sunset Baby |
 | Kenyatta Shakur, former Black Revolutionary and political prisoner, is desperate to reconnect with his estranged daughter Nina. If Kenyatta truly wants to reconcile his past, he must first conquer his most challenging revolution of all - fatherhood. Sunset Baby is an energized, vibrant and witty look at the point where the personal and political collide. Written by Dominique Morrisseau, one of the most exciting and distinctive undiscovered voices in America. |
 | We were able to choose our seats online when we bought the tickets. Their website is really easy to navigate. This was my first time to see anything at Jubilee. It was really easy to find and they had Valet parking on the street which ended up being free because Jubilee validates. The front of house staff were very friendly. Rob bought four raffle tickets in the hopes of winning a Jubilee T-shirt. Unfortunately he was not victorious. They have a great lobby display commemorating their production history and a very interesting sculpture commemorating their founder, Rudy Eastman. |
Sunset Baby is a new play, written in 2013. The playwright says, "It is about untreated wounds between the generations, and the hope for healing. It is about love. That is all." It is a very powerful piece, a play for grownups with adult themes and language. The director, Vickie Washington, had this to say in her Director's Notes:
"Joy/Sorrow; chaos/serenity; conflict/peace; commitment/denial; truth/lies; all of these issues and more are rigorously examined in Dominique Morrisseau's searing drama, Sunset Baby. At the heart of the story we find a father, Kenyatta, searching and longing for a relationship with his daughter, Nina. They have been separated for many years and Nina is firm in her determination to continue to live her life without him in her life. Nina and her lover, Damon, have forged a relationship that may or may not be built on love. Sunset Baby is an up close and personal look at what happens when wounded people are unable or unwilling to deal with their pain. As the old saying goes, "hurt people, hurt people" and as the high Priestess of Soul, Nina Simone, so poignantly sang: "Oh Lord, Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood". Sunset Baby is full of deep complication, beautiful language and sparkling intensity. As we enter the worlds(s) of Kenyatta, Nina and Damon, we come to understand that more often than not the peace, truth, love and acceptance that we so desperately seek is right inside of us. Sunset Baby takes us on a journey of self-discovery, a journey that is helpful and necessary for each and every one of us; and a journey that is--truth be told--an act of revolution. On and Up!"
There are just three characters. Kenyatta, a former Black Revolutionary; Nina, his estranged daughter turned hustler; and Damon, her drug dealer boyfriend. The action of the play centers around some letters that Nina's mother had written to Kenyatta while he was in prison, letters that she'd never mailed. Nina's mother was an addict and upon her death, willed the letters to Nina. Scholars and journalists are vying for the opportunity to purchase the letters but Nina won't sell, valuing them as a link to her mother. Kenyatta tracks Nina down in an attempt to reconnect with her and to read the letters meant for him. With a lesser playwright the action could quickly devolve into meaningless shouting and recriminations, but each character's pain and backstory is explored and although wounds are not healed (this isn't a Disney movie after all), an understanding is reached. Nina wants to go to London and her boyfriend keeps promising that he's going to take her there, once they save up enough money. He truly loves her and wants to do what's right by her. Nina is only using Damon and has kept back money from their hustles and drug deals together. In the end Nina extorts $10,000 from Kenyatta for the letters, which she at first takes at gunpoint. Later we see that she has given him the letters, left Damon, and is on her way to London by herself to start over.
I really enjoyed both the script and the performances but the design was my favorite aspect of the production. The neat thing about this production was the intimacy of the space. Rodney Dobbs created a set design that was a truly dilapidated New York slum apartment interior (Nina's place). There was a scuffed wood floor, duct tape holding the couch together, a chair with the bottom falling out of it, a few measly possessions huddled together in one corner, a sad motel painting hanging by a wire, and a filthy mini-fridge with some dubious looking half eaten leftovers. There were two graffiti-ed scrims on either side of the stage serving as exterior walls that allowed us to see through them to Kenyatta's private monologues and Nina's departure for London and freedom. I also really enjoyed the sound design, by David Lanza. Much of the music was songs by pianist, singer, and civil rights activist Nina Simone, for whom Nina in the play is named. I had never heard her music before and just fell in love with it.
