The cast of “Redwood” does a delicate dance through the complicated layers of African American genealogy. (Russell J. Young)
What does the present owe to the past? What does the past demand from the present? What does it mean to know our family histories and how we fit in?
These questions, intertwined like a helix, form the DNA of Brittany K. Allen’s incisive new work, “Redwood,” now having its world premiere from Portland Center Stage. Allen, who also appears in the production, splices together race, identity and genealogy in a provocative piece that couldn’t feel more timely in an increasingly multiracial America.
“Redwood” revolves around a biracial couple in Baltimore – Meg (Allen), who is black, and Drew (Nick Ferrucci), who is white – and a startling genealogical discovery that shakes both of them to their roots at a pivotal moment in their relationship.
Blame the emotional chaos on Meg’s Uncle Stevie (a magnetically charismatic Tyrone Mitchell Henderson), who makes and reports the discovery thanks to his obsession with Ancestry.com. Newly jobless, on top of being childless and partner-less, Stevie aches to belong somewhere, anywhere. He communicates his genealogical updates during a series of simultaneously hilarious and poignant sidebars that show him out of sync in every fitness class he tries on. Talk about a metaphor.
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Jennifer Lanier (left) and Brittany K. Allen play mother Beverly and daughter Meg in “Redwood.” (Russell J. Young)
While Stevie is crashing prenatal yoga (“An ally!” the instructor exclaims with a strained smile), Meg is suddenly challenging her mother, Beverly (Jennifer Lanier), about their family’s degree of blackness. She is suddenly not so blasé about her choice of a partner who, she now fully realizes, can never truly appreciate what it’s like to walk through the world in her skin. And her intellectual awareness that African American lineages inevitably trace back to slavery is suddenly a raw, fresh pain, made more searing by scenes imagining interactions between an enslaved ancestor and her owner.
It’s a testament to Allen’s writing that by intermission I was in complete suspense about what direction the second act of “Redwood” would take. Would Meg break up with Drew, feeling she somehow owed it to her ancestors to do so? Would she stick to her commitment, but with a sensation of having settled for less than she should? Or would she follow her mother’s example in drawing a bright line between past and present?
The heartfelt, nearly heartbroken exchanges between Meg and Drew as they try to talk through the discovery and its implications were the strongest moments, but “Redwood” has no shortage of illuminating conversations. They include a Skype call in which Drew asks his Korean stepmother, Hattie (Ashley Mellinger), to share her insights on navigating a biracial relationship with him and Meg. The trick, Hattie says, is to embrace the rough edges: apologize and forgive, apologize and forgive. The past is always present, but the present doesn’t have to be stuck in the past.
Portland Center Stage’s artistic director, Marissa Wolf, brought “Redwood,” along with director Chip Miller, when she arrived from Kansas City Repertory Theatre last year. They’ve given us a challenging, memorable production that bodes well for the company’s Wolf era.
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As Drew, Nick Ferrucci is handed an unpleasant revelation about his family history by Stevie (Tyrone Mitchell Henderson). Orion Bradshaw plays the barista as well as several other roles in “Redwood.” (Russell J. Young)
Strengths: As Stevie, Henderson is instantly engaging, winning over the audience with practically his first line. Charles Grant, always a delight to watch, is in his element in “Redwood” as the instructor of the classes Stevie tries and as the leader of the ensemble, which leavens the production with energetic choreography by Darrell Grand Moultrie, plus the occasional visual gag.
Weaknesses: Cast members often spout dialogue at the verbal equivalent of a sprint, muddying some of it beyond comprehension. As Beverly, who starts and stops her thoughts midstream, Lanier occasionally went overboard, delivering some of her lines in such jumbled fashion one recent night that one audience member wondered if she was forgetting them.
The script is laden with inside jokes, from “Lord of the Rings” movie quotes to references to the Baltimore-set TV series “The Wire” to a dig at Jack and Jill, the national nonprofit sometimes criticized as a black country club. But given the speed of the dialogue, these moments of possible confusion at least zip by.
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Andrea Vernae plays an enslaved woman trying to escape to freedom in “Redwood.” (Russell J. Young)
Takeaway: We can’t control the past, but we can control how it affects our present.
“Redwood”
When: Various times and dates through Nov. 17.
Where: The Armory, 128 N.W. 11th Ave.
Tickets: Start at $25, pcs.org or 503-445-3700.
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