Actress Lee Stark would appear to be the consensus vision of what a nonwhite lawyer wants in a white woman. Back in 2012 she played pink-skinned, blond Emily, wife of Amir, the second-generation Pakistani-American whose sophisticated facade cracks in Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced, revealing deep-seated tribal instincts. Now here she is playing pink-skinned, blond Suzy, significant other of Jackson, the hood-raised African-American whose sophisticated facade cracks in Tracey Scott Wilson’s Buzzer, revealing—well, you get the idea.
It’s a two-step scenario. First there’s the business of the condo he’s taken on a rent-to-own basis. Jackson argues that it’s a great investment in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. (His proof? Two gay guys living across the hall.) And he can feel added satisfaction in the fact that this particular rapidly gentrifying neighborhood is the very one he grew up in. He’s back, in other words, in triumph.
As Don, Shane Kenyon saves himself by playing every endearing-loser note at his disposal. Faced with fewer alternatives, Stark doesn’t find a viable way out.
Wed-Thu 7:30 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM, Sun 2 and 7:30 PM Goodman Theatre 170 N. Dearborn 312-443-5151goodmantheatre.org $10-$40