At our matinee performance there was added verisimilitude. In Act 1, a tiny mouse ran out onto the stage, had a nice long look around, and then ran back to the darkness of the wings. It happened right before intermission and was all anyone was talking about in the lobby. Naturally the savvier patrons who'd been to New York confided that it clearly wasn't a New York rat because those got as big as Chihuahuas. In Act 2, a roach crawled out into view and just stayed there, the rest of the show. He wasn't big enough to be a real New York roach either. Everyone's a critic. The actors revealed later on that they did their best not to freak out or scream when they noticed the intruders on stage with them. Honestly, the whole audience freaked out about the mouse forcing the actors to wait for the audience to gather their composure before continuing with the scene. It was a tribute to the actors' professionalism that they kept right on going like this was something that happened all the time.
An Equity actor, William Earl Ray, played Kenyatta. Damon was played by Christopher Piper, and Nina was played by our own Whitney Coulter.
Whitney Coulter, was the star of the show. Whitney attended McLennan as a theatre major in 2007-09. Whitney was a dancer in New Voices ,New Beats, a Kit Kat Klub dancer in Cabaret, Ceres in The Tempest, and Dorine in Tartuffe. Whitney transfered to Sam Houston State University where she graduated with a BFA in Theatre. Whitney has since moved to DFW and has a full time job doing clerical work to support herself so she can continue to audition. This is her 5th show with Jubilee. She is currently putting together an audition tape for Dallas Theatre Center's A Christmas Carol. Right now she is resume building and hopes to get an agent next year.
"Joy/Sorrow; chaos/serenity; conflict/peace; commitment/denial; truth/lies; all of these issues and more are rigorously examined in Dominique Morrisseau's searing drama, Sunset Baby. At the heart of the story we find a father, Kenyatta, searching and longing for a relationship with his daughter, Nina. They have been separated for many years and Nina is firm in her determination to continue to live her life without him in her life. Nina and her lover, Damon, have forged a relationship that may or may not be built on love. Sunset Baby is an up close and personal look at what happens when wounded people are unable or unwilling to deal with their pain. As the old saying goes, "hurt people, hurt people" and as the high Priestess of Soul, Nina Simone, so poignantly sang: "Oh Lord, Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood". Sunset Baby is full of deep complication, beautiful language and sparkling intensity. As we enter the worlds(s) of Kenyatta, Nina and Damon, we come to understand that more often than not the peace, truth, love and acceptance that we so desperately seek is right inside of us. Sunset Baby takes us on a journey of self-discovery, a journey that is helpful and necessary for each and every one of us; and a journey that is--truth be told--an act of revolution. On and Up!"
There are just three characters. Kenyatta, a former Black Revolutionary; Nina, his estranged daughter turned hustler; and Damon, her drug dealer boyfriend. The action of the play centers around some letters that Nina's mother had written to Kenyatta while he was in prison, letters that she'd never mailed. Nina's mother was an addict and upon her death, willed the letters to Nina. Scholars and journalists are vying for the opportunity to purchase the letters but Nina won't sell, valuing them as a link to her mother. Kenyatta tracks Nina down in an attempt to reconnect with her and to read the letters meant for him. With a lesser playwright the action could quickly devolve into meaningless shouting and recriminations, but each character's pain and backstory is explored and although wounds are not healed (this isn't a Disney movie after all), an understanding is reached. Nina wants to go to London and her boyfriend keeps promising that he's going to take her there, once they save up enough money. He truly loves her and wants to do what's right by her. Nina is only using Damon and has kept back money from their hustles and drug deals together. In the end Nina extorts $10,000 from Kenyatta for the letters, which she at first takes at gunpoint. Later we see that she has given him the letters, left Damon, and is on her way to London by herself to start over.
I really enjoyed both the script and the performances but the design was my favorite aspect of the production. The neat thing about this production was the intimacy of the space. Rodney Dobbs created a set design that was a truly dilapidated New York slum apartment interior (Nina's place). There was a scuffed wood floor, duct tape holding the couch together, a chair with the bottom falling out of it, a few measly possessions huddled together in one corner, a sad motel painting hanging by a wire, and a filthy mini-fridge with some dubious looking half eaten leftovers. There were two graffiti-ed scrims on either side of the stage serving as exterior walls that allowed us to see through them to Kenyatta's private monologues and Nina's departure for London and freedom. I also really enjoyed the sound design, by David Lanza. Much of the music was songs by pianist, singer, and civil rights activist Nina Simone, for whom Nina in the play is named. I had never heard her music before and just fell in love with it.
