When we first meet Travis (Mamoudou Athie) and his wife Aisha (Susan Kalechi Watson), the protagonists of James Ijames’ “Good Bones” (Public Theater), they seem to be leading a charmed life. He’s an inventive chef who’s recently opened his own gourmet restaurant. She has returned to the neighborhood where she grew up to handle community relations for a large local redevelopment project.
As the play opens, the couple is renovating their home in their rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. They’ve hired Earl (Khris Davis), a local contractor who’s gotten raves from the neighbors for the quality of his work.
All good so far? Well there may be trouble in paradise. While Travis is off at the restaurant one morning, Aisha starts chatting with Earl about the benefits that will come from the redevelopment project which will include a large arena. When she shows him a 3-d model, Earl suddenly grows quiet. “It looks like a death star,” he rages, and points out the local landmarks that will be demolished.
Aisha, however, remembers her neighborhood differently. While Earl recalls the delicious sandwiches he got from the bodega, she is haunted by the drug deals that were being done in the back room.
Within minutes, the warm friendship they have been cultivating grows cold, and the conversation gets downright ugly. Travis walks in, surveys the situation, and to turn down the heat, he invites Earl and his college-age sister Carmen (Tea Guarino) to dinner. What ensues is somewhat expected but painful nonetheless.
Without being didactic, “Bones” raises a number of questions about gentrification. While it may make some of us feel good about giving the old neighborhood a lick of paint, what about the effects on the people that gentrification displaces? This is not news to cities across America, especially residents of Oakland, Central West End (St. Louis) and Bushwick.
Secondarily, it draws a distinction between people who try to move on in life and those who don’t. How much of your past should you hold onto, anyway?
What makes all of this fresh is the quality of the playwriting—and a cast that transforms what could have been two-dimensional roles into something real. While all four actors are good, Davis and Kalechi Watson as Earl and Aisha, respectively, are outstanding as the protagonists who butt heads and will probably never see eye to eye.
“Bones” represents a departure of sorts for Ijames who wrote last year’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning comedy “Fat Ham.” That play made you laugh. This one makes you think.
Like this review? Follow me on “What Does Aug Think?” at acsntn.substack.com. Thank you
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Theater: “Good Bones” at the Public
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When we first meet Travis (Mamoudou Athie) and his wife Aisha (Susan Kalechi Watson), the protagonists of James Ijames’ “Good Bones” (Public Theater), they seem to be leading a charmed life. He’s an inventive chef who’s recently opened his own gourmet restaurant. She has returned to the neighborhood where she grew up to handle community relations for a large local redevelopment project.
As the play opens, the couple is renovating their home in their rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. They’ve hired Earl (Khris Davis), a local contractor who’s gotten raves from the neighbors for the quality of his work.
All good so far? Well there may be trouble in paradise. While Travis is off at the restaurant one morning, Aisha starts chatting with Earl about the benefits that will come from the redevelopment project which will include a large arena. When she shows him a 3-d model, Earl suddenly grows quiet. “It looks like a death star,” he rages, and points out the local landmarks that will be demolished.
Aisha, however, remembers her neighborhood differently. While Earl recalls the delicious sandwiches he got from the bodega, she is haunted by the drug deals that were being done in the back room.
Within minutes, the warm friendship they have been cultivating grows cold, and the conversation gets downright ugly. Travis walks in, surveys the situation, and to turn down the heat, he invites Earl and his college-age sister Carmen (Tea Guarino) to dinner. What ensues is somewhat expected but painful nonetheless.
Without being didactic, “Bones” raises a number of questions about gentrification. While it may make some of us feel good about giving the old neighborhood a lick of paint, what about the effects on the people that gentrification displaces? This is not news to cities across America, especially residents of Oakland, Central West End (St. Louis) and Bushwick.
Secondarily, it draws a distinction between people who try to move on in life and those who don’t. How much of your past should you hold onto, anyway?
What makes all of this fresh is the quality of the playwriting—and a cast that transforms what could have been two-dimensional roles into something real. While all four actors are good, Davis and Kalechi Watson as Earl and Aisha, respectively, are outstanding as the protagonists who butt heads and will probably never see eye to eye.
“Bones” represents a departure of sorts for Ijames who wrote last year’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning comedy “Fat Ham.” That play made you laugh. This one makes you think.
Like this review? Follow me on “What Does Aug Think?” at acsntn.substack.com. Thank you
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