By Yani Perez . . .
Suzan-Lori Park’s new show, Plays For The Plague Year, is absolutely captivating! The show, which is about three hours, holds the audience’s attention with its touching, honest and humorous retellings of stories from her time during the Covid lockdown. Parks wrote a play a day during the days when the city and theaters were closed. This resulted in a culmination of plays that captured current events, personal occurrences and homages to people she knew or admired. Plays For The Plague Year, directed and choreographed by Niegel Smith, is intimately set in Joe’s Pub, which works well with the nature and interactive components of the show.
Parks and her cast, comprised of Rona Figueroa, Leland Fowler, Danyel Fulton, Greg Keller, Orville Mendoza, Lauren Molina and Martín Solá, are a joy to watch. Their energy is hypnotizing. They are tasked with playing multiple characters and do so seamlessly, adding dimension to each role they portray.
One of the most difficult and heartfelt roles was that of Breonna Taylor, played by Danyel Fulton. This mini play is an imagined conversation the Writer, played by Suzan-Lori Parks, has with Taylor. Taylor walks in, holding flowers. The Writer tells her they are from when she graduated as an EMT. Taylor says, “Where am I going to put these flowers? And these days, everybody is talking about how to stay safe. Stay safe by washing your hands and keeping your six and wearing your mask; but I went to sleep at night. In my own bed. And the cops came in my house and started shooting. For no good reason. Wrong house. I was safe in my bed and they had the wrong house.” The flowers are then used as a symbol of remembrance in a beautiful, almost meditative moment with the audience.
The music written and performed by Parks is intertwined effortlessly. The songs cover a range of emotion; sometimes funny, sad and angry. The music deepens the plot and its relationship with the characters. It’s also great to see Parks jamming out with her guitar on stage with her cast and musicians—a true delight.
The stage holds a cast of eight in addition to the musicians, which means space is sparse. Peter Nigrini does an excellent job designing the space to suit multiple settings.
Plays For The Plague Year is a must-see for the season. It provides a comprehensive, all-inclusive evening of music, great performers, drama and a look back at life during the pandemic.
Plays For the Plague Year. Through April 30 at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater (425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place). Three hours, with one intermission. www.publictheater.org
Photos: Joan Marcus