At our matinee performance there was added verisimilitude. In Act 1, a tiny mouse ran out onto the stage, had a nice long look around, and then ran back to the darkness of the wings. It happened right before intermission and was all anyone was talking about in the lobby. Naturally the savvier patrons who'd been to New York confided that it clearly wasn't a New York rat because those got as big as Chihuahuas. In Act 2, a roach crawled out into view and just stayed there, the rest of the show. He wasn't big enough to be a real New York roach either. Everyone's a critic. The actors revealed later on that they did their best not to freak out or scream when they noticed the intruders on stage with them. Honestly, the whole audience freaked out about the mouse forcing the actors to wait for the audience to gather their composure before continuing with the scene. It was a tribute to the actors' professionalism that they kept right on going like this was something that happened all the time.
An Equity actor, William Earl Ray, played Kenyatta. Damon was played by Christopher Piper, and Nina was played by our own Whitney Coulter.
Whitney Coulter, was the star of the show. Whitney attended McLennan as a theatre major in 2007-09. Whitney was a dancer in New Voices ,New Beats, a Kit Kat Klub dancer in Cabaret, Ceres in The Tempest, and Dorine in Tartuffe. Whitney transfered to Sam Houston State University where she graduated with a BFA in Theatre. Whitney has since moved to DFW and has a full time job doing clerical work to support herself so she can continue to audition. This is her 5th show with Jubilee. She is currently putting together an audition tape for Dallas Theatre Center's A Christmas Carol. Right now she is resume building and hopes to get an agent next year.
Study Guide
This study guide was produced by REP Stage Staff of Howard Community College in Columbia MD.
Total cost of the event: 2 tickets $50.54. Parking was free with validated ticket. We spent $4 on raffle tickets to win a shirt.
Manicures and Monuments
Watertower Theatre, Addison
 | Local playwright Vicki Caroline Cheatwood brings us Manicures & Monuments , the hilarious and heartwarming tale of the residents of an Oklahoma nursing home and the young manicurist-in-training, Janann, who comes to volunteer. Janann soon clashes with former Army nurse Bailey, one of the elderly residents. Tempers flare as the two women collide in their struggle to understand each other, but eventually discover the true meaning of what it means to care for someone. |
 | Watertower Theatre was easy to find, located right off the North Dallas Tollroad. We attended the Sunday matinee, which happened to be Pay What You Can day. I was told that the box office didn't presell tickets to PWYC shows, just to show up at 1:00 and get our tickets. Of course we got there way too early even after eating lunch, so we had to sit outside the theatre waiting for them to open the building at 12:30. Once we got inside, the air conditioning was not working so being inside was only slightly cooler than being outside. |
Once the house opened at 1:30, we were so glad that the air conditioning was working inside. The inside of the Watertower mainstage is a true black box space. There's a "backstage tour" video on youtube that I've included below if you're curious about it's versatility.
As for the play, it was written in 1995 by Dallas playwright Vicki Caroline Cheatwood. It was voted the Best New Play of 1995-1996 by the Dallas Theater Critics Forum and got nominated for the Leon Rabin Awards; “Best New Play” of 1995. It's had several productions since then and was recently updated specifically for Watertower's production of it this month. Here's an interview with the director about her history with the play and the playwright.
http://criticalrant.com/2015/05/07/sisterhood-of-synchronicity-manicures-and-monuments-at-watertower-theatre/
Although there were three Equity actors in the cast and a roomful of talented, award winning people involved in the production, the play fell flat and for me it was due to a weak script. The idea of a young woman working with the elderly residents of a nursing home should have been heartwarming and enlightening, but it doesn't deliver on its promise. No manicures are given, no monuments are visited. It's a pastiche of Steel Magnolias and The Boys Next Door except there's no real conflict, no one learns anything and nothing is resolved. It's got roles for five women and three men, however, only the two lead female roles make it through the whole show. The rest of the roles might as well wear red shirts because they start dying off to prove that this is serious.
