Theatre Review: NYC Fringe Festival Plays 2010

I'm reluctant to say that I enjoyed By Hands Unknown. Not because I didn't like it but mostly because it's an in-your-face no holds barred look at the history of lynchings in the United States and it's affect on both black and white families in the deep south.  It's kind of hard to enjoy that. It's uncomfortable to watch, and at times, hard to listen to, which made its impact on me both poignant and unsettling.

Using several vignettes and short plays written during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the 18 person cast reenacts real life incidents in which Black men were wrongfully accused of crimes (raping white women, stealing, talking back to white men of power) and strung up and hung from trees.

But the show is about 45 minutes too long (it runs for a whopping 2 hours) and while the material is informative and important, I felt the same message was being reiterated skit after skit.

It was only the scene where a pregnant Black woman witnesses a lynching for the first time and immediately goes into labor and right after giving birth, kills her baby boy to "save" him from the life of inequality that awaited him that left me with chills - and wanting more.

A Raisin in the Salad: Black Plays for White People, an audacious collection of comedic sketches is what I like to call the one stop Fringe Festival shop.

It has everything you could want in a play: comedy, drama, singing, rapping, live instrumental music (albeit a kazoo) and full frontal nudity. But above all else, it makes sensitive topics (identity, racism, classicism) go down easy by hiding them in intelligent humor.

The show is hosted by Lelund Durond Thompson, who plays Kevin R. Free (the playwright). He keeps the rollicking good time flowing as the audience is delighted by bold, standout performances and a unique look at what it means to be an artist of color in a Hollywood that's anything but color-blind.

The last and best play I saw during the Fringe Festival this year was When Last We Flew.

I did a staged reading of the play back in 2008 in Brooklyn with Freedom Train Productions.

After two years and workshops at both the Lincoln Center Director's Lab and the Sundance Theater Lab, Flew makes its main stage debut at the Fringe Festival with a slightly revised script and an impeccable cast. It was a complete pleasure to see this original piece come to life on stage.

This light-hearted coming of age story isn't just about a high schooler grappling with his sexual identity but an intelligent study on what it means to bridge connections to those closest to you, embrace self-revelations and allow yourself to soar to new heights you never imagined you could reach.

Harrison David Rivers' script seamlessly weaves together literary references, humor and drama unlike anything else I've seen in a long time. And Colette Robert's free-spirited direction allows her talented cast to put their personal stamp on their respective roles, which showed a genuine connection to these well-crafted characters.

The Fringe Festival ended on August 29th but Flew has been granted an extended run at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

121 Christopher Street NYC

TIMES:

9/9 @ 9:30
9/11 @ 5:00
9/12 @ 8:00
9/16 @ 7:00