folk,” says Missy, and embodied by ERiC, it’s easy to see the threat he poses, his delivery convincing, captivating, and wildly entertaining. It’s fully on display in the second act, as Purlie is in full sermonizing mode as he recounts his alleged confrontation with Cotchipee, traversing the stage and holding court in a way that’s got the other characters and the audience hanging on every word. He’s just as good at slipping in some quieter one-liners (“First chance I get I’m gonna burn the damn thing down,” Purlie says of his childhood home).


    If there’s one thing, it’s that at moments, the louder ERiC gets, the more likely we are to miss a word here and there, some bits just lost to the ether.


    (The sound design, by Jon Harvey, is otherwise stellar, from the place-defining banjo-picking played during transitions, to the crystal clarity of the off-stage dialogue, and the ambience, chicken clucks and dog barks heard under scenes adding weight to the world of the plantation.)

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    Seán Patrick Judge and Domenico Leona in Main Street Theater’s production of Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch by Ossie Davis.

    Photo by Pin Lim / Forest Photography

    From the moment she arrives at the farmhouse, breathless and wide-eyed, Krystal Uchem endears as Lutiebelle, a young woman proud of who she is even when she’s being criticized (such as when Purlie insults her name, saying, among other things, it means “cheap labor in Swahili”). Uchem plays the physicality of the role well, from the way she sits to eat, leaning forward with her legs akimbo, emphasizing her youthfulness, to half-hunched and hobbling, unaccustomed to heels, as she tries in vain to be Cousin Bee.

    Wykesha King is a force as Missy, as quick to challenge Purlie as she is to see the value in what he’s trying to do. As her husband, Gitlow, Kendrick “KayB” Brown is more of a foil to Purlie. Gitlow plays the game, sensible in his subservience and willing to say anything Cotchipee wants to hear, though behind Cotchipee’s back, it’s a different, and hilarious, story.


    Seán Patrick Judge is quite the presence as Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee. Stalking onto the set and dressed in all white, we know exactly who he is before he even starts ranting, raving, and dropping some vile ideas about race. Cotchipee has support from The Sheriff, played with on-the-nose ineptitude by Jim Salners, but not his son, Charlie, whom he calls a “disgrace to the Southland.” Domenico Leona, as Charlie, proves to be an ally to Purlie and co., influenced obviously by his sweet relationship with Andrea Boronell-Hunter’s Idella. Idella, who works for Cotchipee, raised Charlie as her own, and it’s apparent how close they are in just how lost she sounds when Charlie goes missing.


    James V. Thomas’s wood-paneled set, with props design and set dressing by Rodney Walsworth, is both a good base and nimble. The sparse furnishings and flippable walls are quickly altered to indicate new locations as needed, with the angles and lines that dominate the space adding a compelling and relevant visual. The set, as well as Macy Lyne’s period-evocative costumes, are all warmly lit by Edgar Guajardo.

    Put it all together, and you have a lively, energetic production with heart and conviction. Perfect to open a 50th anniversary season.  


    Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through October 12 at Main Street Theater – Rice Village, 2540 Times. For more information, call 713-524-6706 or visit mainstreettheater.com. $45-$64.

    Natalie de la Garza

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  • Purlie Victorious: A Comedy With Serious Subjects Set in the ’50s Jim Crow Era

    Purlie Victorious — its full title is Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp through the Cotton Patch — is about to make its regional premiere at Main Street Theater, telling the story of a traveling preacher returning to his hometown with two missions in mind.

    He hopes to save the community’s church and free the cotton pickers working on Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee’s land. Toss in a lost $500 inheritance that he’d like to recover and you have the comedy (with serious subjects) written by the late actor and writer Ossie Davis. Davis had the title role when it went on the Broadway stage in 1961 with his wife, Ruby Dee, playing opposite him as Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins who among other duties, pretends to be a dead woman.

    What complicates the entire endeavor is that Purlie and company are dealing with Jim Crow era laws and attitudes.

    Director and Texas Southern University professor Errol Wilks, who most recently directed Stagolee and the Funeral of a Dangerous Word for Main Street, calls Purlie Victorious “a wonderful piece of American literature.” And although it’s set in the 1950s, Wilks says some of the same attitudes are present today.