The two lead female roles are Janann and Bailey. Janann is a young perky manicurist who not once gives anyone a manicure. She glosses over two pedicures in the first scene and no one gets their fingernails painted ever. She has no goals, not really, other than she likes to see Monuments. She'd really like to see the Lincoln Memorial, JFK's in Dallas, and Mt. Rushmore. Bailey is a retired army nurse. She's the crusty one, always complaining, always nagging, never happy with anyone or anything. Bailey wants Janann to have goals, go to school, get a real job, and stop making poor decisions, Janann wants Bailey to stop pestering her about doing any of that. These two characters are basically one dimensional and never rise above their initial descriptions. The two of them talk at each other never comprehending what the other one is saying. There is almost a moment where something might happen, a Crossroads style middle of the night breakout, but it is quickly foiled and the Fried Green Tomatoes duo never make it to Mt. Rushmore.
The most interesting and fully realized female character is the ward nurse Smitty. She says that she's the only nurse on that wing and at one point says she has 10 immobile patients she has to take back to their rooms from the dining room. Add those ten to the five characters in the play and that makes 15 patients on her wing My grandmother was an LVN in two different nursing homes and she was never all alone on a wing with more that many patients to care for by herself. There are apparently no orderlies or doctors at this home. Smitty is completely overworked, over stressed, but is handling it well until a confrontation with Bailey turns ugly. Bailey verbally pushes Smitty over the edge and Smitty ends up hurting Bailey's arm and quitting. We never see Smitty again, which is unfortunate. But alas, the play is not about Smitty, so the playwright writes her out and goes on.
Camille starts out as the friendly resident. But after all the fussing about Janann finding her some Paris pink polish, which never gets painted on her fingernails, her character immediately descends into dementia and never recovers. In Act Two she continually asks how many children Janann has now and what their names are. The last female character is Sarah "the Terror". Sarah is non-verbal and hardly onstage. We are told by Smitty that she is in another wing with the more aggressive patients and isn't allowed in Smitty's wing. In the first scene she invades their space to scream gutterally at the residents but is forced back by Smitty. By Act 2 she is apparently allowed in their day room because Smitty makes no mention of her transfer, but all she does is poop in her pants while sitting in a chair. it is this incident which ignites Smitty's fight with Bailey.
Two of the male roles we are told are mentally-impaired but not due to age. Luther and Sammy have been wards of the state since the nursing home was built, apparently built to house them. I don't know about Oklahoma law, but in Texas, mental patients have their own homes and are not thrown in with the elderly. Luther and Sammy "work" for the home, helping Smitty with the patients, so they don't feel like they're free-loading. The only man in the home who is not mentally challenged is Mr. Swanson. His only purpose seems to be pity. He's doing just fine at the beginning of the play, walking 7 laps around the halls for his daily exercise. A few scenes later he can only do 2 laps and at some point in Act 2 he dies offstage, barely getting a mention.
I get it that we are clearly meant to see how life declines at the end and how sad and lonely life can be when you have no family to visit you, however, what is the point of having eight characters in a play when only two of them stick around and are fully compos mentis? Why not just write Night, Mother from the get go? The real problem is the lack of a story between Bailey and Janann and that is entirely the fault of the playwright.
As for the play, it was written in 1995 by Dallas playwright Vicki Caroline Cheatwood. It was voted the Best New Play of 1995-1996 by the Dallas Theater Critics Forum and got nominated for the Leon Rabin Awards; “Best New Play” of 1995. It's had several productions since then and was recently updated specifically for Watertower's production of it this month. Here's an interview with the director about her history with the play and the playwright.
http://criticalrant.com/2015/05/07/sisterhood-of-synchronicity-manicures-and-monuments-at-watertower-theatre/
Although there were three Equity actors in the cast and a roomful of talented, award winning people involved in the production, the play fell flat and for me it was due to a weak script. The idea of a young woman working with the elderly residents of a nursing home should have been heartwarming and enlightening, but it doesn't deliver on its promise. No manicures are given, no monuments are visited. It's a pastiche of Steel Magnolias and The Boys Next Door except there's no real conflict, no one learns anything and nothing is resolved. It's got roles for five women and three men, however, only the two lead female roles make it through the whole show. The rest of the roles might as well wear red shirts because they start dying off to prove that this is serious.
