To be a “black playwright,” according to Branden Jacobs-Jenkins‘s onstage surrogate, BJJ, is to have every work examined through the lens of racial discord in America, be it relevant or not. Write about farm animals and their feed as an allegory for substance abuse? Must be a deconstructed, modernized African folktale. Ask a Caucasian actor to play a period-appropriate bigot? Must be a personal expression of rage against white society. Use the bathroom? Whoa, enough with the social animus, buddy.
And their outsize performances really do. As Zoe, the titular octoroon and object of plantation heir George Peyton’s affection, Ariel Richardson gives an affecting performance filled with striking silhouette-like poses and raw recitations of prose. While “white” folks squabble operatically in the foreground about deeds and debts (Arzell does double duty as noble hero Peyton and stock villain M’Closkey, and Carley Cornelius goes broad as wealthy heiress and romantic rival Dora Sunnyside), characters relegated to the background in Boucicault’s text are given the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern treatment. As a house slave making the best of her hellish circumstances, Sydney Charles hilariously employs a whip-smart stand-up-style delivery, and though they’re given fewer punch lines, her frequent scene partners Maya Prentiss and Tiffany Oglesby effectively anchor the dark comedy in some of the play’s strongest, most pointed exchanges.
