“Hang Man”

[rating=2]Over my years of covering local theater companies, I have found that The Gift, the very quaint storefront in Jefferson Park, has given us some of the sharpest and smartest productions in all. Despite the intimacy of this very small space, they have even done some large -scale shows. I was anxious to see the new production, a World Premiere as the first production of their 17th season of work on Milwaukee Avenue at Lawrence. This new work, written by Stacy Osei-Kuffour, is supposed to be a haunting drama that takes us to the back woods in a Southern town, as we deal with a Black man, found hanging from a tree, and how the residents of the community, Black and White, deal with it.

The night started out with a problem. Live Theater is “live” so after all 30 plus audience members were settled in to The Gift, phones silenced, candy unwrapped, announcements made, we were witness to as Darnell, noose around his neck( a powerful performance by Gregory Fenner), prepare to be the character who has been hung. He did so, narrating who he is when all hell broke loose and the straps that he was wearing around his chest, snapped, breaking the mood and changing the appearance. I suppose that the technical part of the show might even be a Jeff Award winner ( if it worked), but it didn’t. After a 13 minute delay and attempt to re-rig the system, the Stage Manager, decided to go on with the play having the actor stand on the wooden scaffold and continue. I , for one, am glad she did, allowing us to get into the story (?).

Here is my problem- the story. While the actors were good, the script appears to be incomplete and lacking, so I can see how they might have a problem growing their characters. The play is called “The Hang Man” ( which for many is a word game played when growing up) and yes we do have a character who was hanged, but do we know by whom? We have a couple several feet away who are making love. Archie ( the always reliable Paul D’Addario) and  Margarie ( superbly played by Angela Morris). Are they married? Are they really lovers? Hard to tell exactly what their relationship is, partly because we later see Margarie with  Wipp ( delightfully played by Andy Fleisher) a dim-wit who we learn is best buddies with Archie.  Osei-Kuffour needs to clarify just how these three characters fit into each others lives.

On the African-American side, we have the family members of our title character, Darnell’s sister, Sage ( deftly handled by Jennifer Glasse) and her daughter, G ( Mariah Sydnei Gordon), who are searching for Darnell. The last of the characters is  Jahad ( Martel Manning) a local African-American who has converted to Muslim and makes for one more reason for the bigots of this little southern town to do “thar thing!”. The play is smoothly directed by Jess McLeod, but the script is the weakest part of the production. The purpose of the play is to bring to audiences the use of the absurd to explore racism and how each individual, despite what they say, has some in them.

There are many holes in the story that one hopes will be explained as the one hour-ten minutes roll off the clock. Margarie, who decides to have a baby and in the end does ( but with whom) falls in love with the man hanging from the branch and comes back to free him from his fate. Others get involved with Darnell as well and are shot. I just found the play to have no purpose, at least for me. I found the script to be lacking in story-telling and felt a let-down at the end on the play. Where I would want to have had feelings about the topic and the learning process that we expect at Gift Theater, this one, although filled with talented people did nothing for me.

I do not think the problem at the start of the show had any bearing on the total picture that was painted for the audience, but I do feel that this is a play that could be re-worked so that the sub-plots contained within can be more open and audience members can see how each character, no matter their color, connects with the others. How did each of the characters cause the event that started the show? Do we ever find out? I would be interested in your views.

“Hang Man” will continue at The Gift Theater, located at 4802 N. Milwaukee Avenue through April 29th with performances as follows:

Thursdays  7:30 p.m.

Fridays  7:30 p.m.

Saturdays  3:30 and 7:30 p.m.

Sundays  2:30 p.m.

Tickets range from $30-$40 and can be ordered by calling 773-283-7071 or by visiting www.thegifttheatre.org

Parking can be a bit of a problem, but the area is metered and if you check, you will see that many of them are only until 6 p.m. Public transportation is a snap. There are some dining choices in the area including the famous Gale Street Inn, just down the street, Ribs sound very good when viewing a southern show.

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Hang Man”