The Coast Starlight

 B+

Keith Bunin’s (The Busy World Is Hushed, The Credeaux Canvas) clever, humane play at Lincoln Center Theater at the Mitzi Newhouse, takes place in the conditional. It deals with what might have happened if six passengers on the train between LA and Seattle had overcome their inhibitions and actually started to converse. The six are a diverse lot: Jane (Camila Cano-Flavia, Network), an animation artist who passes the time by sketching the other passengers; T.J. (Will Harrison, NY debut), a young Navy medic who doesn’t want to return to Afghanistan; Noah (Rhys Coiro, Dinner at Eight), a laid-back veteran who lives on a boat; Liz (Mia Barron, The Wolves), a hilariously unhinged woman fleeing a meltdown at a couples’ workshop; Ed (Jon Norman Schneider, The Oldest Boy), a beat-down salesman trying to find the hope to move on; and Anna (Michelle Wilson, Sweat), a black lesbian who has hidden the existence of her children’s uncle from them. All are vividly written and convincingly portrayed. The playwright explores how and whether they could have helped each other if only they had broken through to initiate a conversation. Arnulfo Moldonado’s (Power Strip) simple scenic design is well-complemented by 59 Productions’ projections (Flying Over Sunset). The costumes by Asta Bennie Hostetter (The Wolves) are suitable to each character. Tyne Rafaeli’s (Selling Kabul) direction is unfussy and assured. If you are looking for more action than talk, you may be disappointed, but if you want to get to know how these six people represent the human condition, you should find the play rewarding. Running time: 100 minutes, no intermission.

The House That Will Not Stand

C+

After runs in Berkeley, New Haven, Chicago and London, this play by Marcus Gardley (“The Chi”) has arrived at New York Theatre Workshop. The playwright set himself an ambitious challenge, taking characters and situations from Garcia Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba and overlaying them with a story about the status of black women in New Orleans shortly after the Louisiana Purchase. Once again there is a house of women in mourning with a fierce mother ruling over frustrated daughters —Agnès (Nedra McClyde; Marvin’s Room), Odette (Joniece Abbott-Pratt; u/s Eclipsed) and Maude Lynn (Juliana Canfield; “Succession”)— with an iron hand. There is someone hidden away in the attic, this time the mother’s possibly mad sister, Marie Josephine (Michelle Wilson; Sweat). And there is rivalry among the daughters over a man. The corpse lying surrounded by flowers in the parlor is the father of the three daughters, but not the husband of their mother Beartrice (Lynda Gravatt; Skeleton Crew). He is Lazare Albans, a married wealthy white man whose long-term common-law relationship with Beartrice made her the wealthiest free woman of color in New Orleans, with a fine house to show for it. The institution that permitted such interracial relationships, called plaçage, had been common throughout the French and Spanish Caribbean, but was now threatened by United States laws. Makeda (Harriet D. Foy; Amelie), the house servant who looks after mother and daughters, is a slave who has been promised her freedom upon her master’s demise. We also meet La Veuve (Marie Thomas; Don’t Bother Me I Can’t Cope), a neighbor with a longtime grudge against Beartrice. Two of the daughters want to attend the masked ball where quadroons and prospective white beaus meet and arrange relationships, but Beartrice is unalterably opposed as she considers plaçage little better than slavery, especially under new US laws. She is also confronted with a threat to retaining her house and her social position. Melodrama ensues. The play is stuffed, perhaps overstuffed, with issues — racism, skin colorism, class consciousness, empowering women, slavery, voodoo, ghosts, insanity, honoring African roots. It’s a lot to juggle and the playwright occasionally missteps. The dialogue is sometimes comic, sometimes poetic. The quality of the acting is frustratingly uneven. Ms. Foy gives an electric performance as Makeda. The usually reliable Ms. Gravatt repeatedly stumbled over her lines. Ms. Thomas is wickedly funny. The actresses playing the daughters and the aunt imbue each with individuality. Adam Rigg’s (Actually) set design of an elegant southern home with tall shuttered windows and crystal chandeliers is quite attractive, as are the period costumes by Montana Levi Blanco (Fairview, Red Speedo). Lileana Blain-Cruz’s (Pipeline, War) direction shows a comfortable grip on the material. While I found it sporadically involving, I left somewhat baffled and disappointed. The reaction from most of the audience was extremely enthusiastic. Running time: two hours ten minutes including intermission.

Sweat **** A

After acclaimed productions at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Arena Stage, the timely new play by Pulitzer winner and MacArthur fellow Lynn Nottage (Ruined; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark; Intimate Apparel) has finally arrived at the Public Theater. It was worth the wait. The play might have been subtitled “Reasons To Hate NAFTA” or “How the Rust Belt Creates Trump Voters.” However, while corporate greed, globalization, racism and immigration policy all underlie the action, the play is not a sociopolitical screed. Nottage wisely keeps our attention on vividly drawn characters and on how forces beyond their control are refracted in their lives. Most of the action is set in 2000 at an after-work bar popular with employees of a metal tubing plant in Reading, PA. We meet three middle-age women — Cynthia (Michelle Wilson), Tracey (Johanna Day) and Jessie (Miriam Shor) — who have worked together on the plant floor for over 20 years. Cynthia’s son Chris (Khris Davis) and Tracey’s son Jason (Will Pullen), who also work at the plant, are best buddies. Cynthia’s estranged husband Brucie (John Earl Jelks) also frequents the bar. Stan the bartender (James Colby) used to work at the plant too until he was injured by a defective piece of equipment. Oscar (Carlo Alban), the bar’s Hispanic porter, might as well be invisible for all the attention he gets from customers. Cynthia is black, but her race has never been an issue until she is promoted to management over others. Her new position is hardly enviable when the plant owners decide to downsize. The play’s first and final scenes are set in 2008. As the play opens, parole officer Evan (Lance Coadie Williams) is conducting separate interviews with Jason and Chris, who have finished prison terms for a crime they committed eight years earlier. We flash back to 2000 to see the escalating events that led to the shocking crime and finally back to 2008 to see the consequences. It all makes for a gripping experience. The cast is uniformly excellent. John Lee Beatty’s revolving set is evocative, as are Jennifer Moeller’s costumes. Director Kate Whoriskey (Ruined) once again does Nottage full justice. Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes including intermission.