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Desert Cities) is an emblem of white privilege who inherited a fortune from his abusive father, but is stymied as an unpublished assistant professor.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.

While I Yet Live *

I hope that writing this family memoir was therapeutic for Billy Porter. That would at least provide some compensation for the ordeal of sitting through it. There are more family secrets under the roof of this home in Pittsburgh than one play can possibly handle. The fact that the only son of this religious black family is gay is far from the worst of its troubles. If only heartfelt emotions and good intentions were enough to make a play, this might have succeeded. Alas, the exposition is very clumsy. There are moments when it is difficult to tell not only when a scene is taking place but which characters are alive and which are dead. It does provide a fine opportunity for S. Epatha Merkerson, as the mother, to emote. I was looking forward to seeing Lillias White, but her underwritten role does not offer much chance to shine. The other cast members — Elain Graham, Sheria Irving, Kevyn Morrow, Larry Powell and Sharon Washington — do their best with the material. The second act meanders to a resolution that smacks of the wisdom of Oprah. I will give Porter credit for not sugarcoating the shortcomings of the character representing him.  James Noone’s set is attractive and Esosa’s costumes are appropriate to their characters. I enjoyed the player piano. I’m not sure what director Sheryl Kaller could have done to improve things for this Primary Stages production at the Duke. Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes including intermission.