    Wilks describes Purlie (played by Timothy Eric who just shared 2025 Best Actor honors in the Houston Theater Awards with Brandon Morgan for their Topdog/Underdog performances) as “an idealist who thinks he can lead his people to some kind of promised land.” Central to the story is Cap’n Cotchipee (Seán Patrick Judge) and his unwillingness to part with ways of the past.

    “He’s the owner of all the people there, so to speak, because he runs a cotton farm and the people who work on it have to buy everything from the commissary. He keeps them in perpetual debt so they can’t leave,” Wilks explains. In addition, he abuses and bullies his own son, who doesn’t agree with his father’s treatment of his workers.

    A relative has left $500 to Purlie’s cousin. Unfortunately, the cousin has died. “[Purlie] wants to bamboozle the Captain to get the money that was left for his cousin. He  recruits this young lady, Lutiebelle (Krystal Uchem, also a 2025 Houston Theater Awards winner, in her case for Best Costumes) to come home with him to try to fool the Captain to believe she’s the cousin,” Wilks says.

    Even though there is very serious subject matter, Wilks says, ” it is a farce, a comedy.  He (Davis) gives us some beautiful words and all the actors get in on the fun onstage.” Other cast members include Andrea Boronell-Hunter, Kendrick “KayB” Brown, Wykesha King, Domenico Leona and Jim Salners.

    At the same time, however, Wilks says, “Let’s not forget that there are uncomfortable images subliminally as well as overtly in this play and I dare say that there’re going to be times that the only thing that’s going to be comfortable about this piece of art is the seats that you’re sitting in.”

    In 2023, Purlie Victorious had a Broadway revival and starred Leslie Odom, Jr. (Hamilton) in the title role. Main Street Theater chose it as the season opener for its 50th anniversary season.

    In the Main Street production, there are eight cast members, several of whom Wilks has either worked with before or seen on stage many times. He hadn’t worked with Leona before but says Leona contacted him, saying “I love that play. I want to be Charlie.”

    Wilks says he wanted Seán Patrick Judge because of his height and acting ability.  “When I looked at the play — he’s tall and I want him to tower over everyone on stage. That’s a symbolism of race relations in that you have this giant who has hovered over everyone spewing hate and derision. I’ve seen him on stage and he’s an incredible talent. As soon as he walks on stage you’ll see the wisdom of my choice.”

    Wilks thinks Purlie is an idealist truly concerned for his people. “Whether or not he’s going about it in the right way. we don’t know. We have to see how it plays out. I think he’s a good man; he wants good for his people and for his family. He wants to eradicate some of the bad that has happened to his people.”

    “I would really sincerely love to thank Main Street Theater because this is their 50th anniversary and they chose this play and this particular director to helm it,” Wilks says. “I’m really keen on making sure we convey the messages that are there as well as the fun stuff that is there.””

    Performances are scheduled for September 13 through October 12 at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays at Main Street Theater – Rice Village, 2540 Times Boulevard. For more information call 713-524-6706 or visit mainstreettheater.com. $45-$64.

    Margaret Downing

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  • Employing Magical Thinking to Get Past the Crushing Loss of Loved Ones at Main Street Theater

    Employing Magical Thinking to Get Past the Crushing Loss of Loved Ones at Main Street Theater

    It’s a play about grief that’s unsentimental and easy to absorb and so personal. That’s how Pamela Vogel describes The Year of Magical Thinking about to open at Main Street Theater.

    Based on the National Book Award winning book of the same title by renowned author Joan Didion (Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Play It As It Lays, The White Album) the play relates Didion’s feelings as they are happening as her husband dies suddenly and unexpectedly and her daughter is seriously ill and hospitalized.

    Her daughter Quintana Roo would die before the book was published at age 39. Unlike the book, her daughter’s death is included in the play.

    Vogel, who is just coming off a strong leading role in Swing Shift at 4th Wall Theatre Co., didn’t hesitate to take on another demanding role so quickly. “I’m really thrilled to step into the role and asked to take it on. I was very lucky,” Vogel says.

    Didion herself transformed her book into a play. Vogel is the only person on stage throughout the one-act which is directed by Main Street’s Artistic Director Rebecca Greene Udden. “We have this character Joan actively telling her story. It’s not a memory play. She’s telling me this right now. She’s just stepped into a space where you can imagine one or a hundred are listening. It doesn’t matter. It’s very personal.”

