S TA G E BY
the life of Klass
D E BO R A H HIRS CH
DON IPOCK
CYNTHIA LEVIN
TIME BENDS
A classic Death and
I
Charley (Mark Robbins) says of the job, “that’s n the decades since the 1949 debut of an earthquake.” Arthur Miller’s Pulitzer Prize–winning In this day, Willy might have aspired to Wall Death of a Salesman, the play’s workingman themes have remained relevant. And its pop- Street, or wanted its rewards for his sons — money, respect, status, a legacy. But Willy has ularity has never waned — last year, its fourth a dual nature, also embodied in his two boys: Broadway revival won two Tony Awards. KC may not have the lights of Broadway, but it a pleasure in working with his hands — he believes that “a man who can’t handle tools is has the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, which not a man” — but the consuming aspiration to is now staging a well-executed, satisfying be more than “a carpenter.” production of this classic. Does Willy have the wrong dreams? Yes, The Rep show, directed by Eric Rosen, remains true to the play’s original time period, as far as Willy’s son Biff (Rusty Sneary) is conbut it is also timeless in its concerns. Miller calls cerned. He doesn’t want any part of his father’s path. But the other son, Happy (Kyle Hatley), is to mind our collective recent past: massive more like Willy than the family realizes. The layoffs, taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street, the 47 assistant to an assistant buyer, he’s trying to percent. He does this, though, by examining make it less on hard work than on big ideas and just one household and its lessons. What makes a man and how we take the measure of a man’s working the system. Or, as Willy says, through the all-important “spirit, personality.” life make up much of the story, which is rich in Charley, a successful professional, is symbolism. Those layers are pulled back in the the opposite of Willy, and he has instilled struggles and interplay of the characters, made a studious nose-to-the-grindstone ethic in real and accessible here by a talented cast. his son, Bernard (Chris Roady). This young Willy Loman is the original 47-percenter, man doesn’t talk up an acand the American stage’s No. complishment or wax about 1 Everyman — “man” being Death of a Salesman his far-reaching hopes. As the key half of that comThrough February 10, Charley says, “He doesn’t pound. This isn’t a working at Kansas City Repertory have to — he’s gonna do it.” woman’s story. Wife Linda Theatre, 4949 Cherry, These relationships and Loman (Merle Moores) is a 816-235-2700, kcrep.org interactions all take place long-suffering and loving in and around the skeleton spouse, and she serves to Blacktop Sky frame of a two-level house, clarify Willy’s story, as do Through February 10, where changes in time — all the characters in this play. at the Unicorn Theatre, from night to day, present Gary Neal Johnson ex3828 Main, 816-531-7529, unicorntheatre.org to past, reality to memory, pertly animates Willy, keepback again — transform ing him in a sympathetic seamlessly with Victor En light while exposing the character’s most damning faults and shortfalls. Yu Tan’s lighting and scenic designer Meghan We feel for this salesman, now past his prime Raham’s shifting screens and backdrops. “You didn’t crack up again, did you?” Willy’s in a world that has changed around him. He’s trying to keep up in a profession that has pro- impatient boss, Howard (Brian Paulette), asks in a pivotal scene that is both startling and vided his identity and defined his self-worth. familiar in its business-as-usual chill. He shows “When they start not smiling back,” neighbor
Johnson and Sneary revisit the past (left), and Morohunfola finds a shelter. off a new gadget costing “only a hundred and a half” (in 1949 dollars), not unaware that Willy has trouble just making the mortgage payment. In a brief appearance, Michael R. Pauley brings a palpable sensitivity to the role of Stanley, waiter to Willy during the salesman’s puzzling evening at a restaurant with his sons. Other small but noteworthy performances include Cheryl Weaver as the (other) Woman and Kip Niven as Willy’s older, idolized brother, Ben. Death of a Salesman runs nearly three hours, a span that goes unnoticed as the play reveals a man and his family through their memories, desires and failures. And at the play’s sad conclusion, when Willy’s worth is clear, time stops for a moment. We pause. And we remember Willy Loman.
BLACKTOP SKY
T
he 34 scenes of Blacktop Sky, a 90-minute one-act by Christina Anderson premiering on the Unicorn Theatre’s Jerome Stage, are necessarily abbreviated. Some last mere seconds. Yet the play’s atypical unfolding feels drawn out. Directed by Mykel Hill, Sky captures our attention at first with a dynamic and telling portrayal of the conflicts and distrust between police and residents in the urban core. Around here, law enforcement translates “I didn’t do anything” as an admission of guilt. And this helps set the tone for life in a housing project — its limits, demoralization, dysfunction, dangers — under a sky between the high-rises that appears, in a character’s mind, too flimsy and insubstantial to hold ideas or dreams. A homeless man, Klass, or “Pigeon” (Tosin Morohunfola), appears and starts to set up house in and around a bench on the blacktop of the housing project’s common area. He’s
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young, and he wears a winter coat in the heat of June. He meets 18-year-old Ida (Chioma Anyanwu), a recent high school grad living in one of the project’s four buildings with her mother. This young woman’s boyfriend, Wynn (Frank Oakley III), also comes in contact with this stranger. Does Ida’s interest in Klass stem from curiosity, or does she want to help him? It’s unclear. Over many interactions among the characters — Ida and Klass, Ida and Wynn, Klass and Wynn — we slowly learn snippets of their aspirations and of their pasts. These infrequent revelations are sometimes sweet and sometimes painful. But the staccato scenes are like clicks of a camera’s shutter, opening windows that are too quickly closed. Anyanwu has a strong, charismatic stage presence. But her character’s limited dimension can’t get out from behind a hard, perhaps protective, shell that restricts our view inside. Morohunfola is onstage for nearly all the play’s duration, and he gives a focused and physical portrayal. His Klass is damaged and sometimes dangerous, but also sympathetic. As written, he remains a mystery, leaving unresolved his character’s story and purpose. Oakley, a theater student, gives us a solid Wynn, who offers promise and equilibrium in a diff use script. The suspicion, distrust and fear that pass between these individuals are sometimes as fixed as between residents and police. They often push each other’s buttons, sometimes intentionally, and further escalate their conflicts and create distance. We can only wonder if this is an expression of their disrupted lives and the apathy that surrounds them. This provocative play raises some issues and many questions, and its choppy narrative and labored unraveling primarily cloud its sky.
E-mail deborah.hirsch@pitch.com
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