By SHARON EBERSON
The headline of The New York Times review declared: “ ‘Trouble in Mind,’ 66 Years Late and Still On Time.” That was in 2021, when Alice Childress’s 1955 play made its Broadway debut, to the tune of four Tony nominations, countless bravos and plenty of digging into the obvious question, “What took an ‘instant classic’ so long to get here?”
Artistic director Marya Sea Kaminski already had the play in mind in August of 2020, when it was part of the Pittsburgh Public Theater’s online PlayTime series during the pandemic shutdown.
Now the Public is ready to put Trouble in Mind on the O’Reilly Theater stage, arriving February 5 as part of the celebratory 2024-25 season.
“Marya was interested in epic plays, this being the 50th anniversary of the theater, and wanted to try and find a story that would resonate, that looks back, but also feels forward moving,” director Justin Emeka said. “So it really feels like a perfect play in that way, because when you dig into it, it’s so historic on many different levels – on the form of it, on the content of it, on the who of it. And then, as you dig deeper, you also see how forward-thinking it is, in the way that I think that we are still catching up to the play and to what Alice was trying to give us on stage.”
and Emma Brown Baker in Trouble in Mind at Pittsburgh Public Theater.
(Image: Maranie R. Staab)
Trouble in Mind was the first full-length play by American writer, actress and director Childress, who often depicted the lives of Black women, working-class people and domestic workers. It is set during rehearsals for a major Broadway production called “Chaos in Belleville,” a play about a Southern lynching, written and directed by white men.
For the Public, Shinnerrie D. Jackson plays the fictional Wiletta Mayer, a famous African-American star of the stage, who can’t help but speak out against the racism and sexism that surround the production.
In her review of the Broadway production for Vulture, Helen Shaw noted that Childress, who had spent many years witnessing and experiencing the frustrations of a Black performer, “was particularly attuned to the sound of white, liberal theater folks pleading good intentions as they tread a middle-aged Black actress underfoot.”
Trouble in Mind also leans into the comedy of backstage banter and antics, and the cluelessness of those in charge.
The play was a hit off-Broadway, but plans for a transfer were dashed when Childress refused pressure to make changes in the script. Had it opened, Trouble in Mind would have been the first play by an African-American woman to open on Broadway – instead, Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun became the first, four years later.
In a recent conversation with Emeka, Pittsburgh veteran actor Martin Giles and newcomer Vandous Stripling II about the Public’s production, Black History Month was never mentioned, but certainly Trouble in Mind’s story and backstory would fit the bill, although its relevance is timeless.
Stripling, a classically trained actor, was studying at the The Old Globe and University of San Diego when he met Emeka, who invited him to be part of the production.
He plays impressionable actor John Nevins – “young and fresh out of school, just like I am,” Stripling said.
“I come in with a dream to rise to the top of my craft, and I’m sort of introduced and confronted with a few realities about what needs to be done as far as behavior in the theater for an African-American man.”
Nevins’ idealism takes a turn as he observes the show’s star push back against contemptible behavior and the obvious troubles within the production.
“I am often caught in the crossroads, because I am of a different generation,” Stripling said of his character. “[Nevins has] knowledge and experience that’s being passed down from the older generation, but I’m also looking at the world through a different lens, of opportunity and hope, that maybe this doesn’t have to be this way.”
Giles’ Henry is from another generation as well – his character description is “an elderly Irish doorman at the theater, and Wiletta’s only consistent ally.” Henry is a longtime presence in the theater, who shows up at key moments during the play.
“The first thing he talks about is this image he has of her singing in all of these beautiful, changing, colorful lights. And I think that that image is an ideal, in a way,” Giles said. “She embodies something beautiful and something of maybe the way the theater should be. This space we always call a sacred space … I think he feels that. And so that image of her in his memory is the way this sacred space should be used.”
Henry’s mind wanders. He can be sharp and wise, or absent, Giles noted. To see Wiletta back in the theater, in the flesh, brings a rush of “hauntingly wonderful, vivid memories” that he clings to, and woe to the person who would disrespect this beacon of the theater.
Giles’ Henry and Stripling’s John Nevins are amon the many layers that are revealed during the course of the play within the play.
“It’s America, right?,” Emeka said. “What makes it a classic American story is that you have the convergence of all these ideals and kind of personal backgrounds and personal histories that are converging in one magical space, ritual space, a transformation. For me, it’s wonderful as a director to have all the ingredients that you like to wrestle with. It’s a challenge, but it’s the good kind of challenge.”
Stripling had to read the play several times to grasp all that was going on, and there has been even more to learn as rehearsals are underway.
“I think a really major discovery is this sort of attitude towards the play within a play, and what that means for the atmosphere of the room,” he said. “You almost can’t even read that. You kind of have to explore that in the room, at the table, with the director, and all the people at the table. And even still, you have to get up on your feet and breathe in that space and see what that’s like. So something like that, it’s hard to feel and absorb, just reading it.”
“I remember when I first read it, as somebody who writes quite bit myself, I think about it in technical terms a lot of the times,” Emeka said. “I just thought, ‘This is awesome dialogue.’ I think we talked about this early on,” he continued, turning to his cast members. “It’s not quite a style, but it kind of is. And it is in a way that subtly reveals itself. It’s one of those places where we go around quoting it all the time.”
The relatively large cast of Trouble in Mind also includes Pittsburgh-based actors Hope Anthony, Garbie Dukes, Daniel Krell and Joseph McGranaghan, as well as, making their Public debuts, Anthony Marino and Emma Brown Baker.
Emeka said working with Brian Pope, the Public’s casting director, on putting the cast together was “a lot of fun, just talking about who these characters are and how we might create the casting pool. Knowing though, too, that we want to dig deep locally, and I always like to uplift the local community, while also not being afraid to bring in some other people. I like the energy and that synergy of people from all over, and I think that’s what we have with this cast.”
As the trio readied to leave the third-floor rehearsal space, which will soon transform to hold the New Horizon Theater presentation of Lavon Gray’s Feed the Beast, they were asked if there was anything they would like to add.
“It’s really funny. It’s fun,” Giles was quick to say. “There are a lot of laughs. I just think that’s important because it has a joy, it has a spirit in these words.”
“That’s right,” said Emeka. “And a lot of love, too.”
TICKETS AND DETAILS
Pittsburgh Public Theater’s production of Trouble in Mind is at the O’Reilly Theater, Downtown, February 5 – 23, 2025, with opening night Saturday, February 8. Tickets: Visit https://ppt.org/production/94381/trouble-in-mind or call 412-316-1600.
Categories: Company, Our Posts, Show Previews, Venue
Leave a Reply Cancel reply