    Vogel took a deep dive into Didion’s writing and the author herself. “I read Play It As It Lays. And then there’s a documentary on Netflix that was put together by Griffin Dunne [nephew of John Gregory Dunne and Didion]. So I had done this deep dive. Into her. I came prepared to look at her condensation of her own work, It’s not like she shortened it. She just made it theatrical.”

    Asked if she’d ever experienced a loss like Didion had, Vogel responds:

    “To lose two family members in the same span of time is very hard. I would say in our own country, in our own world, there’s probably more people close to us who have lost people in the last two, three years.  whether it be COVID or these natural disasters. My mother is in a very fire part of the country and here I am in a very flood part of the country. And we both have people who have experienced trauma. And we have family members who’ve been displaced. So that kind of elevated trauma is in my life. But the death of two family members, no. But it’s certainly relatable.

    “She talks about how life changes in the instant, in the ordinary instant. I think her point in the ordinary. She doesn’t come from a place of fear. She’s resting and is in a place of stability and gets rocked,” Vogel says. “‘This will happen to you. It happened to me’ is her opening. The money doesn’t protect you. The fame doesn’t protect you. We’re all so vulnerable.

    “How lovely to love and be loved. But the excruciating loss is so huge that it cannot be escaped. And somehow we survive through it. She looks for ways to survive in her magical thinking. And during the course of the evening she lets go of that. You think it’s going to be how she pretends her way out. But no, she uses magical thinking to go into it and come out. So all of that is a journey through something, not a memory of something that already happened and I solved.”

    Asked why she wanted to do the role, Vogel says:

    “Because the character is so wise. It’s gift for me as an actor to play someone that wise. I love being able to speak so that the audience receives it. You can’t talk at the audience. You have to speak so that you give it away.  It’s a very exquisitely written way of doing that. Your experience is successful when you see that people are understanding.

    “It’s not meant to be a therapy session;.it’s’ a character that we watch,” Vogel says. “She moves around the stage, lots of standing and walking through. It’s movement in order to reach the audience.” Vogel wants people to know that the play also is funny. “She’s dry, entertaining. how could this be but it is.

    “This is really going to grip you and will be beautifully staged to manifest all those things. It’s aggressive; Joan Didion was aggressive as a writer  I love it, as a woman. How do we step into clarity and demand and our own protection and our own opinion expressed instead of not expressed and sharing in a way. Yes it’s teaching but it’s not. It’s not that sort of motherly thing where I’m going to teach you a lesson. She’s going through something.”

    Performances are scheduled for October 19 through November 17 at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays at Main Street Theatre – Rice Village, 2540 Times Boulevard. For more information, call  713-524-6706 or visit mainstreettheater.com. $45-$64.

    Margaret Downing

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  • Mysterious and Foreboding, The Woman in Black Comes to Eerie Life at Main Street Theater

    Mysterious and Foreboding, The Woman in Black Comes to Eerie Life at Main Street Theater


    Main Street Theater gives us plenty of chills for these sweaty summer nights via its superlative rendition of Stephen Malatratt’s adaptation of Susan Hill’s Victorian gothic ghost story, The Woman in Black.

    Imaginatively shepherded by director Philip Hays, and abetted by a phalanx of pro designers in set (Jodi Bobrovsky), costume Paige A. Willson), lighting (Andrew Archer), and especially sound (Shawn W. St. John), the supernatural tale takes on eerie life because of the two actors who lead us into this spooky spectral world, Danny Hayes and Ian Lewis. They play off and against each other with a supernatural force of their own. We’re in safe hands with these two, although our own hands may shake in apprehension as the story progresses and grows darker and more mysterious.

    Years after the events of the play, solicitor Kipps (Hayes) wants to tell his tale to his family to rid himself of the curse that has haunted him for years. It must be told, he repeats to the Actor (Lewis) he has hired to help him prepare. They meet in a decrepit Victorian theater with seashell footlights, a ratty proscenium, a red velvet curtain drawn back upstage, and props covered with dusty sheets.

    The opening scenes are played for laughs as the Actor rolls his eyes as he attempts to bring life into Kipps’ dry reading of his own story. “I’ll make you an Irving yet,” he promises. Slowly, though, through theatrical prestidigitation, the Actor takes on the role of the younger Kipps, while Kipps plays all the other characters: pony and trap driver, wary townsfolk, London lawyer. It’s wonderful theater magic. (The playbill lists Hayes in the Actor role and Lewis as Kipps — an indication of things to come.)

