Playwright: Carla Stillwell
MPAACT at Victory Gardens Theater, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave.
Phone: ( 773 ) 871-3000; $20
Through March 27
BY SCOTT C. MORGAN
There's an effective and heart-tugging drama in Carla Stillwell's memory play The Divine Order of Becoming. The only problem is that Stillwell lumbers the play's juiciest and most effective scenes of naturalistic interaction with agitated and poetically forced monologues.
True, the play focuses on a grown woman who has just lost her mother to uterine cancer. So as a defense mechanism to cope, the daughter ( in a highly jangled and traumatized state ) flashes back to memories of her beloved mother.
Unfortunately, the linking monologues clash and feel out of place when pressed against Stillwell's masterful mother/daughter scenes of bickering and making up. It's almost as if Stillwell didn't trust her highly effective domestic exchanges and lifelike dialogue, so she added the poetically stuffed monologues to ennoble the drama.
Instead the monologues often distract and jar the senses. The fact that actress Demetria Thomas ( as daughter Erica ) pokes fun at one of these poetical devices shows up this none-too-steady narration approach.
But if you ignore the problematic monologues, what remains is a richly sentimental drama about a saintly working class mother ( identified by Stillwell simply as 'Elder' ) who imparts a loving life education to her growing daughter. Watching Daryl Charisse's low-key and down-to-earth Elder spar and embrace with Thomas' fiery Erica makes The Divine Order of Being a touching and cathartic experience known to many as a 'good cry' ( be sure to bring along a packet of tissues ) .
Stillwell's world-premiere drama receives a good rendering by Ma'at Production Association of Afrikan Centered Theatre ( MPAACT ) . Particularly effective is the underlying acoustic music by composer/musicians Shepsu Aakhu, Aum Mu ra and Georges Blaise, each hidden behind the abstracted walls of a Mark Rothko-like set of soaked green and pastel smudges.
Still, a few practical production choices would have made The Divine Order of Becoming a tighter and stronger production. Director Kimberly Crutcher could have worked with Aakhu ( who also doubles as lighting designer ) to better differentiate between flashbacks and when Charisse's Elder is a spirit interacting with daughter Erica.
Otherwise, things move along fairly fleetly and effectively. Sure, the monologues that punctuate the drama don't entirely ring true. Yet Stillwell's endearing mother/daughter scenes just about outweigh the bad, which make The Divine Order of Becoming into a sentimental joy.