Bev Wolfe Photo Credit Rich Ryan
Mixed Blood is still offering its very generous “radical hospitality” program where you can get free seating beforehand with the box office opening two hours before show time. The show was close to sold out on the night I attended so for those who cannot get there earlier, Mixed Blood’s paid reservations are reasonably priced.
Remaining Performances:
Oct. 12 at 7:30 p.m. & Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Mixed Blood Theater has opened its new season with the frame shifting comedy Barbecue. Playwright Robert O’Hara wrote Barbecue which is a mixture of skit comedy and parody. Director Thomas W. Jones II, who also has a major role emphasizes the humor in this play of shifting frameworks.
The play starts out with a white family where the oldest sister is seeking to get her siblings, all with their own various addictions, to do a reality TV style family intervention for the youngest and most seriously addicted sister, Barbara. The others are not thrilled about this and they frustrate the oldest sibling because the others have brought booze, grandchildren and, we later learn, rope and stun guns to the event. But then there is a blackout and the introductory scene is played again, with a black cast with the same names and vices. The story of the intervention then progresses between scenes with the white cast and scenes with the black cast. The audience is not sure what they are seeing, or where it is heading: is it a parallel universe or two families in the same park, and will the dueling interventions merge. But then just before intermission the entire audience is thrown a game changer which I cannot reveal without spoiling the show for those who still plan to attending.
While the first half of the show comes off as outrageous with very funny skit comedy, the second half is a parody with a flood of different themes. I stayed for the discussion group afterwards and the audience was divided on whether they would have preferred to see the first half of the show continue in that framework or whether the dramatic shift in storyline made for a more interesting show. I found myself torn as to which direction the show should have gone.
Despite what is probably too many themes, the play has a lot of comedy and big laughs. The very talented cast, both white and black, are able to stay in character and infuse a great deal into the production and, definitely, it is the actors that make the show worth attending. Regina Marie Williams is a standout as Marie who is an alcoholic, crack using sister participating in the intervention for Barbara. I have seen Williams in close to a dozen performances in the past few years, but her character Marie took on such a life on her own that I did not realize that it was Williams until I checked the show’s program. Other strong performances include both Sue Scott and Aimee K. Bryant as the frustrated oldest sister trying to organize the intervention. As the brother with the stun gun, both Stephen Yoakam and Thomas W. Jones II bring some of the biggest laughs to the show. Finally, as the younger sister Barbara, both Jevetta Steel and Sandra Struthers effectively play very calculating roles in the second half giving the show a more cynical viewpoint.
http://www.mixedblood.com/barbecue
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