‘Chicken & Biscuits’ @ Uptown Players
—Martha Heimberg
We hear a woman’s rich mezzo voice singing a reverent hymn. The lights go up, and we see a handsome Black woman in an elegant suit and hat waiting near the steps of the church, stained glass windows glowing behind her. Clearly a quiet, sacred moment of mourning before a funeral.
But wait. This lady is praying loudly: “Please, Lord, help me keep from strangling my baby sister!” Lordy!
We’re off and laughing at the regional premiere of Uptown Players’ swift and joyful production of Douglas Lyons’ Chicken & Biscuits, directed by Akin Babatunde with verve and soul. “If you’ve never been to a black funeral, you just haven’t lived,” he writes in the program’s director’s notes. Now’s your chance.
The Jenkins family is gathering to bury their patriarch Bernard, the former pastor of St. Luke’s Church in New Haven. For the next 90-minutes, we’re right there with them, from the filing in, through the sermon and on to the dinner with the title dish, grandpa’s favorite. They grieve and laugh and cry and argue and fight and pray at the speed of good comic direction, and a sharp cast brings fresh life and honest insight to roles that otherwise might come off as overly familiar characters from sit-com family comedy. The ensemble acting in comic scenes where everyone has to land a line perfectly are a sheer delight.
With a turn of the Kalita Humphrey’s revolving stage, Donna Marquet’s scenic design takes us from the front of the church with its whitewashed siding to the interior where colorful windows shine over the pews and pulpit. Kyle Harris’ mood-shifting lighting design and Brian Christensen’s sound design bring us into the moment.
The easy plot is laid down by the event we’ve come to witness. The deceased’s eldest daughter Baneatta (a terrifyingly dignified Natalie King) is the haughty church lady with college degrees looking down on Beverly (a flamboyant, hip-wiggling Kathy-Ann Hart), her hipster younger sister raising teenage daughter Latrice (sassy Joelle Eon) on her own. “Why we gotta wear black? We already black,” says Beverly. And we laugh along with her savvy daughter.
Of course, these two sisters are gonna have it out. Their costumes, designed by Suzi Cranford and Breianna Barrington, say a lot in their comic stand-offs. Baneatta’s designer black and white dress with a brimmed hat is all restraint compared to the astonishing high-bling affair on Beverly’s head, never mind her short leather skirt. This gal is husband hunting, and showing those great legs at every opportunity. Style reflects personality, and the costumers in the show do a terrific job of varying funeral blacks to suit the character.
Baneatta’s loving husband Reginald (a majestic and hilarious Michael Anthony Page) organized the funeral and is preaching the sermon, hoping to become the new pastor. Page has the job, as far as I’m concerned: on opening night he brought his body and voice to such a rousing Amen-cadence that he had the mostly white audience in the palm of his hand, joyfully laughing and calling back.
Uptown Players’ mission is focused on the LGBTQ community, and that includes all colors. Baneatta and Reginald’s actor son Kenny (a quietly charming Rodney Richardson) shows up with his white Jewish partner Logan (a sincerely spooked Blake McNamara), and all hell doesn’t break loose. Just icy stares from Kenny’s disapproving mother, who refuses to remember Logan’s name. Kenny’s sister Simone (a brave-faced Méami Maszewski) is fresh off a bruising breakup, and has her own reasons to “see red when I see white.”
Racism and homophobia are faced off squarely in several exchanges, and not always as a laughing matter. McNamara make us feel the awkward tension of being the only white person present, even though we laugh when he collapses in relief and gratitude because somebody finally gets his name right.
We can laugh along with the family and their foibles because this cast makes us see the real love (and a determined search for belonging) in these people. Richardson and McNamara bring a quietly certain embrace to a scene in which they each other that their love will see them through the chaos of Kenny’s family—in full mourning mode, and in celebration.
A surprise guest (a calmly determined Crystal Williams) shows up, stirring family history and revealing how the burden of old family secrets affects the folks in attendance. When push comes to shove—and oh, it does—some walls and -isms have got to give.
This is a comedy, and we know from the alive-ness and longing for community in all these characters that we’ve got to be headed for a happy ending.
The fun of the show is in how this age-old story of tribal warring is resolved—in loving recognition and delicious feasting. Chicken and biscuits may be a dish we’ve had many times, but when Babatunde and his fresh company are cooking it up, the outcome is a truly a satisfying meal. More gravy, please!
WHEN: July 28-August 13, 2023
WHERE: Kalita Humphreys Theater, 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd., Dallas
WEB: uptownplayers.org
