Founder/Executive Director of Project1VOICE, INC
Neither snow, nor rain, nor hear, nor gloom of night stays keeps this avid theater goer from the observance of theater. Okay I admit I am not a postal worker but I thought the postal creed was an extremely apropos intro considering it took me and my good buddy Michael Dinwiddie, a playwright and newly elected President of the Black Theater Network, almost 3 hours to get to the Crossroads Theatre Company's production of KNOCK ME A KISS thanks to Frankenstorm Sandy. But I must say it was worth every last glorious minute--coming and going!
KNOCK ME A KISS is a family drama with complexed characters laced with laughter written by Charles Smith. It is directed by Chuck Smith, who I met at the performance along with Crossroads producing Artistic Director Marshall Jones. Mr Smith directed both the original 2000 production in Chicago and last year's Woodie King Jr's New Federal Theatre production. This production comes with last year's New Federal cast completely in tow. KNOCK ME A KISS is a romanticized retelling of the marriage between Yolande Dubois, the daughter of civil rights activist W.E.B. DuBois, and poet Countee Cullen during the Harlem Renaissance.
DuBois, concerned more with pedigree than love, orchestrates the match for his daughter unaware that Cullen is gay. Yolande, who has an infantile notion of romance, rejects a proposal from jazz-band conductor Jimmy Lunceford, whom she loves, in part to cement her position in society. Of course, the truth inevitably comes out.
Erin Cherry as Yolande is wonderfully engaging as the repressed, young, naive, hopelessly romantic, daddy's girl socialite transforming from innocence to maturity. Andre De Shields plays the iconic Dubois with well manicured pedigreed perfection. He brings the appropriate blend of Fisk and Harvard University regal refinement to Dubois--who identified himself as both "American and black" heeding to neither assimilate nor separate but to be proud, enduring the hyphenation. Marie Thomas as Dubois' mentally ill equally repressed wife, intensifies the drama. Sean Phillips as Countee Cullen is well cast as the "perfect" spouse, chosen by Dubois, for his daughter to keep the "race pure." While the wrong side of the track characters of Leonora and Jimmy played by Morocco Omari and Gillian Glassco, respectively, erupt with smouldering uninhibited exuberance and sexiness which adds another level of tension to this grossly restrained "talented tenth." Hurry and see this KNOCK OUT before it closes on Sunday! THE TRAINS ARE RUNNING NOW SO THE COMMUTE IS MUCH SHORTER!
Black theaters like The Crossroads Theatre Company in New Brunswick New Jersey tell American stories like no others--who and what are we without them! They are destinations most definitely worth experiencing.
Knock Me a Kiss
Where: Crossroads Theatre Company, 7 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick.
When: October 31, November 1, 2, 3 at 8 p.m.; November 3 and 4 at 3 p.m.
How much: $50-$65, call (732) 545-8100 or visit crossroadstheatrecompany.org
Please if you have not take already, we invite you to take the opportunity to check out our website www.project1voice.org and also to like us on facebook at Project1VOICE. Thank you and I hope to see you in the theater!
