Playwright: Warren Hoffman. At: AstonRep ( sic ) Theatre Company at Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark St. Tickets: 773-828-9129; AstonRep.com; $25. Runs through: Oct. 2
Despite developmental work at two theaters ( "development hell," a fact of life for contemporary American playwrights which is mentioned in the play ), author Warren Hoffman has not solved the major problem of this world premiere, which is that The Black Slot is two different plays. Act I satirizes U.S. regional theater while Act II shifts to a personal and relationship-oriented story. The two are separate things which do not strengthen each other, especially since the relationship story is ordinary while the satirical idea is sharp. It's a shame Hoffman does not carry his satire to its conclusion.
The title refers to the fact that many non-profit U.S. subscription theaters, which typically produce between three and five plays a season, reserve the mid-winter slot for a play by an African-American author to coincide with Black History Month. This practice is far less common than it once was, especially in genuinely multicultural cities such as Chicago. However, the practice continues in cities which may be less diverse and/or may have few professional theater companies. It's also a fact that conservative hinterlands audiences only want to see plays or authors they know.
And so, at a nameless Wisconsin regional theater, the thoroughly craven and self-justifying artistic director, Pam ( played with smarmy high energy by Amy Kasper ), rejects a wonderful play by a young, unknown Black writer in favor of an August Wilson play ( again ) for "the Black slot." The playwright, Tim ( attractively played by Justin Wade Wilson ), had an encounter with Wilson before he died in 2005, and decides to write a bogus "lost" August Wilson play in collusion with the theater's literary manager, Beth ( earnestly played by Brittany Stock with just the right touch of desperation ), and they become a couple.
Both Pam and Wilson's literary executor ( an amusing Linsey Falls ) bite, and soon the regional theater production has Spike Lee attached as director and a Broadway transfer in the works. How far will Tim and Beth ride this train? When will they reveal the truth, if ever? Tim and Beth break up over the moral issues.
The problem is that Act I isn't about their relationship or Tim's ambition, which eventually is a spoiler; it concerns the hypocrisies ( as well as some truths ) about how regional theaters work. It's quite amusing ( especially for insiders such as me ) while Act II hardly amuses at all. It shifts tone, shifts focus and abandons satire in favor of Tim's obsession without providing any depth to the Tim/Beth relationship. Director Derek Bertelsen seems unsure about the shifting tone, as Kasper continues to play comedy while Wilson and Stock do not. My advice to the playwright is that he must decide which play he wants to write.