By SHARON EBERSON
New Horizon Theater is in the midst of its 30th season, and it’s first with the designation “Pittsburgh Cultural Treasure.” The Heinz Foundation bestowed the honor in December 2021 for presenting “consistent, high-quality cultural events that reflect African-American points of view, and provid[ing] a space for ethnic writers and performers to further their professional development.”
The current New Horizon production of Calvin Alexander Ramsey‘s The Green Book exemplifies all of those qualities and then some.
Before you start imagining a stage version of the Academy Award-winning film, the 2006 play by Ramsey is tied to the 2018 movie in title only.
However, both have in common that historic guide as a framing device to tell what it was like to be a Black traveler in the Jim Crow South.
“The Negro Motorist Green Book” was created by New Jersey mailman Victor Hugo Green and published from 1936 to 1966 as a guide to safe havens throughout the U.S., including northern states, for Black Americans on the road.
Ramsey, who was in attendance for a talkback on Sunday, has said he wanted his story to resonate across all ethnicities and religions by showing how different people navigate not only racist laws but the daily prejudices they endure.
To that end, it is mentioned early on that the Green Book was inspired by a similar book for Jewish travelers, and Black-Jewish interconnections are explored at some length in the second act of the drama.
In light of recent controversies about Whoopi Goldberg saying the Holocaust was not about race, today it seems especially insightful to include a Jewish survivor who educates a Black man about their bonds of oppression. The lesson is one of several plot points about prejudice and perceptions that bring the story full circle to struggles that continue today.
The music – the play opens on Bobby Day’s “Rockin’ Robin” – and mentions of Jackie Robinson and Lena Horne put the show somewhere in the not-so-long-ago 1950s, although there’s a little bending of time here and there.
The Green Book is set in a comfortable if not cushy living-dining area, with stairs leading to rooms that house the Davis family and their guests. Their home is listed in the Green Book as a refuge where travelers are assured a room and a meal at no cost – a way of paying it forward from a time when the Davises themselves were in need.
The two-hour play with intermission opens with all the good feels about the believably loving Davis family – mom Barbara (Karla C. Payne), dad Dan (Sam Lothard), and college-bound daughter Neena (Dominique Briggs).
Dan is a lawyer and Barbara, a college grad, and as portrayed by Lothard and Payne, their kind hearts and sharp minds make them a welcoming and formidable couple.
The longtime hosts are currently opening their Jefferson City, Mo., home to Keith (Richard Dickson), a cocky Green Book ad salesman from Harlem. Keith’s arrogance pushes every imaginable button. On Sunday, when he said he supports not only segregation but also Jim Crow because it’s good for business, there were gasps throughout the auditorium at the Carnegie Library of Homewood.
At that moment, you have to think, it must take a lot of self-control to stop Dan from throwing Keith out right then and there. The concerned parents were already getting impatient with Keith’s overt flirting with their college-bound teenage daughter and her obvious crush on him.
There is a comeuppance coming, and the lessons will be harsh and painful. But at that moment, Keith’s misguided attitude is a point of view we perhaps had not seen coming.
The stirring of a rebellious streak in Neena is coming at precisely the wrong moment for her mother. While he is charming the teen to help him drum up business, including a deal with the racist head of a gas station chain, Barbara is preparing for a momentous day: She has organized the reception for a lecture by scholar and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois.
L-R seated: Richard Dickson, Tajionna Anderson, Karla C. Payne
and Dominique Briggs; standing, Nikolas Page.
The much-anticipated day has not started well. In addition to Neena’s attitude and Keith’s outrageous declarations, there is a young couple in the house — well-mannered Army Captain George Smith (Nickolas Page) and his seemingly spoiled, unappreciative wife, Jacqueline (Tajonna Anderson). Aloof and distrustful, she refuses Barbara’s attempts at hospitality in her rush to get on her way.
As these small storms rage inside, you can hear the wind howling outside every so often – might it be an ill wind?
That’s how Keith sees it when he opens the door to find a weary white traveler seeking lodging. The Polish immigrant Jacob (Cole Vecchio) has refused to stay in hotels where it says “No Negroes Allowed,” so, using the Green Book, he has come to spend a night with the Davis family.
As unexpected as they are after a first act devoted to the Black experience, Jacob’s arrival and story come as a jolt to Keith. He at first sends this perceived white interloper away, only to learn just one of many lessons he will absorb that day.
Several more storms will rage in this Southern home, but none so potent as the white hatred lurking beyond the Davises’ door.
It’s a juggling act to give all the points of view their due, skillfully balanced by Dr. Lundeana M. Thomas’s steady direction.
There are details in The Green Book that admittedly pulled me out of the story at times. For example, I would expect a Jewish man who is observant of the Sabbath to have a head covering. More jarring, Keith strikes a complex deal that he expects to be implemented instantaneously, which inevitably spells disaster for others.
However, that same deal brings to light one of the many oppressive consequences of Jim Crow: Even when white-owned businesses allowed for Negro patronage, people of color were often charged more than white customers for the same service.
Ramsey has created a play that unravels layers of prejudice as seen from multiple points of view, while also including characters we see too few of on stage these days – a hard-working family passing on a legacy of kindness, wisdom and activism to the next generation.
That alone makes The Green Book a worthy production for a Pittsburgh treasure.
New Horizon Theater’s production of The Green Book continues Thursday-Sunday, Feb. 17-20, at the Carnegie Library of Homewood Auditorium, 7101 Hamilton Ave. Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/5341363
Categories: Reviews
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