Playwright: M.E.H. Lewis. At: InFusion Theatre Company at the Storefront, 66 E. Randolph
Phone: 312-742-8497; $20. Runs through: Nov. 18
'Créole' technically refers to descendants of foreign-born colonialists in the American South, but soon acquired specific connotations of 'mixed-ethnicity' lineage. Forget that Europeans and Africans on the Mediterranean rim had been intermarrying for centuries—the New World racial distinctions were based in the economy of commercial growers requiring a large resident labor force drawing only room and board for their wages. A slave who mothered a child sired by her owner might enjoy favored status among the servants, and the offspring privileged to learn a trade or even pursue an education—but under no circumstances would they be granted the status of free citizens while their guardians lived.
It's helpful to know these things going into M.E.H. Lewis' play because her characters, though ostensibly raised within their region's 'particular institution,' seem as unaware of its intricacies as if they had been dropped in from another planet. Not only do the young slaves, Tom and Cora, want things they are unlikely to get but they want them now, their impatience leading them to reject what practical means of attaining their goals are at their disposal in favor of methods guaranteeing unnecessary risk. Their elders, both Black and white—who ought to be advising them of other options—likewise exhibit a curious ignorance of their own social dynamics.
Lewis' superficial view of her dramatic universe often leads us to entertain suspicions regarding the characters' motives. If quadroon Cora and plantation owner Lucius harbor genuine affection for one another, then his offer to care for her and their illegitimate child is a generous one, given their circumstances. But her decision to abort the baby she carries paints her as an opportunist piqued at the failure of her seduction-and-pregnancy scheme. And if we are to sympathize with Tom's hideous fate, we must turn a blind eye to his own disregard for self-preservation. Yes, young people are often reckless, but what about adults who do nothing to ward off the inevitable suffering?
This InFusion production supplies sufficient spectacle to blur its text's comic-book ambience: choreographer Kimosha P. Murphy and a corps of athletic dancers contribute African-influenced kinetic interludes, an uncredited stageside percussionist punctuates the action with ticklish rhythms, Eve Breneman's dialects are irreproachable and Don Tieri delivers a mentorly performance as the gentleman plantation-owner no worse than his times. But without a plausible story, we cannot benefit from the facts recounted in this elementary school-level history lesson.