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A Revolution Plays Out Well In TheaterWorks’ ‘Sunset Baby’

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“Sunset Baby” is a beautiful play about ugly things. It doesn’t try to shock you with talk of sex, drugs and street crime — it treats those topics as ordinary, commonplace. The cardinal sin in this dysfunctional family drama, at TheaterWorks through Feb. 19, is insincerity.

A famous activist, Ashanti X, has died. She’d poured her heart out to her husband Kenyatta Shakur, a fellow ’60s radical, in a series of letters. He has recently been released from jail and wants to read them. But Ashanti, who is remembered more in the play as “a crackhead” than for the charitable works of her youth, has willed the letters to their daughter, Nina. She has no interest in helping her estranged dad.

Nina talks of selling the documents to “Stupid college robots writing their dissertations. Professors at universities. Publishing companies. The press. Everybody wants them. Long-lost love letters to a political prisoner. Notes on the revolution. Ashanti X writes to Kenyatta Shakur while he serves time for … what was it again? … Oh right … robbing an armored truck. Nice.”

As a play about a tense reunion between a father and daughter, “Sunset Baby” has a little bit in common with another show from this season at TheaterWorks, Mark St. Germain’s “Relativity.” But it’s set in a whole other world, an urban world.

TheaterWorks’ 2018 production of Dominique Morisseau’s “Sunset Baby” resonates anew. The show’s cast, including Tony Todd and Brittany Bellizeare (pictured here) appeared in an online TheaterWorks program to discuss the themes of the urban economics drama in light of the coronavirus shutdown and George Floyd protests.

“Sunset Baby” also has an interesting similarity with the romantic comedy “Midsummer,” which TheaterWorks presented last year. Both plays concern young lovers who, through questionable means, find themselves with large amounts of money. In both cases, the way the characters talk about money is far more interesting than how they get it. It’s a means of escape, and leads to dreamy speeches about travel and power.

Nina is named for the famed vocalist and activist Nina Simone, whose songs (from “Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair” to “Feeling Good”) serve as a soundtrack for the play. Some are delivered in short bursts, others in long luxurious doses. They are generally heard as if they are playing on Nina’s iPhone speaker while she dresses to go out and pose as a “pretend hooker,” so that her boyfriend Damon can rob her hopeful johns.

Brittany Bellizeare plays Nina as a vigorous, healthy woman who acts strongly and impulsively. The way she launches herself into sexual embraces with Damon (Carlton Byrd, who makes the character wonderfully obnoxious, with a hint of danger) after they’ve just screamed at each other, neatly demonstrates their complicated relationship.

Damon plays a key role in “Sunset Baby.” He provides some of the most physical confrontations and also some riveting verbal ones. His street-smart discussion with Kenyatta over the nature of rebellion and capitalism, with references to sociologist Steven Spitzer’s theory of “social junk and social dynamite,” makes you want to stop the play and take notes.

Nina gets some good remarks in as well. Her line “It’s a lot of educated idiots out there … and most of ’em runnin’ the country” got a show-stopping cheer from the audience on opening night.

Such provocative discourse is at the heart of “Sunset Baby.” The play is also studded with short direct addresses to the audience by Kenyatta, delivered at the front of the stage and removed from his interactions with Nina and Damon. The accomplished stage and screen actor Tony Todd delivers these monologues with a restrained righteousness, a calm composure from which his deep growl of a voice emerges:

Too much ignorance. Too much apathy. Not enough selflessness. Greed and corruption. Ignoring basic human suffering. Ignoring basic human need. Negligence.

Revolution is the man in the mirror. Change is self. The man in the mirror. The scariest revolution there is.

Tony Todd as Kenyatta in “Sunset Baby” at TheaterWorks.

Dominique Morisseau’s script is full of such internal rhythms and explicit calls to action. Alexander Woodward’s clever set design of cheap apartment furniture and mismatched fabrics complements the wild, erratic nature of the play. Director Reginald L. Douglas makes sure that none of the many jolting moments in the drama don’t draw attention away from its lyrical dialogue and important messages.

The small TheaterWorks stage is ideal for such an explosive yet intimate piece of writing. The revolution starts here.

“SUNSET BABYby Dominique Morisseau plays through Feb. 19 at TheaterWorks, 233 Pearl St., Hartford. Performances are Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2:30 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $40 to $65, $15 for student rush seats. Jan. 18 and 25 are “Pay What You Can.” 860-527-7838, theaterworkshartford.org.