White Noise

B+
Since seeing Suzan-Lori Parks’s Father Comes Home From the War (Parts 1, 2 and 3) over four years ago, I have been eagerly awaiting her return to the Public Theater. The wait is finally over. However, instead of the next installment of that epic work, we have an entirely new play which takes a highly original and provocative look at interracial relations in today’s America. In it we meet four 30-ish adults, two white, two black, who have been friends since college. Leo (Daveed Diggs; Hamilton) is a black artist with insomnia and artist’s block. Ralph (Thomas Sadoski; Other Desert Cities) is an emblem of white privilege who inherited a fortune from his abusive father, but is stymied as an unpublished assistant professor. Misha (Sheria Irving; While I Yet Live) makes blackness work for her with a streaming internet show “Ask a Black.” Dawn (Zoë Winters; The Last Match, Red Speedo) is a white do-gooder whose altruism is problematic. When the play opens, Leo and Dawn are a couple, as are Ralph and Misha. We learn that back in college, Leo was paired with Misha and Ralph with Dawn. There’s also another relationship hiding out of sight. After becoming a victim of police violence, Leo makes a shocking proposal to Ralph which you may have difficulty buying into. I will not reveal it, because it would reduce the impact of discovery. I hope you can suspend your disbelief because the ramifications of their agreement are the basis for the rest of the play. Parks’s writing combines humor, drama, pathos and polemic. The actors are superb. Diggs and Sadoski are a formidable combination. The ingenious set by Clint Ramos (Wild Goose Dreams, Barbecue) contains a major surprise. The costumes by Toni-Leslie James (Come from Away, Jitney) help to develop each character. Oskar Eustis’s direction is fluid. The play could use some judicious trimming and a stronger ending. Nevertheless, it stands out as one of the most original, thought-provoking plays I have seen in quite a while. Running time: 3 hours 10 minutes, including intermission.