The Black Rep is premiering, not just a St. Louis premiere, but a world premiere, of Canfield Drive. For the rest of the world, the name may not evoke instant memories, but for St. Louisans, it can’t help but do so. Canfield Drive is where Michael Brown was shot in August of 2014. The play was four years in the writing, with Kristen Adele Calhoun and Michael Thomas Walker receiving a grant from the National Performance Network Creation & Development Fund, co-commissioned by 651 Arts in Brooklyn, NY partnering with The Black Rep. Several visits to St. Louis and workshops on the play in Brooklyn, Denver, Hartford and St. Louis all helped craft the work.
This is, to be sure, a difficult play. It had to be. “Unpleasant” doesn’t even start to describe the event and what followed. For many of us, it’s a hard reminder of what the black experience is even today in the 21st Century.
The play centers on two people who are commentators on a major network talk show about racial questions. Kristen Adele, the co-author of the play (who doesn’t use her surname when she appears as an actor), is the woman; Christopher Hickey is the man. She’s African-American, he’s white, and while she’s talking about systemic racism, he’s talking about law and order. It falls to Eric Conners, as the host and moderator, to try to keep order. They’ve come to St. Louis soon after Brown’s death to interview people, gather information and discuss things in a studio.
Other people appear, some of whom are depictions of real people, quoted by name, like Starsky Wilson and Susan Talve. Conners and Amy Loui play all these roles. The series of vignettes speak vividly to what life was – and is – like for everyday people. There are, as well, a couple of scenes that are close to nightmares, both satirical takes on other, recognizable, television shows.
The point of the play is not so much the story arc as it is broadening our ideas of the factors in the death of Brown and the subsequent unrest. Are the main characters, particularly Hickey’s, cliches? There are plenty of people out there like him, and more of them seem to be on television now than formerly. If the point of art is to make people think and not merely to entertain, then Canfield Drive certainly can accomplish that.
The acting is excellent from all four cast members, especially Conners. Margery and Peter Spack have brought fine scenic and video design and production to the show. There’s a video of a trio of ladies singing that’s an absolute delight, and scenes of St. Louis which contribute significantly to the sense of place so relevant to the story.
And this is our story. We have to be able to listen to what other people are saying about their experience. It may be uncomfortable to hear, but these things not only must be said, they must be heard. There are no easy answers to the big question of what can I do? Many of us asked ourselves that question in 2014 and after. One thing people can do is listen.
Canfield Drive
through January 27
The Black Rep
Edison Theatre
Washington University in St. Louis