By Ed Lowe
Senior Writer
Lonnie Carter's new play, "Wheatley," is receiving its world premier performances at Victory Garden in a run that will continue through Nov. 13. Carter, who received an Obie and several Jeff nominations for his "The Romance of Magno Rubio" has taken the story of a seven-year-old African girl who was enslaved and shipped to Boston in 1761. Too young and too sickly to be sold in the southern slave-owning Colonies, she is purchased by the Wheatley family as a personal servant for the mistress of the house. She is named Phyllis after the boat on which she was transported, and Wheatley after the family who bought her.
Quickly, she learns English, how to read and write. She studies the Bible and the works of Milton and Pope. She is baptized and joins the Wheatley's Puritan church. She begins writing poetry which is published in local newspapers. Ultimately, unable to find a publisher for a book of her poems in Boston, the family takes her to England where the poetry is published and where she is lionized by a British society known to be sycophants and dilettantes. The novelty of this young, black girl soon wears off and she returns to a revolutionary American where she writes paeans of praise to George Washington and meets Benjamin Franklin. She marries a grocer and has several children, but the marriage does not work well and she is sickly. Her short life ends in 1784.
Carter writes in rhyming couplets, some admittedly forced, and sets the time of the play between the present and the lifespan of Phyllis. The effect is sometimes Shakespearean and at others forced, but the poetry is recited with passion and occasional humor by a uniformly excellent cast headed by newcomer Yetide Badaki as Phyllis. Directed by Sharon J. Scruggs, the show also features Daniel Bryant, Aaron Todd Douglas and Ann Joseph, who each play multiple roles.
Some of the poetic language is stilted as was the style during those Colonial Days. Wheatley is, in essence, a tribute to all African-American women who have succeeded in the arts over the two-and-a-half centuries since Phyllis first took chalk in hand to compose her first poem on a wall in the Wheatley house. The play is well worth seeing both for its historical vignette and for its unique style.
Victory Gardens is located at 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. The box office can accept ticket orders at (773) 871-3000. Tickets are scaled between $25 and $28. Matinees are scheduled for Saturdays and Sundays. |