    “I don’t believe in ghosts,” wails the Actor playing Kipps. But events will shake his resolve soon enough. For you see, there’s a Woman in Black (Callina Anderson in silent mode) who appears throughout to drive Kipps mad. She’s a vengeful sprite, a figure of evil and retribution, set to wreak havoc on those innocents who cross her blasted path. In days long past, she was an unwed mother who gave up her son to her sister Mrs. Drablow of Eel Marsh House.

    Wanting to be close to him, she moved into Drablow’s forlorn mansion on the marshes, but was forbidden to tell her son that she was his mother. Watching from the house, she witnessed the death of her young son, sucked into the mud during the sudden appearance of the dismal sea mist, the fret, and forever after walks the earth to seek retribution on any poor soul who sees her. Death will surely follow.

    This wondrous melodrama spins its weird tale with simple theatricalism. Two fine actors at the top of their game (Anderson doesn’t have anything to do except make her ghostly appearances), stunning lighting effects, atmospheric sound work, and the sure command from director Hays, who overlays all this with a visual splendor and moody pace that fits this ghost story like a worm-eaten black lace glove.

    The Woman in Black is certainly Main Street’s 2023-24 season topper: a fitting tribute to the power of theater. Anyway, who doesn’t like a good ghost story? Trust me, you won’t find a better one.

    The Woman in Black continues through August 11 at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays at Main Street Theater, 2540 Times Boulevard. For more information, call 713-524-6706 or visit mainstreettheater.com. $39-$59.

    D. L. Groover

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  • The Deeper Meaning of Stagolee and the Funeral of a Dangerous Word at Main Street

    The Deeper Meaning of Stagolee and the Funeral of a Dangerous Word at Main Street


    Pictures of Black civil rights leaders pepper the forest green walls of the office on stage. The office bulletin board is haphazardly scattered with various community events. Papers littered over an office desk. Everything is reminiscent of a workplace except the big brown rectangular box that can’t help but call attention to itself. Did somebody die?

    In this world premiere production of Stagolee and the Funeral of a Dangerous Word by Thomas Meloncon, it doesn’t take long to discern what the dangerous word is. Is there any other word in American English that conjures up its own meaning without even having to utter it in its entirety. Ask someone what the T-word is. Be prepared for various responses and confused faces. Ask someone what the N-word is. Be prepared for a silence that rings just as loud as the six letter word.

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    Stagolee (Timothy Eric) and Naomi (LaKeisha Rochelle Randle) speaking about the town’s most recent race riot.

    Photo by Pin Lim / Forest Photography.

    Directed by Errol Anthony Wilks, Stagolee and the Funeral of a Dangerous Word offers engaging insights into how the dangerous word gains meaning over the course of a lifetime. Beyond the realistic set design (James V. Thomas) marked with the astute detail of the blinds opening up to the street, the crux of this production hinges on the story and its acting.

    With any new play, there can be a sense of overwriting. Extraneous details that add unnecessary confusion. A few “two” many frivolous characters. An ending that feels duty-bound to wrap up all loose ends regardless of how rushed it feels.

    However, a perfect script has never been a requirement for a thoughtful and worthy production. Stagolee and the Funeral of a Dangerous Word is at its best when it focuses on Stagolee, the son, and the dangerous word. Despite some awkward blocking that obscured sightlines and a confusing choice for the NAACP director to deliver an impassioned speech during a climactic scene from a closed downstage position, the conversations about the dangerous word went beyond “who can say it?” or “what does it mean?” Instead, this play adds a more interesting perspective. When does it become meaningful? How does the meaning of the word change over time on a personal level?

    click to enlarge

    Rodger (Seth Carter Ramsey) arrives at the NAACP office and listens to Sam (Byron Jacquet) give the ground rules.

    Photo by Pin Lim / Forest Photography.

     Any word that can incite violence is worth these discussions, so when Rodger (Seth Carter Ramsey) uses the dangerous word within earshot of Stagolee (Timothy Eric) while they’re working, a race riot ensues. The head of the local chapter of the NAACP, Sam Kingsley (Byron Jacquet) arranges a deal with the District Attorney’s office so that both avoid the harsh charges for inciting a riot. Both Stagolee and Rodger agree not to ever say the word and that they will talk about the dangerous word at the NAACP office under the guidance of a clinical psychologist, Dr. John Cohen (Ed Muth).

