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The America Play by Suzan-Lori Parks. The Theatre at Boston Court. Pasadena, CA. 10/26/06.

You don't very often see a play that spends its brief time ruminating on the nature of history. In Suzan-Lori Parks' play, history is life and lies, past and present, place and time. The America Play is a beautiful work of both literature and stagecraft. It's the kind of text I love as text, but that takes on a whole new life onstage, which the Theatre of Boston Court's production demonstrated admirably.

The strength of this play was its extremely skilled actors in the major roles. Harold Surratt as the digger who followed in the footsteps of The Great Man (Abraham Lincoln) and Darius Truly as his son, Brazil, gave nuanced and haunted performances that really made this play. Even when their lines were abstract and disconnected, each of these men demonstrated their proficiency with Parks' language, emotions, and ideas. J. Nicole Brooks as the wife did an admirable job in a strange and challenging role.

The great hole of history in this production directed by Nancy Keystone was a spare black space rather than the clutter of artifacts I imagined when reading the text. The stage full of what appeared to be black sand (but was actually black rubber from recycled tires) was the most impressive aspect of the design; it realy emphasized the importhance of digging and burial in the text.

P.S. The Theatre at Boston Court just announced its 2007 season. Check it out.