[NEohioPAL]Review of Amen Corner by Roy Berko

Sat Jan 12 13:54:13 PST 2002

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Here is my review of Amen Corner...Roy Berko, Times Newspapers

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<I>AMEN CORNER </I>WELL-CONCEIVED AT PLAY HOUSE<BR>
Roy Berko<P>
(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)--<P>
THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--<P>
<I>Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times</I><BR>
<BR>
     When it opened on Broadway, terms used to describe James Baldwin's <I>THE
AMEN CORNER</I> included <I>honest</I>,<I> wholly rich</I>,<I> profoundly poignant</I>,<I> vivid</I>, and<I> rich in
humanity.</I> These qualities all flow forth in director Chuck Patterson's well-conceived
production at the Cleveland Play House.<BR>
     James Baldwin was the first of nine children of a clergyman and a factory
worker.  Born in 1924, he was brought up in New York's Harlem and became a store
front preacher at fourteen.  Disillusioned with religion, and then the race relations in
America, he moved to Paris and started to write.  By the mid 1950's he was well on his
way to being the voice of Black America through novels, plays and essays.   He
returned to the US in 1960 and became politically active in support of civil rights.  His
play <I>THE AMEN CORNER</I> was first produced in 1955 at Howard University, the
country's foremost African American institution.<BR>
     <I>THE AMEN CORNER</I> is based on places, events and people that Baldwin knew
well.  In fact, it is proposed by literature experts that the character of David is Baldwin's
alter-ego.  <BR>
     The story concerns a store-front Harlem church in the 1950s.  The church is 
presided over by the strong-willed Sister Margaret who sets high standards for her
parishioners as well as herself in her attempt to hide from the reality of her past and
uncertainty of her present.   When her former husband appears, her congregation turns
skeptical, her 18-year old son plummets into an identity crisis, and Margaret is forced to
deal with a host of personal demons.<BR>
     The play, typical of 1950 scripts, is overly-long, consisting of three acts and two
intermissions.   Patterson does not allow the show to slide so the time goes quickly and
the audience involvement is high. <BR>
     Hopefully Elizabeth Van Dyke's voice holds out through the run of the show. 
Though her characterization of Sister Margaret is clear and focused her projection is
excessive through much of the performance.  She is especially strong near the end of
the show when she starts expressing meaning through changing line nuances rather
than just shouting.  <BR>
     LaShawn Banks (David) has an appropriate undertow of torment throughout. 
His final speech seems to be Baldwin's personal statement on who he needed to
become and why he had to leave the culture he knew but questioned.  When David
states, "Maybe I could say something, say something in music," it is the same statement
Baldwin might have asked about his going out and creating literature.  <BR>
     Diane Weaver was capable of developing a vivid character by underplaying the
role of Margaret's older sister.  She well showed how screaming can be over-shadowed
by nuance. <BR>
     RaSheryl McCreary (Sister Moore) is very effective as the holier-than-though
virgin and conniving trouble-maker.<BR>
     Cecelia Antoinette and Glenn Turner are strong as the husband and wife team
who aid in the final fall of Sister Margaret.     <BR>
     The choral work and gospel presentations, under the musical direction of
Marcella McElroy Caffie and Danny McElroy, are sensational.  The renditions had the
audience clapping and reacting throughout.<BR>
     Technical aspects were outstanding.  Felix Cochren's two level set was practical
and effective though the height of the second level sometimes caused the sound to get
lost in the fly space.  Myrna Colley-Lee's costumes were era and purpose perfect. 
William Grant III's lighting design was effective, especially considering he had to work
with lighting a double level set which is very difficult.<BR>
     <I>THE AMEN CORNER </I>is a play which is appropriate to the lives of all people, not
just African Americans.  Though it speaks with the Black voice, it asks the universal
question of how we should live our lives, what we do when the world becomes too
difficulty for us to face dead on, and how we react when reality hits.  This is not a play
about race or racial intolerance, it is a play making statements and asking questions
about how to live one's life.<BR>
     THE AMEN CORNER will be performed in the Drury Theatre at the Cleveland
Play House through February 10.   Tickets, which range in price from $30 to $45 may be
obtained by calling 216-795-7000 or on-line at clevelandplayhouse.com.

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