    When Stagolee begrudgingly visits the NAACP office ahead of his first meeting with Dr. Cohen, he and Naomi (LaKeisha Rochelle Randle), an old friend and NAACP employee, are at odds. She is frustrated that Stagolee lacked the self discipline to avoid the violence of the race riot while Stagolee is indignant that she is in support of the resolution that he should never say the dangerous word.

    click to enlarge

    Sam (Byron Jacquet) sharing with Stagolee (Timothy Eric) the racial violence that he and his family have had to overcome.

    Photo by Pin Lim / Forest Photography.

    The dangerous word is his to say. The word has been reclaimed. His father taught him so. Alongside the passion for being allowed to use the dangerous word is his tender fondness for Naomi. Scattered within their heated discussion are Stagolee’s declarations of love and desire that would make most women swoon. Instead, she rebuffs his advances and repeats often that he is not her type.

    She’s planning a funeral where they plan to bury artifacts of racial injustice and pledges from children declaring they will no longer say the dangerous word. Stagolee wants no part of it, but with the help of Rev. Moses Kulani (Manning Mpinduzi-Mott), Naomi hopes the procession will calm racial tensions and bring healing to the community.

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    Rev. Moses Kulani (Manning Mpinduzi-Mott) asking the ancestors for help for the procession.

    Photo by Pin Lim / Forest Photography.

    When Rodger and Stagolee meet for their meetings with Dr. Cohen, tensions never seem to calm, but both share their unfiltered perspectives about the dangerous word. By the end of their sessions, there’s too much pent-up bitterness. It escalates, and all have to manage the fallout. Eventually, Stagolee is able to understand the NAACP and even decides on attending the procession.

    From the moment Timothy Eric swaggers on stage with his Stetson hat, he endows Stagolee with a sincerely overwhelming sense of self. Even as he gloriously rattles off the implausible stories about his father, he delivers the lines in such a manner that it’s clear that he believes those stories. While the others call it folklore, there’s nothing mythological about Stagolee’s father.

    His bravado originates from these stories, and his bravado is real — built up over time in a community where there are people who believe he is nothing due to the color of his skin. He looms on stage even when he’s sitting. His stares are just as revelatory as his stories. He leads this production with enough certainty to plaster over any skepticism.

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    Rodger (Seth Carter Ramsey) trying to get under Stagolee’s (Timothy Eric) skin.

    Photo by Pin Lim / Forest Photography.

    The crux of this play lives in the sit downs that take place between Stagolee, Rodger, and Dr. Cohen. Ramsey clarifies Rodger’s prejudice by playing the truth of the character rather than only expressing the brute prejudice. The curiosity he conveys about who owns the dangerous word produces constructive tension. His choice to never sit down and his constant walking-back-and-forth contributes to the contentious mood. The more they talk, the more combative they become.

    Muth’s more mild-mannered and composed temperament grounds the discussions. When Rodger finds out that the psychologist is Jewish, he does not hesitate to spout out his hatred for Jews. Rather than react to his hostility, Dr. Cohen chooses to be patient. Muth’s meekness allows for focus to remain on what Stagolee and Rodger believe and why they believe it.

    LaKeisha Rochelle Randle’s charismatic performance of the Harvard-educated Naomi has a natural charm and magnetic presence. She moves with purpose across the stage, and her expressions clearly convey her wishes and desires. Though the initial scenes predominantly feature her, she disappears and then appears after the intermission in a less prominent capacity.

    Her dynamic energy is sorely missed. She and Eric work well off each other, and their character interactions invite engaging insight. What more would be revealed if more of the dangerous word is explored through their relationship?

    click to enlarge

    Stagolee (Timothy Eric) and Naomi (Lakeisha Rochelle Randle).

    Photo by Pin Lim / Forest Photography.

    This play doesn’t definitively put the dangerous word away. The big takeaway is not “don’t say the n-word.” Instead, it seeks to reveal why people wish to use it, who can use it, and how that word evokes memories and hardships that make some never want to hear or say the word.

    By tracing the affects of the dangerous word on a personal level rather than the historical (this play does not ignore the historical), Stagolee and the Funeral of a Dangerous Word is a bracing look on what feeds the power of the dangerous word and what makes it so dangerous.

