THE STORY at SF Playhouse
The Story: Drama. By Tracey Scott Wilson. Directed by Margo Hall. SF Playhouse,
THE STORY IS ANOTHER WINNER AT SF PLAYHOUSE
SF Playhouse has captured another accolade for their “little theatre that could.” If you remember the little train of cartoon fame, you remember the reference of how it made it up the hill against all odds. Co-artistic directors, Bill English and Susi Damilano have done just that with their memorable eclectic and often gritty productions. This time, they share the honors with the displaced Lorraine Hansberry, a leading African American theatre in the Bay Area with a stunning staging of Tracy Scott Wilson’s The Story.
The play is directed by award wining actor/director/playwright Margo Hall and features Aft Ayanna (Reporter/Ensemble), Dwight Huntsman (Neil), Halili Knox (Pat), Awele Makeba (Detective/Ensemble), Craig Marker(Tim Dunn/Jeff), Allison Payne (Assistant/Ensemble), Ryan Peters (Yvonne), Rebecca Schweitzer (Jessica Dunn), Kathryn Tkel (Latisha). Author Tracey Scott Wilson uses an intricate construction of rapid-fire, overlapping scenes, with events occurring simultaneously in actual time or in different time frames. This requires astute attention to each other’s lines and Hall’s tight direction plus the quality actors carry out the details with precision timing.
The play, loosely based on an actual 1980 incident that brought shame to reporter Janet Cook, who is black, and the Washington Post newspaper when she fabricated a story of a heroin addicted nine year black boy that won the Pulitzer Prize. It brought into question the reliability and truthfulness of the press sending ripples of skepticism about the role and influence of newspapers. The mistrust was amplified when New York Times reporter Jayson Blair was caught inventing stories.
In this play, the erstwhile doppelganger is overly ambitious, beautiful, neophyte reporter, Yvonne who writes a
story about a fictitious, educated black teenager named Latisha, a member of a girl’s gang who indiscriminately commit robbery. When there is an attempted robbery of a white couple and the husband is killed, it sets off unstoppable chain of events that entwines many and jeopardizes the strides made to overcome racial bias and profiling.
Yvonne is supported by her white lover Jeff even though her integrity and honestly is questioned by Pat, her superior in the newsroom, and Neil an experienced colleague. When it becomes known that Yvonne’s credentials are false Pat and the newspaper are thrown into personal and social/political turmoil.
The playwright has devised a multifaceted construction blurring the lines between truth, fiction, and fantasy that create an ambiguity left unresolved at plays end. The fine performances by the major actors, Ryan Peters, Halili Knox, Dwight Hunstman, Craig Marker, Kathryn Tkel and Rebecca Schweitzer are strongly supported by the ensemble. The Story is a must see production and even deserves a return visit.
Kedar K. Adour
TheatreWorld Internet Magazine