Red Velvet

by Lolita Chakrabarti
Directed by Amy Rummenie

May 12 – 28, 2017

The Southern Theater
Presented as part of ARTshare

Edmund Kean, a titan of his generation, collapses on stage, leaving Covent Garden without their Othello. Ira Aldridge, a little-known African American actor, is invited to take over the role. But as the public riot in the streets over the abolition of slavery, how will the cast, critics and audience react to the revolution taking place in the theatre?

Reviews

“If you’re a hardcore theatre nerd, Walking Shadow’s production of Lolita Chakrabarti’s play Red Velvet is for you.”
– Matthew Everett, Single White Theatre Geek

“In the able hands of Walking Shadow Theatre Company the play is an excellent night of theatre under the capable direction of Amy Rumennie. The eponymous red velvet curtain on the Southern stage (Set designer Annie Henley) is a stunner and the period costumes (designer E. Amy Hill) are detailed beauties.

There are many pleasures to be had in going to the theatre. After a lifetime on and around the stage seeing fine actors perform a good new play is a gratifying experience. This is the case with Walking Shadow Theatre Company’s Red Velvet. Highly recommended.”
– Mari Wittenbreer, HowWasTheShow?

“This outstanding cast carries the variety of roles and viewpoints with panache. Johnson and Efteland steal the show with beautiful, poignant performances, balancing 19th century dialogue along with Shakespearean scenes. However, Lee and Hudson’s love-to- hate characters are compelling as well and give voice to opinions that were considered logical not so long ago (and continue to persist in many ways today). Schnabel carries the complicated role of Pierre wonderfully – a man who wants his theater to be political but also wants to keep his company alive. And when worst comes to worst, he is no more free from the biases of society than anyone else. Bear Brummel (Casimir/Henry) adds excellent comedic relief and insight to progressive voice in theater at the time. Sulia Rose Altenberg (Halina/Betty/Margaret) carries three roles and three accents with exceptional poise and Kiara Jackson (Connie) with few lines brings enormous impact with her role as a maid who is present but often silent, until she warns Ira of what it is like to be black in this society.”
– Gina Musto, The Room Where It Happens

“JuCoby Johnson anchors the cast as the volatile Ira Aldrige. With a Donald Glover swagger, Johnson leads several riveting interactions, particularly in his initial engagements with his fellow performer Ellen Tree (played by Elizabeth Efteland). Efteland perfectly inhabits her role of strong Victorian virtue, providing a calm and persistent foil to the racist tendencies of the other cast mates. Ty Hudson is absolutely vile as Ellen’s fiancee Charles Kean, and does an excellent job of humanizing (and making horrifyingly relatable) all of Kean’s ludicrous objections to Aldridge’s place. Sulia Rose Altenberg impressively masters many accents in several key supporting roles, chief among them the beset Polish reporter Halina, whose insatiable curiosity and determination to succeed in a male ­dominated profession sets the whole story in motion.

Red Velvet was a pleasant surprise as it’s a show I didn’t know I needed to see. I always love seeing new stories find the stage, particularly ones about historical figures who are underrepresented or otherwise forgotten, and that of Ira Aldridge certainly fits the bill. This story also fits beautifully into the ongoing controversies about casting for roles on Broadway and beyond, a debate that has been ongoing for hundreds of years and is unlikely to stop anytime soon. It’s a shame that the challenges Aldridge faced haven’t changed nearly as much as they ought to by now, but the progress that has been made is encouraging and worthy of celebration. Red Velvet offers each of us an opportunity to truly look inside and determine: What are my preconceived prejudices? How am I preventing others from fulfilling their dreams? In what ways can I take a step back to help lift up new stories, right old wrongs, defend the downtrodden? Red Velvet is a great exploration of the nuances of allyship and racism, and a fascinating story to­ boot. Make sure to stop by the Southern Theater to see Red Velvet before it closes on May 28.”
– Becki Iverson, Compendium

“But despite the lingering questions, the play includes discussions that feel like the ones we’re having today. As director Amy Rummenie says in a note in the program, Red Velvet “addresses the current events of 1833 and 1867 and still talks directly to us in 2017. It’s one thing to slip into the mindset of another character, but it requires another layer of intellectual and emotional acrobatics for the actors to look through the lens of history with a modern eye.”

Which is exactly what this excellent eight‐person cast does. JuCoby Johnson, an actor who continues to impress on many stages around town, leads the cast as Ira, portraying both the young brash actor and the older world‐weary one. The wonderful ensemble, many of whom play multiple characters with multiple accents, includes Andy Schnabel (the strong and kind Frenchman, Ira’s friend), Bear Brummel (providing a bit of comic relief in two charming protrayals), Elizabeth Efteland (an elegant and intelligent performance), Kiara Jackson (saying much with few words), Michael Lee (almost unrecognizable in two very different roles), Sulia Rose Altenberg (playing three different roles with three different accents and three different wigs), and Ty Hudson (as the jerk we love to hate).

At the center of the play is the debate about art and politics. Should art be merely escapist entertainment (which some of Ira’s colleagues thought wasn’t possible when they went to the theater and saw a black man, during the time when the abolition of slavery was a hot topic)? Or is art, by its very nature, a social and political commentary on the world we live in? I think I’ve made it clear in many posts this year that I believe the latter, and judging by the excellent and important work being done in the Twin Cities theater scene right now, I’m not alone in that.”
– Cherry and Spoon