“Covenant”

In York Walker’s “Covenant”, now playing on the  Goodman Theatre’s “Owen” stage, we have a story that  takes us on a bumpy ride along several paths that lead us to a conclusion that will shake you up, and rattle your beliefs. Sharply directed by Malkia Stampley, on an almost bare stage, this 100 minutes ( no intermission) of storytelling will lead you on a path that you will not expect to take, no matter your religious beliefs.  Ryan Emens has designed the cabin with a large cross on the wall allowing the cabin to be a symbol of the church and yet it is the interior of the home of  Mama (a solid performance by Anji White) and her daughters, Avery ( deftly handled by Jaeda Lavonne) and Violet (Felicia Oduh). The girls have a best freind, Ruthi ( a powerful performance by Ashli Rene Funches), who spends most of her time with this family.

At the very onset of the story, Johhny “Honeycomb” James ( played to perfection by Debo Balogun) returns to town, after a long absence. He is a musician now, playing in small towns all over, and he has set his eye on Avery as the girl that will help him along the way. He was a nothing when he left, but now has a career and convinces Avery to leave her mother and sister behind for a future with him. Mama is upset as in her mind, he is evil and will lead her daughter ( who she loves dearly) down the path of eveil and will lose her faith.

This is a hard one to go on with as this play is filled with secrets that will affect the outcome and the final scene of the play, thus, I cannot divulge more than hints of what you might expect. I will tell you that Mama is quite upset when her Avery leaves, but later, when she comes back, all hell breaks loose and every characters begins to fear that the devil will hurt them forever, and life can never be normal again. One of the first lines of Walker’s script is about secrets, and there are a great number of them, including a sort of who’s who and what appears to be one way, may not be all that it seems. That is about all I can tell you without giving away the plots and sub-plots.

The twists and turns are powerful and will catch you off guard. There is a lot of comedy in the story and the actors pull it off perfectly. The sound (Dee Etti-Williams) and the lighting (Gina Patterson) along with the music ( Mike Przygoda) help set the tone of each scene and Evelyn M. Danner’s costumes are just right. The Owen is the smaller, studio like Black Box allowing them to change with every production and this staging is perfect. As I previously stated, there are some very devilish moments in the story and there are times when you might think the floor is vibrating, or you hear sounds from above. There is also mention of a “red envelope”, which might be a message from the Devil himself, but of course, that is just a myth or rumor, right? Or is it?

If you are religious, there may be some sections that you will find bothersome, but if you come to the theater to be entertained, I can tell you that this one will do just that ( and then some). There are some moments where you might even feel your heart beating a little faster than normal- guess what? It is worth it. The final moments will give you a new look at  superstition versus belief and myth verses reality. It is bold! It is striking! It is powerful! By the way, all the secrets do get revealed!