Public Theater Presents GOOD BONES Review — What’s Left Behind

Public Theater’s Play Dives into Gentrification

We’re well into this story when this dinner happens. It is a thank you spearheaded by Travis (Mamoudou Athie) to pay proper thanks to the carpenter contractor, Earl (Khris Davis), who brought the kitchen and this neglected mansion back to life from years of neglect.  Though Travis is a gourmet chef who prides himself on being a stand out host, there is a huge glitch in his plan.  His wife Aisha (Susan Kelechi Watson)-- who hailed from this same projects filled ‘hood back in the day-- is now a marketing mucketymuck in the Development Group that is gentrifying this neighborhood.  

 She sees progress. Earl sees the small businesses and lives that make the neighborhood home and how they are being destroyed by gentrification.  Earl’s sister Carmen (Téa Guarino,) who had been helping her brother during her college break, straddles both their viewpoints.

The story and buildup to this dinner conflict and all the sub-currents in the plot emerge slowly, much as the set does.  In the beginning, we squint to see the Aisha in her kitchen through the plastic haze of painter’s cloths. Little by little these plastic sheets come down to reveal the scene apace with the dialogue revealing the subterranean issues animating the characters.  Aisha is not only from the projects, but now married to relatively silver spoon born Travis. She is an orphan and ever scrappy to succeed.  She is ambivalent about settling down to start a family with Travis. Travis, on the other hand, has an app tracking her ovulation and fertility. 

Earl and his sister remember this house as a boarded up mansion once owned by a famous person— gentry of another time— that they broke into to roam and play in unnoticed.   Professionally Earl sees it as a house with the titular Good Bones. Aisha has no such historic framework for her house— and apparently the spirits of the prior owners want to be seen. These ghosts slam doors and make noises with their good bones just enough to keep Aisha more than a little spooked. She’s on edge though for many more reasons. 

Moving forward or Moving Back

Unlike many plays about gentrification that shine a light on our racial divide, this story has no such lens.  Rather, playwright  James Ijames leads us into a multi-layered story that pokes into how we lose or what we lose when we move forward.  Like this reviewer, you may feel that this script doesn’t break new ground that shakes our tree and forces us to think about our assumptions anew.  That said, this able cast takes a tidy script and makes it very real how the interior lives of the characters play out in the action.

RECOMMENDED

CAST:

Aaron J . Anderson ( Understudy Earl/Travis ), Mamoudou Athie ( Travis ), Khris Davis ( Earl ), Téa Guarino ( Carmen ), Sabrina K. Victor ( Understudy Aisha/Carmen ), and Susan Kelechi Watson ( Aisha )

CREATIVE TEAM:

Director: Saheem Ali;  scenic design by Maruti Evans ; costume design by Oana Botez ; lighting design by Barbara Samuels ; sound design by Fan Zhang ; hair, makeup, and wig design by Krystal Balleza ; and prop management by Claire M. Kavanah . Darrell Grand Moultrie provides drill choreography for the production and Jack Phillips Moore serve s as the dramaturg . Norman Anthony Small is the production stage manager and Giselle Andrea Raphaela is the stage manager .

WHEN:

Through Sunday, October 27

WHERE:

The Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street
at Astor Place
New York, NY 10003

TICKETS:

For more information and tickets visit the Public Theate website.

Photos credit: Joan Marcus.