"I been a drifter all my life." So begins the life story of Libby Price, a North Carolina Black woman who compares herself to smoke: you see it, but when you reach for it, your hand goes right through and it's gone in a heartbeat.
Libby's story has become a bestseller, an evocative and poetic hymn to a life lived alone, marked by her experiences as a woman, an African American, and someone who seems unable to establish human connections for very long. The voice behind the book speaks to thousands of readers, touching their souls and igniting critical praise across the nation. The book's editor, Shelita Burns ( Shane Williams ) watches her career take off as the book takes flight and it becomes her mission to solve the mystery of its author. Shelita has never met Libby and has only worked with her through correspondence ( delivered neatly to a post office box in North Carolina ) .
When the book garners a prestigious literary prize, Shelita travels to North Carolina to deliver the reward to her prize author herself—and meets with a dead end. The editor, intrigued, follows up several more leads, only to find Libby's trail gone cold, raising questions about the authenticity of the book she has edited.
Playwright Thomas Gibbons and director Debra Wicks have crafted an exhilarating evening of theater, one that is equally adept at raising serious questions and providing formidable entertainment. Bee-Luther-Hatchee ( the title is a reference to the last stop on an imaginary train line, the stop one reaches in darkness, just after the last passengers have disembarked in Hell ) is one of the finest works I've seen performed at Northlight, and that's saying a lot, because the Skokie venue has a strong record of bringing great pieces of theater to life.
The play is divided by two very different acts: the first is an elegant montage of short scenes that set up the play's core mystery, moving deftly between locales in Manhattan and North Carolina and switching back and forth between the present day and the past with effortless grace. The second act takes place in a hotel room in North Carolina, where Shelita comes face to face, at last, with her mysterious author. I won't reveal the surprise of exactly who the author is, but the resulting clash between author and editor is fascinating, raising compelling questions about art, life, and history.
Bee-Luther-Hatchee is an almost seamless production: everything about it is inspired. From the two-tiered set, with its printed Plexiglas panels as a backdrop to the action ( designed by Richard and Jacqueline Penrod ) , to the subtle, yet effective lighting design ( by Joel Moritz ) to its uniformly splendid performances ( deserving of special note: Lawrence MacGowan ) , this a must-see show, one that manages to incorporate an engrossing story and a thought-provoking theme.