Trouble In Mind
Alice Childress is a name few Americans know, and like historical legend August Wilson, many are unfamiliar with her outstanding accomplishments. Yet, she was the only African-American woman to have written, produced, and published plays for decades. Childress has written 13 plays, five novels, and several awards, including the Paul Robeson Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Performing Arts. After being challenged by Sidney Poiter, who refused to believe that everyone could write a successful play overnight, Childress wrote her first play, Florence. Florence was a play about a black woman's premonition of the success of her daughter, Florence, as a black actress and how her triumph would be unacceptable to white society. Gold Through the Trees, produced in New York, was another first for African-American women. Throughout her plays and writings, Alice Childress fought against America's racist history and segregation laws and fought for gender and racial equality —and during the mid- '50s when Broadway demanded equality, the time seemed fitting for a production involving the issues of racism in the theater.
One of Chicago's greatest scholars of theater, Director Ron OJ Parson, brings Chidress's intense drama, Trouble in Mind, to the Timeline Theatre. The relevancy of this play is uncanny as to how production companies and audiences still envision the credentials, financial draw, and artistic capabilities of blacks in theater worldwide. Delayed nearly two years due to the pandemic, Trouble in Mind is a play-within-a-play that depicts the exasperation of black actors and actresses in a mainstream white theater. The script, written by a white playwright, is an anti-lynching play called Chaos in Belleville.
There are nine characters in this play. Director Al Manners (Tim Decker), stage manager Eddie Fenton (Adam Shalzi), first-time white actress Judy Sears (Jordan Ashley Grier), townhall speaker Bill O'Wray (Guy Van Swearingen), and an Irish gentleman named Henry (Charles Stransky), however, the play centers around four black actors. A yes man named Sheldon Forrester (Kenneth D. Johnson) wants to do the play so he can pay his bills. A wanna-be-rising black star, John Nevins (Vincent Jordan), the elegant lady, Millie Davis( Tarina J. Bradshaw), and leading lady Wiletta Mayer (Shariba Rivers).
Frustrations flare when Al Manners, the vicious, egotistical director looking for his big break, uses his rude and abusive behavior to force his will on the cast. When Wiletta, an experienced Black actress cast as the lead, continually interrupts and questions the play's hypothesis, intent, and direction, the director demands their obedience. Unwilling to compromise her convictions, she continues pushing the envelope, upset with the writer's lack of knowledge about blacks. She mentions that the script depicts blacks as ignorant, using improper verbiage, and whites as superior. Al goes on a rampage about his sufferings as a white man in America and angrily reminds Wiletta that no one wants to do or see a colored play, so she should be thankful he's directing it. When Wiletta asks Al if he would do this to his son, what the writer is asking these black parents to do to their son, Al's answer opens up a Pandora's Box of questions, comments, and replies.
Alice Childress's riveting and thought-provoking, Trouble In Mind will have you questioning the soul of your integrity. It compels the audience to ask whether we can see the racism within us —and how we, humanity, can eradicate it.
“ If we are superior, we must prove it by our actions. ”
A scathing indictment of racism in American theater that deeply pierces into the entertainment industry, this two-act drama comedy does have some light-hearted moments. But when it strikes the central core of its message, regarding our country's racist and historical bigotry and fight for gender and racial equality, all issues well-documented throughout Alice Childress's plays and writings — it hits hard. So the question in my mind is, does it trouble the minds of those it's trying to reach?
The words in this play are more powerful and moving than the actors, but this is not to say the core of actors chosen for this production wasn't outstanding because they were. Tim Decker was exceptional as the rude and abrasive Al Manners, Johnson, the suave gentlemen Stransky, Grier, and rising star Bradshaw and Grier were terrific in their return to Timeline. Making their debut were Shalzi, Swearingen, and Vincent Jordan, who we're so delighted to see spread his wings outside of Black Ensemble Theatre. Also making her debut is the incredibly talented Shariba Rivers, whose performance of Wiletta Mayer is outstanding.
Producers wanted to alter the harness of Trouble In Mind script to make it more acceptable and appealing to its white audience. However, Childress refused to compromise, causing them to forgo its Broadway opening until 2021, when it received four Tony Award nominations.
Like most of Childress's plays, Trouble In Mind stirs many emotions. Depending on your ethnic group, the overall perspective, good or bad, regarding this play is endless — nevertheless, you will walk out contemplating who speaks the loudest on your shoulder — the Devil or the Angel.
Let's Play Theatrical Review High Recommends Alice Childress, Trouble In Mind at the Timeline Theatre.
Timeline Theatre Company
Trouble In Mind
Written by Alice Childress
Directed by Ron OJ Parson
November 10 - December 18, 2022
