In honor of Black History Month, the Port City Playhouse presents a controversially titled piece by John Henry Redwood. West Potomac's Marissa Moody plays Joyce Cheeks in the Playhouse's third play of the season.
"No Niggers, No Jew, No Dogs" touches on racism and rape as well as trust and forgiveness among those you love.
Set entirely in front of a clap-board house in a North Carolina circa 1949, the play feels true to its era. To prepare the audience for the harsh truth of the time period, compiled racist signs and events flashed by on the family’s wash, creating a makeshift movie screen, before the first line is even spoken.
The play deals with the futility of life and the unfairness of being a minority in the white-dominated South. The play’s most tragic events are viscerally described, but the playwright refrains from forcing us to experience them visually, cleverly keeping the mood at unpleasant curiosity instead of disgusted horror.
All the talented actors kept us questioning the reality that they know as their only way of life, managed to remain stubbornly cheerful no matter what. Truly enjoyable were the performances of the two youngest actors, both displaying an honesty and maturity in spite of such dark roles.
West Potomac senior Marissa Moody effortlessly present a stubborn rage teenagers of any generation possess. Confined to her sex and her race, Moody’s portrayal of Joyce Cheeks embodies the oppressed frustration that a modern American teenager would be unlikely to bear today.
The adorable 10-year-old Aeshia Brown keeps audience laughing, even through delicate dialogue, with her precocious nature and ready sense of humor. While a good deal of credit should be given to the playwright, it takes inherent skill for a fifth grader to say her lines with such believably naïveté.
"The No Play" opened Friday night and will run through March 6 at The Lab at Convergence. It shows on Feb. 25 and 26; March 1, 4 and 5 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 27 and March 6 at 3 p.m. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit Port City Playhouse.
