Yellowman

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

Curious Theatre Company’s regional premiere of Yellowman delves into a side of racism that normally doesn’t get a great deal of publicity.

Powerful, graphic, detailed Yellowman, the 2002 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize sheds light on racism existing within the black community. Playwright Dael Orlandersmith details the distain and solid hatred of dark skinned blacks for their light-skinned brothers and sisters.

Candace Taylor as Alma and Tyee J. Tilghman as Eugene in Yellowman.

The resignation for life in the south of existing, tolerating, never knowing what it means to be alive shatters the colorful but stark stage. Living with being big, black, fat and ugly is drummed into the heads of even those who aren’t.

Candace Taylor gives a powerful performance as Alma, whose mother never lets her forget for one minute she is big, black, fat, and ugly.

Tyee J. Tilghman as Eugene provides moments of power in his performance, but frequently shadows by Taylor strong voice.

Directed by Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe, Yellowman could well stand as one of the most important plays of 2003. It probes the heart, soul, heartbreaks, and hopes, however slim, of the black psyche. It pries the lid off of undercurrent thoughts rarely seen or heard.

On a near blank stage with two chairs, one stage left, the other upper stage right, Alma and Eugene bounce back an forth in their narratives about growing up in South Carolina. She was seven and he was nine when they first meet. He, light skinned; she, darker. He with a father who hated his light-skinned son, running him down finally admitting he never loved his son. Their narratives reveal how the two coped and survived. Alma is fueled with a burning desire to become somebody, while Eugene flounders.

A one-act play divided by periods of time in their lives, first as fast friends in elementary school, high school puppy love, to their planning on getting married. In spite of it all her determination takes her to New York City for college, her transformation into a stylish, happy swinging, sexy New Yorker bumps into his country bumpkin visits to New York. Eugene may be confused about several things in his life, but he knows one thing: he loves Alma.

Taylor and Tilghman transform their adultness into the minds and bodies of young children. They grow within minutes to gangly teenagers. They show us through their water colored words how difficult it is for growing minds and growing bodies to understand each other. The two actors magnificently give us two believable people in depth.

Powerful as this production is, with its detailed insights, and its magical powerful brilliant writing, the last 20 minutes begin to drag. I felt like I was being hit over the head with a hammer once too many times. The point well taken; the restlessness of the audience on opening night spoke to that.

Maybe it’s the demands of only two actors compelled to command the attention of the audience with very little attention getting visualizations.

Lighting designed by William Temple Davis assisted with brilliant colors and subtle reflections on the backdrop to reflect where they were and what they were doing.

The last few minutes in the events of their tumultuous lives, takes the breath away. He pushed to the brink by his father to violence. She having her dreams dashed against the cold New York City canyons becoming what her mother drummed into her head. No doubt powerful. No doubt informative, No doubt insightful, but the writing could be tightened. Powerful as this play is, the ending becomes predicable, the point well taken, but the hammer strikes hard.

In spite of the colorful lighting hues, some other visual effects would certainly aid and abet the provocative truth Alma and Eugene have to tell. What they have to say is important. What they have to say needs to be said and heard, thought about, chewed on, and absorbed.

Named one of the ten best plays for 2002-03 by the American Theatre Critics/Steinberg New Play Awards and Citations competition, Yellowman begs not to be seen, but experienced.