The two lead female roles are Janann and Bailey. Janann is a young perky manicurist who not once gives anyone a manicure. She glosses over two pedicures in the first scene and no one gets their fingernails painted ever. She has no goals, not really, other than she likes to see Monuments. She'd really like to see the Lincoln Memorial, JFK's in Dallas, and Mt. Rushmore. Bailey is a retired army nurse. She's the crusty one, always complaining, always nagging, never happy with anyone or anything. Bailey wants Janann to have goals, go to school, get a real job, and stop making poor decisions, Janann wants Bailey to stop pestering her about doing any of that. These two characters are basically one dimensional and never rise above their initial descriptions. The two of them talk at each other never comprehending what the other one is saying. There is almost a moment where something might happen, a Crossroads style middle of the night breakout, but it is quickly foiled and the Fried Green Tomatoes duo never make it to Mt. Rushmore.
The most interesting and fully realized female character is the ward nurse Smitty. She says that she's the only nurse on that wing and at one point says she has 10 immobile patients she has to take back to their rooms from the dining room. Add those ten to the five characters in the play and that makes 15 patients on her wing My grandmother was an LVN in two different nursing homes and she was never all alone on a wing with more that many patients to care for by herself. There are apparently no orderlies or doctors at this home. Smitty is completely overworked, over stressed, but is handling it well until a confrontation with Bailey turns ugly. Bailey verbally pushes Smitty over the edge and Smitty ends up hurting Bailey's arm and quitting. We never see Smitty again, which is unfortunate. But alas, the play is not about Smitty, so the playwright writes her out and goes on.
Camille starts out as the friendly resident. But after all the fussing about Janann finding her some Paris pink polish, which never gets painted on her fingernails, her character immediately descends into dementia and never recovers. In Act Two she continually asks how many children Janann has now and what their names are. The last female character is Sarah "the Terror". Sarah is non-verbal and hardly onstage. We are told by Smitty that she is in another wing with the more aggressive patients and isn't allowed in Smitty's wing. In the first scene she invades their space to scream gutterally at the residents but is forced back by Smitty. By Act 2 she is apparently allowed in their day room because Smitty makes no mention of her transfer, but all she does is poop in her pants while sitting in a chair. it is this incident which ignites Smitty's fight with Bailey.
Two of the male roles we are told are mentally-impaired but not due to age. Luther and Sammy have been wards of the state since the nursing home was built, apparently built to house them. I don't know about Oklahoma law, but in Texas, mental patients have their own homes and are not thrown in with the elderly. Luther and Sammy "work" for the home, helping Smitty with the patients, so they don't feel like they're free-loading. The only man in the home who is not mentally challenged is Mr. Swanson. His only purpose seems to be pity. He's doing just fine at the beginning of the play, walking 7 laps around the halls for his daily exercise. A few scenes later he can only do 2 laps and at some point in Act 2 he dies offstage, barely getting a mention.
I get it that we are clearly meant to see how life declines at the end and how sad and lonely life can be when you have no family to visit you, however, what is the point of having eight characters in a play when only two of them stick around and are fully compos mentis? Why not just write Night, Mother from the get go? The real problem is the lack of a story between Bailey and Janann and that is entirely the fault of the playwright.
Theatre Jones Feature story
Backstage Tour
There's a lot of introductions and thank yous at the beginning. The tour actually starts at the 1:10 mark. The technical coordinator, Scott Guenther, tells the story of why there's a giant rock in the lobby and why it's wired to the leaning towers of concrete that lead upstairs. Rob said that since the pylons had air vents, it must be where they put patrons who talked during the performance. Jeff Camp, their Technical Director, talks about their process for designing and building scenery for a show. There is a scene painting demonstration, a getting dressed in period wardrobe demonstration, a talk with the lighting designer, and finally you get to see backstage with a quick view of the dressing rooms and the costume shop.
Study Guide
We went on Pay What You Can Day: 2 tickets for $10 with plenty of free parking. Snacks and drinks were on sale in the lobby in spill proof cups that you can take into the theatre. When you bring it back, you get your refills for $1.00.
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