August Wilson’s “Radio Golf,” the tenth and final installment in the playwright’s Pittsburgh Cycle, has the potential to profoundly affect an audience. Dealing with a smorgasbord of weighty issues, from complex race relations to familial obligation and the concept of morality in politics, the Tony-nominated play is a lot to take on.
The Black Theatre Troupe at the Helen K. Mason Performing Arts Center, located near the corner of 14th and Washington streets, puts forth a valiant and mostly successful effort directed by David J. Hemphill.
A simply constructed set made with a rare attention to detail effectively highlights the interactions between characters, without distracting from the stark displays of human nature that guide the play. The set consists of a realistic-looking real estate office, the workplace of Harmond Wilks and Roosevelt Hicks, played by Kwane Vedrene and Calion Maston. Glass windows upstage provide a view of the alley behind the office, an artistic touch that allows actors “walking up” to the office to effectively set the tone for the next interaction even before entering the scene.
Wilks and Hicks are business partners about to break ground on a new redevelopment project in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. The year is 1997, and political and cultural change is in the air. Wilks is seeking to become Pittsburgh’s first African-American mayor.
When Wilks discovers that a house slated for demolition, owned by an eccentric Vietnam veteran — Elder Joseph Barrow, played by three-time AriZoni award winner T.A. Burrows — has been acquired illegally by his redevelopment company, he embarks on a moral crusade in which he struggles to defend Barrow’s rights, contrary to the wishes of his wife, Mame, played by Lillie Richardson, and business partner.
The result is a rapidly evolving play centered on Wilks’ changing relationships with Barrow, Hicks and Mame, with the added layer of the struggle for racial identity faced by all of the characters.
Of all the actors involved in the production, Burrows stood out to me as the man who brought the play most of its heart and humor. Playing a bizarre, eccentric man who forces Wilks to put his life and career into perspective, Burrows constructed a complex personality in “Old Joe” Barrow. With skillful inflection, seamless comic timing and careful attention to Wilson’s dialogue and intention, Burrows stole every scene he was in.
Vedrene, despite occasionally stumbling over his lines and seeming distracted and somewhat awkward in his movements, did an excellent job of developing his relationship with Burrows’ character over the course of the play. There was the best-developed and most heartfelt chemistry of the production.
Maston, who played Hicks, was energetic and intense, often drawing laughs. Like Harmond, Maston occasionally stumbled over his words, which proved distracting, but he was able to portray intense emotion and a complex inner conflict, as Hicks is forced to choose between Wilks and financial success. Maston and Roosevelt Watts, who plays Sterling Johnson, a recklessly independent construction worker, called attention to racial prejudice in an intense, powerful scene that pitted the economically disparate characters against one another in a fierce debate.
Also notable was Lillie Richardson, who played Mame Wilks, Harmond’s wife. Mame is a powerful, independent woman weary of devoting her life solely to her husband’s political success. Richardson’s attention-drawing performance highlighted the underlying feminist themes present in Wilson’s work.
Although certain scenes lacked energy and development, the Black Theatre Troupe ultimately put on a powerful, heartfelt production that forced audience members to examine their own moral integrity and inherent racial prejudice. With a show-stopping performance from Burrows, sensitivity from Vedrene and an effective technical approach, the play became a thought-provoking representation of August Wilson’s award-winning play.
“Radio Golf” will be playing at the Helen K. Mason Performing Arts Center through Oct. 12. Tickets are $35.
Contact the reporter at Faith.Anne.Miller@asu.edu
