“This moment, I see a man.”
There is hopefulness amid the harsh and inhumane treatment of Bowzie Brandon (Jalen Gilbert), the Freedom Rider at the center of Jiréh Breon Holder’s “Too Heavy For Your Pocket,” now in its Chicago premiere at TimeLine Theatre Company. It lives in the crusading spirit that compels him to join the protest movement against discrimination and segregation, spurning an educational opportunity he has earned for a cause greater than himself. We feel it in the anguish of his incarceration in deplorable conditions, the frustration in his voice in response to the unanswered calls to his wife Evelyn (Ayanna Bria Bakari), the mounting fear in his letters to his friend Sally-Mae Carter (Jennifer Latimore) and the utter disbelief that his lifelong friend Tony Carter (Cage Sebastian Pierre) may have betrayed his trust.