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Turner Triumphs

BY Richard A. Quinnell

Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes dramatic. It has deep spiritual moments and it’s sexually charged. Its action can be sluggish or snappy. But it always has a deeper tension. It is the African-American Theater Arts Troupe production of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.

Written by Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson, the play is both a story about individuals and a metaphor for aspects of the African American experience. Set in Pittsburgh, 1911, the story unfolds in a rooming house that’s the home of Set Holly (Eric Jackson) and his wife Bertha(Lauren Smith). Seth is an honest, hard-working, down-t-earth metalworker supplementing his income by providing room and board to a divers collection of characters, including Bynum Wlaker (Joshua Bee Graham), a philosopher expressing a mixture of Christina Spiritualism and juju magic, and Keremy Furlow (Blacke Riggs), a shallow laborer interested only in drink, women, and song.


'.. nearly everyone is searching for something in this play.'


Into this collection wander Harold Loomis (James Wllington Porter) and his daughter Zonia (Charisse Winguard). Harold is a slow, simple main, almost empty but for a deep core of anger and loss. With a brooding intensity, he is looking for the wife he was separated from ten years earlier.

But then, nearly everyone is searching for something in this play. Seth wants backing to begin a metal shop of his own. Bynum is looking for revelation in the form of the "shiny man," someone touched by Holy Spirit. Jeremy is looking for a good time. So is Molly Cunningham (Jennifer Nicole Vylasek), a late addition to the household with a cynical attitude about men. Mattie Campbell (Tsadae Nweay), another late addition, is looking for a secure relationship.

On its surface the play seems straightforward, the characters simple. But it is rich in meaning relevant to the African-American experience. Its characters are seeking people who represent respect, security, happiness and heritage. Ironically, the man some turn to, people-finder Rutherford Selig (Ed Rosser), comes from a family that hunted escaped slaves.

The production is powerful and well played. The performers are in tune with their characters, making them believable people rather than roles for actors. The play needs reflection to fully appreciate, however. It is sometimes slow and too deep to interpret easily. But the essence of the African-American culture’s quest for identity is captured in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.

Joe Turner’s Come and Gone plays at he Louden Nelson Center Feb. 18 and 19 and at Cabrillo College Feb. 25 and 26. All performances are at 9 p.m. Tickets cost $5 for general admission ($3 for students) and can be purchased only at the door.


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