Psalm 24 (née Gregory Morrison) wrote an absurdist three-letter satire that poked fun at all religious people about race, especially supported by white liberals seeking absolution from their black friends and allies. The topic is ripe for poking fun today, just as it was in the 1970s to criticize the prejudices of Archie Bunker’s “All in the Family.” In fact, some of Psalmayene’s plot contrivances echo the overtly offensive axis of old sitcoms.
But the conventions of TV comedy of the past provide a surprisingly safe space for a subject that thoughtful people still treat lightly (even though Psalmayen and Reginald, the astute director of the Atlas Performing Arts Center) Even if L. Douglas might reconsider the ending of the 90-minute play (which lands with a confusing thud).
“I grew up in a house that was a subway station!” Adam, an arrogant white neighbor played by Jonathan Feuer, is trying to prove his worth to the black couple next door (Louie E. Davis and Renee Elizabeth Wilson). They are trying hard to establish themselves, but they protest against this. Set designer Andrew R. Cohen vividly stages a “monumental tragedy” in what is becoming the D.C. home base for Davis’ Chance and Wilson’s Brenda. And the story begins there, when Chance, a local activist and performance artist, bursts into the front door holding Abraham Lincoln’s head.
Real-life controversy inspires the mechanics of ‘monumental farce’: Chance decapitated Lincoln statue of liberation The monument, located in Washington, D.C.’s Lincoln Park, was dedicated in 1876 and has been criticized in recent years as a demeaning depiction of white saviorism. (Washington, D.C., Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton has introduced a bill to remove the statue.) The statue depicts a godlike Lincoln, kneeling in a loincloth, astride a former enslaved man. Although depicted, his abject gratitude could not be more obvious.
A giant head created by prop designer Deb Thomas sits on Chance and Brenda’s coffee table like a symbol of history’s ossified portrait of slavery from a white perspective. Chance’s vandalism is part of his campaign to “dismantle symbols of white supremacy.” At one point, he reverses the statue’s posture on submissive Adam, forcing Adam to prostrate himself before Chance in the living room. “This is what it’s like to be white in America,” Chance says.
The sharpest junctures of “Monumental Farce” involve Chance and Brenda testifying to Adam’s outrageously selfish clichés. He considers himself to be “non-white,” whatever that means, and is so sensitive to the injustices against people of color that expensive townhouses are built on the land. He claims that they have evolved to the point where they can recite their wills to the Anacostan Indians. . Chance and Brenda are not opposed to exploiting black victimhood for social and economic gain. For example, Brenda concocts an embarrassing lie for Adam that his relatives were killed to account for the money he got to buy a house. (The truth implied by Psalm 24 is hard for white people to believe.)
Also implied in “Monumental Travesties” is that conscientious people, black and white, still have to “act” for each other, and that what they say in front of each other is not what they really mean. The idea is that it’s a varnished version of what you’re thinking. (However, the playwright also points out that Brenda and Chance also have problems and secrets that they are unwilling to face.) Chance cutting off Lincoln’s head and running away is, in a sense, about race. This is an opening to the main topic. Enough is not enough, he even declares of the Father of Liberation. Only action matters.
Davis, Wilson, and Feuer bring a wide range of comedic acumen. Their roles are archetypes that are somewhat lacking in three dimensions, in the same way that sitcom characters are defined by a single trait that is recycled from episode to episode. Costume designer Moenda Kremeka draws attention to Brenda’s costumes, particularly the historical costumes devised for the play’s final movement, as she introduces other factual details that complicate the facile basis for the crime of chance. It gives a comfortable elegance to the.
Under Douglas’ guidance, the actors amicably navigate the increasingly crazy plot developments. This playwright packs in so many curveballs that some will inevitably be wild pitches. (“Monumental Farce” must be the first play to use the brain fog caused by the prolonged effects of COVID-19 as a key point in the story.) Despite its difficulties, Psalms paved the way for comedy to become another dramatic tool for understanding.
monumental farce, Psalm 24. Directed by Reginald L. Douglas. Set, Andrew R. Cohen; Lighting, Alberto Segarra. Costumes, Moenda Kremeka. The sound is Nick the 1 Da Hernandez. Approximately 90 minutes. Through Oct. 8 at Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. mosaictheater.org.
