PicksInSix Review: STICK FLY Writers Theatre
“STICK FLY” LIFE UNDER A MICROSCOPE.
Lydia R. Diamond’s “Stick Fly”—the poignant family comedy/drama about a weekend with an affluent African-American family on Martha’s Vineyard—has a rich Chicago-based origin story dating back to its Congo Square Theatre debut in 2006. When it broke through to Broadway in 2011, Diamond’s celebrated work joined two others written by black female playwrights that season. Back in Chicago, Windy City Playhouse mounted a Chuck Smith-directed revival of the show in 2015, which brought Diamond’s work to the attention of Writers artistic director Michael Halberstam, and has now led to the Ron OJ Parson-directed revival that opened Wednesday in the Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Theatre.
Given the play’s trajectory in the top-flight production environments that have preceded it, Diamond’s work is destined to be an important generational drama with a robust performance life all its own. Parson provides an outstanding example with this fast-paced and meticulous production—brimming with relevance and realism—which features Ayanna Bria Bakari in one of the best performances of the year.
Parson explores the depth of Diamond’s familial relationships against a background of race, wealth and privilege in a story nestled in the seaside splendor of Edgartown. As things begin, Joe (David Alan Anderson) a neurosurgeon, his sons, writer Kent (Eric Gerard), and plastic surgeon Flip (DiMonte Henning), and their girlfriends—entomologist Taylor (Jennifer Latimore) and sociologist Kimber (Kayla Raelle Holder)—arrive at their sunny summer home under the watchful eye of Cheryl (Bakari), the daughter of the family housekeeper who is helping out in the absence of her ill mom. In the turbulent, and often hilarious, conversations mixed with drinking alcohol or morning coffee, playing board games, taking fishing excursions and eating pickled pigs’ feet, the LeVay’s could be just about any well-to-do family.
The weekend serves as an opportunity for the family to meet Kent’s fiancée Taylor—a moving and heartfelt performance by Latimore—and for Flip to introduce his girlfriend Kimber, expertly played by Holder—who is white. Gerard and Henning give solid performances as brothers who still recall their childhood in myriad ways, and especially in confronting dark secrets in Flip’s past. Sparks fly all night long, and not just from the fireflies in Taylor’s jars.
Despite all the advanced degrees, the smartest person in the room is Cheryl, whose past and future collide from the moment the LeVays settle in. Bakari’s deft transformation from free-spirited, love-smitten teenager to anguished adult feels palpable and reflects the pain of Latimore’s past, which, in turn, bonds the two women together. That same desperation exists in every character on one level or another and drives the brothers to feud with each other, even as they unite against their father. Anderson, one of Chicago’s finest actors, navigates a delicate line between perception and reality, particularly when facing the uncertainty of the future relationship with his children.
Linda Buchanan has created a stunning multi-level scenic design that achieves a transparency between exterior and interior, and room to room, that is marvelously enhanced by Claire Chrzan’s lighting through louvered panel walls. Music transitions and wind chimes create a seamless seaside atmosphere, courtesy of Christopher M. LaPorte, that ultimately reminds us that no matter what the circumstance, the simplest—and most important things—in life cannot be bought at any price.
NOTE: An earlier version of this review misidentified Chuck Smith. Our apologies for the oversight.
PHOTOS|Michael Brosilow
WRITERS THEATRE
presents
STICK FLY
through March 15, 2020
325 Tudor Court
Glencoe
(847) 242-6000
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