Forced dialogues: American Son raises some cogent questions, but ultimately the dramatic debates feel forced. | joshua_flanders 👇
by Christopher Demos-Brown and directed by Tim Rhoze, now playing at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center in Evanston, opens with a quote from Ta-Nehisi Coates that “race is the child of racism, not the father.” The quote carries a powerful truth that encourages the audience to dwell on deeper issues, such as the impact of racism in America, and to expect that this play will do the same. And it does, though only with limited success.
Kendra’s husband Scott , who is white, left Kendra and Jamal to have an affair. When he shows up at the police station, the dynamic changes and the white police officer starts treating him with more respect, getting him coffee and sharing more information about the case than he had with his wife, in part because Scott works for the FBI. Both men work in law enforcement and bring with them the values of that profession.
When the couple is left alone, they alternately bicker about their son and their dissolving relationship, all of which is peppered with their perspectives on race, identity, and respectability politics. Moorman and Manocchio are engaging as the estranged couple. Their concerns are not only palpable but they are real. Any parent who had to go to a police station to inquire about the whereabouts of their child, and not get immediate information, would feel equally as frustrated and as powerless.
However, the play falls short in two regards. Most notably, Demos-Brown’s play gets too caught up in having the various issues surrounding racism fall into dialogue and debate with each other, rather than the characters themselves. Coming from an interracial relationship, I find it difficult to imagine that after at least 18 years together, this couple has not already had all these seminal discussions about ethnicity, having a biracial child, law enforcement , and the like.
From the perspective of direction, the play would benefit from finding some softer, quieter moments. So much of the dialogue is presented at a “10” that it often leaves the audience reacting rather than reflecting. A play can be “powerful” and “heavy” without always hitting the audience over the head. This is a solid piece of theater and there is a great deal of important discussion to be had here.
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