Playwright: Antoinette Nwandu. At: Steppenwolf Theatre Upstairs, 1650 N. Halsted St. Tickets: ( 312 ) 335-1650 or Steppenwolf.org; $20-$89. Runs through: July 9
Oh, dear. What to write about Steppenwolf Theatre's world premiere of Antoinette Nwandu's Pass Over after all the furor over its initial critical reception?
I know I have to choose my words carefully. A review by Chicago Sun-Times critic Hedy Weiss prompted many condemnations ( even one by Steppenwolf ), plus an online petition pressuring Chicago theater companies to stop officially inviting her to future productions. Other reviews have been picked apart for insensitive comments in follow-up think pieces ( even by writers who haven't seen Pass Over ).
I almost feel that I need to self-identify as a gay male with a mixed-race heritage so assumptions aren't made about my non-ethnic sounding name. But even then that wouldn't preclude me of being labeled a clueless commentator ignorant to the socioeconomic plights and deeply rooted racism that underprivileged African-American youth face.
So here goes: Nwandu's Pass Over is billed as a modern-day riff on Beckett's Waiting for Godot, the famed 1950s drama where two tramps appear trapped in an existential stasis ( Court Theatre recently staged a production with an entirely African-American cast ).
But I found Pass Over to be more in the tradition of Amiri Baraka's angry allegorical play Dutchman ( an infamous 1960s one-act drama where an aggressive white woman relentlessly taunts and then murders an African-American man on the subway ).
Pass Over focuses on two African-American youth symbolically named Moses ( Jon Michael Hill, a regular on the CBS show Elementary ) and Kitch ( Julian Parker ). Moses emerges as the more ambitious of the two, expressing a desire to rise above his surrounding poverty.
Into their world wanders both a white-suited guy bearing gifts. ( He asks to be called a variation on "Mister." ) There's also the bullying policeman called "Ossifer." ( Ryan Hallahan doubles up as these symbolic white male oppressors. )
Moses and Kitch take a special delight in being able to freely use "the n-word" to make Mister uncomfortable ( it's one of the few points of power they have over him ). The two also briefly get the upper hand over the Ossifer, causing him to uncontrollably bleed inky black blood ( perhaps a symbolic visual harkening to all the ink spilled over well-publicized killings of unarmed African-Americans at the hands of police ).
But Pass Over ultimately ends on a shocking note, complete with incendiary catch phrases from both the past election cycle and events that helped spark the Black Lives Matter movement. Pass Over may not be subtle, but it does feature strong performances under the direction of Danya Taymor. And ultimately, Nwandu's Pass Over emerges from a rightful place of outrage about all the unsettling times in which we're living.
