“Black Sunday”

The story takes us back to the 1930’s, in Texas, where major dust storms causing farmers to not be able to grow crops as usual. The family that we are gazing upon is composed of a father, Pa (David Parkes) who wants to keep his farm and stay put, his wife, Ma (played to perfection by Mechelle Moe) who feels that they need to move to a new life in California. She has premonitions and draws pictures using dirt that are a sort of road map to things that are taking place. Pa is sure that once the storms are over, life will go back to what he feels is normalcy.

Their daughter, Sunny ( deftly handled by Angela Morris) is seeking love and change. She is “in love “( or perhaps “lust”) with the local Pastor, Jim ( Vic Kuligoski) and as it turns out, the farm worker, Jesus ( a powerful performance by Christopher Alvarenga). Directed by Helen Young on a set designed by Joe Schermoly, we, the audience, become that “fly on the wall” as we watch the timeline until the day of “Black Sunday”.

The walls are used for projections allowing us to see what is happening over this period ( projections by Anthony Churchill) and the feeling of feeling the wind is there every time they open the cabin door. The props (Saskia Bakker) are quite realistic. We were in the first row and watching the intimacy ( Kristina Fluty’s work is amazing) as well as the fight choreography ( Micah Figueroa) seemed truly like it was actual.

Watching this production and listening to the story allows us to learn more about not only that day, but what took place involving immigration. While the drought had caused great loss for the farmers in Texas, the many Mexican workers ( and some farm owners) were forced to go back to Mexico. In watching this story evolve, one sees how what is happening today may be a “history repeating itself moment”. Climate change is taking place! Immigration is still a problem! The economy was struggling!

This play, developed as part of the Timeline ” Playwright’s Collective”, is a spell-binding 90 minutes of theater. It will take you back in history to a time that most of us didn’t realize existed in our country. Let’s face it, this was almost 100 years ago, a different time, a different world? Or was it? This production will certainly give you something to think about.

Timeline Theatre is located at 615 Wellington Avenue.

There are always special events connected to Timeline productions and they are:

Post show discussions: Wednesday, 5/22, Sunday, 6/2, Wednesday, 6/5 and Thursday 6/20 ( after the 2 p.m. performance)

Pre-show discussions: starting one hour prior to show- Thursday 5/30 and Sunday 6/16

Company Member Discussion: June 16th  – a one hour discussion with the artists who select programming

Sunday Scholars Panel Discussion: A one hour panel discussion featuring experts on the themes and issues following the performance on June 23rd.

“Black Sunday” will continue thru June 29th with performances as follows:

Distanced : mask required  Friday, 5/24

Captioned performances : June 14th and June 15th ( 4 p.m. performance)

Audio described: Saturday, June 20th at 2 p.m.