    Performances continue through April 21 at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays (no performance on March 31, Easter Sunday) $35-$59.at Main Street Theater’s Rice Village location, 2540 Times Boulevard. For more information, call 713-524-6706 or visit mainstreettheater.com.

    Ada Alozie

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  • Stagolee and the Funeral of a Dangerous Word on Stage at Main Street Theater

    Stagolee and the Funeral of a Dangerous Word on Stage at Main Street Theater


    “The N-Word has been around since 1619. It’s been a part of American history, American literature and there’s so much controversy over the use of it, who can use it, who can’t. Who has permission to use it?”

    That’s Thomas Meloncon, Texas Southern University associate professor and author of about 30 plays and two books of poetry, starting to explain why he wanted to explore this divisive topic into his play Stagolee and the Funeral of a Dangerous Word  which is having its world premiere at Main Street Theater.

    Meloncon has often focused on relationships in his plays. His play Diary of Black Men has been staged all over the United States and  internationally since 1982  and centers on six stereotypical Black men and their understanding of relationships with Black women.

    Growing up in the Fifth Ward, Meloncon was well acquainted with Lloyd Price’s 1959 No. 1 pop hit “Stagger Lee.” (Both Stagolee and Stagger Lee are alternative spellings.) It and many other stories and songs told the story of a Christmas Day brawl in 1895 that led to the death of one of two men in a bar in St. Louis, Missouri.

    “Stagolee, of course, is based upon a fight between a guy by the name of Lee Shelton and Billy Lyons in 1895. Two people fighting over a dice game or politics. The legend goes that Billy Lyons knocks Lee Sheltons’ — Stagolee’s  — hat off his head which is something you don’t do to any man and particularly to any African American man and so that fight started,” Meloncon said.

    In real life, the fight took place on Christmas Day 1896 in a St. Louis, Missouri bar and Lyons died early the next day after being shot in the abdomen. From this account, Meloncon began to build his story of two men fighting over one’s use of the N-word.

    “I’ve been writing this story off and on or a number of years now,” Meloncon said laughing.  “It’s gone through different phases and different twists and turns.”

    The five-act play takes place in the fictitious town of Deep River, Texas. The local chapter of the NAACP is planning a funeral for the N-Word. A riot develops around this particular word. It addresses racism. It addresses the fact that the word is still toxic and when it’s used, people have emotional responses to it.”

    Meloncon set the play in 1999, the year that Mos Def (now known as Yasiin Bey) put out his debut album Black on Both Sides that used a variation of the N-Word 49 times and was considered one of the best albums of the year.

    “Part of the story is centered around an incident at a lumberyard where my two characters work and the white guy uses the word and Stagolee who’s the son of Stagolee  tells him he can’t used the word without his permission That argument still exists today.”

    After the fight at the plant both men are charged with inciting a riot. To resolve that, the head of the NAACP makes a deal with the district attorney to have the two sit and talk about the N-Word in the office of the NAACP.

    “So they bring in a Jewish psychologist who’s a very good friend of the head of the NAACP and his role is to get these two men to sit down and unravel the psychological origin of this word. When did they learn this word. And when did they learn the meaning of it?” Meloncon said.

    “When do kids both black and white first use this word? Do they understand what it means? Do they abandon the word at some point or do they continue to use it? It gets into the flesh of why this word exists and why do we use it and why is it sometimes funny, toxic? Sometimes it’s used casually.  There are so many layers to this.”

    In the Main Street production, Timothy Eric plays Stagolee, Seth Carter Ramsey plays Roger and Ed Muth plays the Jewish mediator. Errol Anthony Wilks directs. .

    And as far as resolution goes?

    “They do come to some understanding. It’s not what you call a happy understanding. There’re are ups and downs. But they do come to realize from each other how they learned this word.

    “I hope that the after effect of [his play]  is that we come to — even the young people — we come to a better understanding of this word, a word that has been used as a weapon of mass destruction both internally and externally. “

    Performances ate scheduled for March 30  through April 21 at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays (no performance on March 31, Easter Sunday) $35-$59.at Main Street Theater’s Rice Village location, 2540 Times Boulevard. For more information, call 713-524-6706 or visit mainstreettheater.com. 

    Margaret Downing

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