Pass Over Written by Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu Directed by Dana Taymor August Wilson Theatre October 10, 2021 Production website 💉💉💉💉💉 out of 5
This play was perfection. There was not a single word or gesture that was extraneous. Visually the play made sense on the bare stage to a stage full of smoke and affects. Very seldom have been so moved by a play.
In many ways Pass Over uses the play, Waiting for Godot and applies this story and its absurdist rules to an urban black culture. Gogo and Didi have been replaced with Moses and Kitch. The bare stage with a single tree has been replaced with a concrete median with a single imposing streetlight. Even the classic bowler hats of the hobos Gogo and Didi are replaced by baseball caps that become treasured props to them. I could go on and on with the comparisons and revaluations made in seeing Godot through this new lense – it was brilliant.
Sanctuary City Written by Martina Major Directed by Rebecca Frecknall New York Theatre Workshop October 9, 2021 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5
It was so great to back into the theatre and see a play. It had been waaaaaay tooo long! Sanctuary Play was the first of the group. The story was simple – two adolescents, both children of undocumented workers banded together to plot ways to stay in the country. The girl simply named “G” found a loophole in the system that allowed her to stay if she was willing to stay with her physically abuse succession of her Mother’s boyfriends and take on an excessive amount of college student debt. The boy, “B” had it tougher. His mother was planning to give up and just return to her home country. His options were to continue hiding in the shadows in fear or to find an American girl that he could marry. I am sure you can guess where we go from there.
