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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">RADIO GOLF, Cleveland Play House’s Black History
month production </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Roy Berko</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Palatino;color:black">(Member, American
Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Black history month means an explosion of
theatre offerings in this multi-racial city.<span style> </span>Ensemble has already performed A SONG FOR CORETTA and LOWER
NINTH.<span style> </span>Karamu staged THE BLUEST
EYE, and though it will be beyond February they will stage GEM OF THE OCEAN
from May 11-June 3.<span style> </span>East Cleveland
Theater is staging Wilson’s FENCES February 11-March 4, True North Cultural
Arts will present THE PIANO LESSON from February 17-March 4 and Cuyahoga County
Community College stages TWO TRAINS RUNNING at its Metro campus from March
29-April 7.<span style> </span>The latter four
scripts were written by August Wilson, as is the Cleveland Play House’s present
production, RADIO GOLF.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">RADIO GOLF is a seminal script.<span style> </span>It was Wilson’s last work.<span style> </span>He died in 2005, the year the play was
published.<span style> </span>It is the final chapter
in his ten-play cycle which intended to chronicle African-American life in the
20<sup>th</sup> century.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">The story centers around Harmond Wilks, a
well-educated, wealthy real estate broker.<span style> </span>He and Roosevelt Hicks want to develop the blighted
Hill District in Pittsburgh.<span style> </span>Wilks
is also a candidate for the mayor of the Steel City.<span style> </span>Problems arise when Wilks discovers that a house in the area
was acquired illegally.<span style> </span>Wilks
attempts to buy the property from Old Joe, the tax delinquent owner, who is a
vagrant with a questionable past, but Old Joe won’t sell.<span style> </span>He has the backing of Sterling Johnson,
a construction worker.<span style> </span>Wilks
decides to build around the house, much to the frustration of his partner, who
has worked out a deal with a white developer to be his “black face” in several
deals, including buying a radio station.<span style>
</span>On the day that the house is to be demolished, Hicks and Wilks have a
falling out and Wilks goes to participate in a rally to stop the demolition,
thus giving up his dreams of wealth, his political future, and possibly his
wife.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">RADIO GOLF is a true final play in the series, as
it includes references and issues that Wilson discussed in earlier works.<span style> </span>It centers on the question of what it
means to be African America.<span style> </span>The
play asks whether it is possible for black culture to be preserved as it is
integrated into mainstream white society.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Wilson focuses his vision on reality. <span style> </span>He opens the issue of the differences in
being a “negra” and a “nigger.”<span style> </span>He
asks whether there is a dissimilarity between the white’s and black’s
definition of ethics and morality.<span style>
</span>He examines if progress is really good for black Americans.<span style> </span>He uses the golf game to illustrate the
alterations taking place in the African American community as they transfer from
being denied privileges at golf courses, into playing the white man’s game.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">The play won the New York<span style> </span>Critic’s 2007 new play award.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">CPH’s production, under the direction of Lou
Bellamy, is generally effective.<span style>
</span>It’s long, especially the first act, which tends to get too caught up in
exposition, thus slowing down the idea development.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Abdul Salaam El Razzac is both poignant and
delightful as Old Joe.<span style> </span>When he is
present, he controls the stage with subtlety and character underplay.<span style> </span>Terry Bellamy, as Sterling, develops a
clear character as an advocate for Old Joe and a conscious for Harmond.<span style> </span>David Alan Anderson is properly
manipulative and smarmy as Roosevelt.<span style>
</span>He clearly illustrates he is out for Roosevelt, and Roosevelt, alone.<span style> </span>Austene Van is properly aloof and
self-centered as Mame Wilks, Harmond’s wife.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">James Craven has the difficult job of developing
a realistic Harmond.<span style> </span>He does an
excellent job early on. <span style> </span>At the end,
however, he starts screaming and swallowing his words.<span style> </span>His breakdown would have been more
effective with more intense internal emotion and less unbridled hysteria. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Vicki Smith’s set design, Karen Perry’s
costumes, Don Darnutzer’s lighting design and James Swonger’s sound design all
help enhance the production.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><i style><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><i style><span style="font-family:Palatino">CAPSULE
JUDGMENT: <span style> </span>RADIO GOLF, the
last play in August Wilson’s monumental 10 play cycle, gets a very good, but
not a great production at the Cleveland Play House.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino">RADIO GOLF runs through MARCH 4 in CPH’s Allen Theatre.<span style> </span>For tickets call 216-241-6000 or go to
<a href="http://www.clevelandplayhouse.com">www.clevelandplayhouse.com</a>.</span></p>