Ensemble brings out playwright's passion in King Hedley II

By Jack Zink
Theater Writer

February 8 2006

King Hedley II is the darkest and most tragic of August Wilson's 10 plays about black life in America during the 20th century. It's also a tough show to get -- and keep -- a grip on, which the cast at Miami's Carrie Meek Cultural Center very much does.

Wilson takes care of the rest in the nearly three-hour tale. More often than not, one can see the actor, hard at work behind the character, trying to climb the performance ladder to meet the role's demands. Yet the play unfolds with all its natural energy under Teddy Harrell Jr.'s direction.

King Hedley II

Drama, presented by the African American Performing Arts Community Theatre through Feb. 26 at Carrie Meek Cultural Center, 1300 NW 50th St., Miami. Shows 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets $15 in advance, $20 at door. Call 866-390-4534.

The play marks the opening of the African American Performing Arts Community Theatre season, delayed by Hurricane Wilma. It's also the regional premiere for Hedley, which played on Broadway in 2001 with Brian Stokes Mitchell and Leslie Uggams.

Wilson's series is set in Pittsburgh's Hill District, each play taking place in a different decade. King Hedley II takes place in 1985, with crime and violence rising over crushed hopes behind a row of tenements where King lives with wife Tonya and his mother Ruby.

Dudley Pinder's scenery mostly delivers a representation that the mind's eye can finish, except for a small patch of coarse dirt that resonates with symbolism. King kneels over it to plant a few seeds he's just bought.

"Ruby tell me my dirt ain't worth nothing. It's mine. It's worth it to have. I ain't gonna let nobody take it. Talking about I need some good dirt. Like my dirt ain't worth nothing. A seed is a seed. A seed will grow in dirt."

Andre L. Gainey delivers that monologue with a smoldering passion, which ranges through the play between frustration and anger. He wants other seeds to grow, too -- his savings to start his own video store, a business partnership with longtime friend Mister (Earlington Valstalsky Taylor). But it's taking a long time even with their latest racket, and there are temptations to get the money by faster, and more dangerous, means.

Hedley flirts with classic themes of Greek and Shakespearean drama as men try to rig fates in their favor, and risk the soul over an arrogant sense of personal honor. King spent seven years in jail for a murder resulting from a deadly spat over his name. Elmore (William J. Barnes) did five years over a similar argument long ago that ended the life of the man King doesn't yet know was his father.

Elmore now wants to marry Ruby (Carolyn Johnson). Meanwhile, Tonya (Viviene Dawson) worries that her husband's activities will land him back in prison, in which case she has no desire to raise a family. Watching over all this is Stool Pigeon (Charles Bonamy), a one-man Greek chorus quoting the Bible.

Gainey offers a convincing portrait of King, though he and several others find it hard to manage the most angry, painful moments. Barnes is smooth, cool and at times quietly menacing as Elmore, an accomplished con artist. When the story reaches its climactic finale, they're all on the same page. And so is the audience, which is the way it's supposed to be.

The African-American Performing Arts Community Theatre's production of August Wilson's King Hedley II is a solid step forward for the small company that has struggled to find its footing.

Based in Liberty City, AAPACT has a ravenous appetite for bringing challenging material to the community it serves. Commendable, but its eyes are often bigger than its stomach.

This season's program was hard to watch at times as the company wrestled with self-imposed difficulties like the Surrealist elements contained in Athol Fugard's Sizwe Banzi is Dead and finding a cast that could carry the weight of Having Our Say, The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years (which is about how long the performance felt).

Hedley is a superior production by far; not just for the show itself -- which has some nice moments -- but for the progress it signifies.

Company co-founder André L. Gainey plays the role of King Hedley II, a young ex-con living in a 1980s Pittsburg ghetto, trying to make a better life for himself and his pregnant wife Tonya (Viviene Dawson). Hedley and his friend Mister (Earlington Valstalsky Taylor) are trying to save and/or steal enough money to open a video store. Meanwhile, an old family friend named Elmore (William J. Barnes) returns to rekindle his love affair with Hedley's mother, Ruby (Carolyn Johnson), and to divulge a long-held secret.

The play is not considered one of Wilson's masterworks for good reason. Clocking in at nearly three hours, its thin and fairly predictable plot gets tedious at points, especially during the semi-incomprehensible religious ramblings of an eccentric next-door neighbor named Stool Pigeon (Charles Bonamy).

The story mostly serves as a platform for the acclaimed author to rail against the problems plaguing America's inner cities: drugs, violence, absentee fathers, babies having babies, and the awful, repetitive cycle of it all.

Director Teddy Harrell Jr., helps the clunky story along by giving his actors simple but natural bits of stage business. Dudley Pinder's set might be the star of the show with its beat-up brick houses, strewn garbage and rusty chain-link fence.

Gainey inhabits Hedley with the confident ease of an ex-con at home in the streets: He is at his best in the quiet moments derived from Hedley's yearning to break out of his situation. Johnson delivers a consistently solid performance and Dawson and Barnes (who made his stage debut in Sizwe Banzi is Dead) do a decent job as well, even if they haven't yet figured out what to do with their hands (a common problem for young actors). Hedley is a challenging play for even the strong companies and AAPACT, in places, very nearly pulls it off.

One hopes that the company never stops reaching just a bit (though not too far) beyond its grasp.

Ensemble brings out playwright's passion in King Hedley II

Small troupe takes on new challenge