THE HANGOVER REPORT – Dominique Morisseau’s powerful SKELETON CREW packs a punch at the Atlantic

20SKELETON-master675Last night, before the big blizzard hit New York City, I was able to attend a performance of Dominique Morisseau’s new play Skeleton Crew, the final installment of her Detroit trilogy (Detroit ’67 and Paradise Blue are the other plays in the trilogy, collectively entitled “The Detroit Projects”), at the Atlantic Theater Company. Her latest depicts Detroit auto factory workers and their supervisor as they struggle to keep their jobs and dignity as the factory they’re employed in faces extinction. Although I have some qualms about how the ending is handled (no spoilers here), which feels somehow forced and incongruous with the rest of the play, I’m a big fan of of Ms. Morisseau’s abilities as a writer – the rhythms built into her dialogue are mesmerizing in their musicality yet feel fully grounded in reality, and at her best, there’s real poetry (albeit of the unvarnished street variety) in the language she conjures. In these respects, she seems to be a strong candidate for being the heir apparent to the late, great August Wilson.

This Atlantic production is directed with clarity by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, although I think the decision to include brief robotic dance sequences in between scenes (performed by the talented Adesola Osakalumi) actually detracts from the play’s quiet momentum and breaks some of the tension that Ms. Morisseau is carefully trying to build. Nevertheless, the play packs a punch. The production is also wonderfully designed with a keen eye by Michael Carnahan (his break room set is just about perfect). Now to the cast – each actor in this four-character play is sublime. As the factory works, Lynda Gravatt (Faye), Jason Dirden (Dez), and Nikiya Mathis (Shanita) reek with authenticity and vivacity. As their conflicted foreman Reggie, Wendell B. Franklin makes sure you feel the weight of his world, as he struggles to keep the interests of his factory works and his bottom line-driven superiors aligned, in your gut.

RECOMMENDED

 

SKELETON CREW
Play, Off-Broadway
Atlantic Theater Company
2 hours (with one intermission)
Through February 14

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

Leave a Reply