Susan Granger’s review of “In the Southern Breeze” (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater – Off-Broadway)
The Rattlestick Playwrights Theater is proud to produce works “that will lead to positive social change as they embody their core values of community, equity, empowerment and artistic freedom.” In partnership with Mansa Ra, the current production is “an autobiographical fever dream, spotlighting mental health recovery and centering the Black male experience.”
According to Mansa Ra, idea for this production began in 2015 as “two simple questions to four of my friends: Does being Black scare you as much as it scares me?…How do we stop living in fear?”
His play begins as a nameless, obviously depressed Black Man (Allan K. Washington) arrives home, checking to be sure the deadbolts are set. He’s relieved to strip off the fixed smile he wears in order not to be threatening to others, calling it: “The Obama Deluxe.”
“Everybody was freaking out about quarantine, cooped up with nowhere to go,” he muses. “But I was glad. I finally had a real excuse for not leaving my apartment.”
After he rhetorically questions, “Has there ever been a happy place for Black men in America?” the stage suddenly goes dark as a surreal Time Travel segment begins.
Terrified Madison (Charles Browning) is an escaped slave in 1780. Tennessee sharecropper Lazarus (Victor Williams) is a union organizer in 1892. Hue (Biko Eisen-Martin) is a Black Panther in 1971. And Tony (Travis Raeburn), who turns out to be Lazarus’ great grandson, is a gay AIDS activist in 1993.
One comes to realize that “In the Southern Breeze” takes its title from “Strange Fruit,” Billie Holiday’s anti-lynching protest anthem, as dread of racial violence permeates the drama.
“But the noose is still there. Why is that noose still there?” the Man anxiously asks. “It gets prettier and smarter and more complicated and more camouflaged. But it hasn’t gone away.”
It’s a compelling concept, well-acted under the direction of Christopher D. Betts on Emmie Finckel’s set, lighting by Emma Deane, costumes by Jahise Lebouef, music by Allen Rene Louis and sound by Kathy Ruvuna.
Running 65 minutes with no intermission, “In the Southern Breeze” is performed virtually and in-person through December 12, 2021, at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 234 Waverly Place…tickets available at https:www.rattlestick.org.