BURNBABYBURN! Smolders with Incendiary Emotion

 

Hope Anthony as Sky, Anthony Grace as Will and DeVaughn Robinson as Joyner Credit Mark Southers

          For many, self-identity is strongly intertwined with ancestors who came before. But when tracing one’s lineage into past is smoky and vague, when records are not kept and personal memories fade through time, a certain disturbing uneasiness settles in.

This is the case of a young African-American named Sky II, one of the main characters in a play by much acclaimed playwright a.k. payne, who earnestly longs to discover more about those who came before her.

With a series of old photographs to guide her, Sky II (Kat Bruce) tries to fill in the gaps of her family’s personal history, adding pieces of the puzzle in conversations with her father, Joyner (DeVaughn Robinson). It’s a long journey of self-discovery and learning about the lives of those who came before. And what a dramatic and moving journey it is.

Now getting a world premiere as a co-production of the August Wilson House and Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre, the play opens four generations back, when the 15-year-old Sky, (Sky II’s grandmother), confronts her own mother Myrna (Aisha Jordan Gunter) about her plans to move west to California with her son’s father, Will (Anthony Grace).

Although Myrna has a backstory that took her from the smoke and grit of Pittsburgh, with its roaring steel mills, to New York City, she passionately tries to dissuade Sky from leaving home..

As Will, Grace is a hulk of a man, full of big dreams and the courage to try to realize them. His stage entrances and exits are physically aggressive and his on stage persona is assertive, rowdy and intimidating.

But the playwright’s intent is to focus more on the female cast of characters, especially on Sky, who grows from a teen aged girl to a middle age adult by play’s end.

Hope is marvelous to watch as Sky. She barely leaves the stage during the play’s two and a half hour run. Her sky has seen cloudy times, her dreams squashed by time, poverty and prejudices against not only her race but also because she is bisexual and in `a relationship with Char (Destiny Nwafor), a tough woman who’s not afraid to show her softer side.

When Sky II, herself a queer woman, learns of her grandmother’s range of sexual experiences, she seems to bond more readily with the past and find strength in the fact that her grandmother and she have had similar life experiences.

Playwright payne’s text is lyrical and poetic in parts. They use language that is both the coarse patois of the street as well as sophisticated and as complex as the story line that gyrates in scenes that move forward and back in time. Some of her lines remind me of the esoteric poets who read at the City of Asylum’s Jazz and Poetry events. Especially poignant and atmospheric were sound designer, Wayne Gaines’ musical backdrop that cover a wide range of moods from the tunes of artists like Dionne Warwick to jazz riffs by what I thought may have been played by John Coltrane and Miles Davis.

DeVaughn Robinson as Joyner, Anthony Grace as Will and Hope Anthony as Sky Credit: Mark Southers

DeVaughn Robinson puts in a masterful performance as Joyner, Sky’s son, who we first see as a football tossing youngster, then as a protective father to Sky II. I’ve managed to see Robinson’s work on other stages, but I feel this is maybe his best yet.

When all is said and done, the real star of the show is Anthony, who valiantly owns the stage with her captivating presence. She puts in a diva performance that caused me to yell brava, spontaneously and wholeheartedly, at curtain.

Fortunately BURNBABYURN introduced me to another talent, that of Kat Bruce, who radiates beauty and sophistication in a carefully and intelligently crafted role. She looks especially radiant in costume designer, Cheryl El-Walker’s long, white, floral-patterned dress. I look for more great things to come from this talented actress.

Director Karla C. Payne infuses the play with some creative touches like the way she has Sky speak her lines while others in the cast simultaneously recite snippets of erudite poetry. This gives the scene an almost numinous aura.

A not-to-be-missed production set outdoors in the yard of the August Wilson House in Pittsburgh’s Hill District at 1727 Bedford Avenue, “BURNBABYBURN! the American dream” is one you may even want to see twice. The play runs through September 13. For tickets, log on to pghplaywrights.org.