A ghost slave ship suddenly emerges from the bottom of the Hudson to the feet of the Stature of Liberrty in Daniel Beaty’s “Emergency,” now on stage at the Invisible Theatre.
Naturally, it draws lots of attention. Black residents of New York, especially, flock to see it, and it is their stories that we hear in the course of this often-compelling 90-minute play.
There’s the Shakespeare scholar determined to keep his sons away from the Black experience. That seems to slip away from him when his wife is murdered and he slowly descends into a sort of madness.
“It’s like this world became too much for him, so his mind took him to a place his heart could handle,” one of his sons says.
There are also the homeless and wise man, a talk show host, a grandmother, a Jamaican, slam poets — more than 40 characters spill out stories and poetry, hope, despair, pain and joy.
While Beaty originally performed all the characters himself, Director Susan Claassen split them among three actors: To-Ree-Nee Wolf, Richard “Chomps” Thompson and Myani Watson (often aided by some terrific masks created by Maryann Trombino). While all were able to offer some distinction between characters, it was Wolf who gave the most riveting performance. Whether she was singing or conversing with a skeleton on the slave ship, she clearly defined each character and was always believable and deeply-rooted.
This production suffered a bit from the multiple casting — a solo show allows for more seamless transitions from one character to the next. In addition, who doesn’t love to see one good actor playing 40 different roles?
Still, this piece was well-paced and packed with laughter and some insights.
The play is sometimes a tad too obvious (a slave ship at the foot of the Statute of Liberty just feels too contrived). At the same time, it is often funny, heart-wrenching and, at times, very moving.
