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A CurtainUp Review
Through the Night
By Megan Finnegan
Beaty, who is the script writer as well as performer, begins by embodying a meek-voiced but strong-willed 10-year-old boy named Eric, determined to concoct a magic elixir that will cure the sadness he sees in the eyes of the grown-ups around him. Eric is the voice of innocence and hope that the adult characters have lost. His dad, Mr. Rogers, runs a health food store in the hood, which he wryly equates to "a fried chicken stand in a vegan compound," while Bishop, the local pastor, wrestles with an addiction to Ho Hos and serious over-eating. Other characters we meet include Bishop's son, Isaac, a music executive who stuggles with his sexual identity and mentors young 'Twon, a recent high school graduate from the Jefferson Projects. 'Twon is bound for Morehouse College and a greater future than his own absent father despite the influences that threaten to pull him back into the cycle of too-young parenthood. There's also Mr. Rogers' employee Dre, a nerve-addled former junkie pacing a hospital hallway as he waits for news about his pregnant girlfriend. Rounding out the cast with the wives and girlfriends (and one boyfriend) of these men, Beaty reaches into every corner of one community. Randolph-Wright's directorial nuance and Beaty's precision as a performer prevent us from being distracted by the numerous and rapid character transitions. Except for Alexander V. Nichols' boldly colored projections to indicate locations, Beaty relies on his physicality and vocal intonation to quickly make each of his characters distinct and recognizable. He takes each of one from dialogue to soliloquy to a heightened state of dream-like internal monologue, making this at times feel more like a poetry slam than a play. While I didn't find this device a problem I did find the revelatory moments of the various characters struggles a bit too simplistic. I also would have preferred a bit more subtext, instead of having each character say exactly what he means. It's as if Beaty doesn't trust his audience enough to understand anything not spelled out. On the plus side, the 80 minutes are peppered with easily accessible, universal humor and the moments of music and stylized rhyme make us understand why Beaty and his characters have already had three previous productions: at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles and New Jersey's Crossroads Theater in New Jersey (see Curtainup critic Simon Saltzman's more unqualified rave here ) which also premiered his previous solo show EmergenceSEE (Our Review when it was at the Public Theater). No wonder the Off-Broadway production has opened for an optimistic open-ended run.
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