'Dickerson-Despenza’s family drama (though it’s much more than that) examines the effect of the Flint water crisis on three generations of Black women.' | kerryreid
Credit:I hardly ever start reviews this way, but trust me: stop reading this and hop online to get tickets for Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s, now in its local premiere at Victory Gardens under Lili-Anne Brown’s direction.
It’s a profound, poetic, scabrous piece of theater that hits at so many levels that I found myself walking in a daze of wonderment, anger, and grief after emerging from the Biograph.Through 7/17: Tue-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM; Sat 6/25 and 7/16 3 PM only; Wed 6/29 2 PM only; word for word captioning Wed 6/29 2 PM, Fri 7/1 and Sat 7/2 7:30 PM; ASL interpretation Fri 7/1 7:30 PM; audio description/touch tour Fri 7/1 7:30 PM, and Sun 7/10 3 PM ; Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln, 773-871-3000,Dickerson-Despenza’s family drama examines the effect of the Flint water crisis on three generations of Black women. Like Lorraine Hansberry’s, Dickerson-Despenza’s story is in part about how the twin evils of racism and capitalist exploitation drive wedges between those who want to fight for justice and those willing to compromise themselves and their communities to keep their own families from going under, their own dreams from withering away. Big Ma is the matriarch of the home, though Brianna Buckley’s Marion, widowed by the Afghanistan war and struggling to keep her job at GM, is the actual owner. Marion’s little sister, Ainee , pregnant and struggling to stay sober, watches over Marion’s girls: Reesee , who, like Beneatha in, finds comfort in Yoruba rituals , and Plum , whose chemo for leukemia causes her to sleepwalk. Sydney Lynne’s set places large metal pipes that look like a mythic Rust Belt version of a ruined temple behind the small but cozy home where the women try to deal with the lack of clean water—that most basic of human requirements and rights. It’s an apt metaphor for this heartbreaking wonder of a play that overflows with history and mystery, love and anguish, small telling details about how these women hold each other up and big-picture truths about how little their lives matter to the People in Charge.Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.
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