By Marilyn Lester…
Since its debut in 1969, playwright Lonne Elder III’s Pulitzer Prize runner up, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men has been no stranger to revivals. The play’s a classic, an important and exceptional drama from a time when dramatic writing was particularly prized and at a peak. What’s changed over the years isn’t the significance or worth of the play, but the society and culture in which it’s viewed. This outing from the Pecadillo Theater Company (which mounted Ceremonies in Dark Old Men in late 2023 led by Wendell Pierce) is rock solid—a production of consequence, strengthened by a perfection of ensemble casting. Principal Norm Louis is not only outstanding as family patriarch Russell Parker, but smart direction by Clinton Turner Davis keeps momentum at a steady pace, building action to a stunning climax and conclusion.
Written amid the social upheavals of the 1960s, Ceremonies… is set in the 1950s in a “poverty-stricken barber shop” on West 126th Street in Harlem—a turbulent time leading up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In this context, Elder’s story sharply reflects the calamitous American legacy of racism, seen through the lens of the struggling Parker family. The barber shop operates on the ground floor of a private home in the ghetto. The widowed Russell Parker, deemed old and “finished” at age 54, presides over his family of three grown children: brothers Theo (an exceptionally affecting Bryce Michael Wood), Bobby (Jeremiah Packer) and daughter Adele (Morgan Siobhan Green), two actors of intense authentic clarity and focus. A defeated Russell has essentially given up. Once he was a vaudevillian song and dance man. When his career ended he opened the virtually customer-less barber shop with little aptitude, mostly playing checkers with his friend William Jenkins ( a subtle but deeply effectual James Foster Jr.), reliving past glories and telling tall tales.
Theo and Bobby, also unmotivated to find legitimate work, rely on petty crime to sustain themselves, content to allow Adele to shoulder the burden of keeping the family solvent with her “real” job. But Adele is at the end of her rope; she refuses to work herself to death as her mother had. She issues an ultimatum: find jobs or be evicted. But Theo has a plan born of a talent for making excellent corn whiskey, a skill that invites the snake into the garden in the form of local gangster Blue Haven (a marvelously unctuous and menacing Calvin M. Thompson).
Bootlegging brings in the cash—suspiciously easy cash. Russell is injected with new life, the high life—but inevitably that fantasy world comes crashing down, including a pipedream of wooing a Young Girl (a delicious Felicia Boswell at her floozie best). As Blue’s spider’s web tightens around the Parkers, tragedy is inevitable. He’s realized that Russell can’t keep his hands out of the till and Theo is cooking the books. Blue may be a gangster whose highfalutin mission is to rid Harlem of “The Man” to promote Black business, but he’s a gangster none the less. Black or white, Mafia, syndicate, family or mob, no good is going to come of it for the innocent and unwary, or the chancers.
The tragedy that is the emotional climax of Ceremonies… is played out in a chilling, poignant and aching conclusion—but it’s not an ending, and that is Elder’s point. In this imaginary world the Parkers will have to find a way to go on. In the real world there were no answers and no solutions either—that was a hope yet to be achieved. Now, a half century-plus later, Harlem is indeed a different place than the ghetto of the 1950s and 60s. Gentrified, Harlem is a desirable neighborhood where Blacks and whites co-habit. Societal views have evolved, such as the belief that the social and economic destiny of Blacks is in the hands of whites; the perception of Black manhood, and the notion that it falls to the matriarchy to keep the family viable.
Yet the universal truths of the Parkers, which has kept this play relevant over the decades, prevail: the desire for achieving economic success, living a fulfilled life, hopes, dreams, fears, fallibilities, striving, familial cohesion and the capacity to love. All of these very human needs are deeply symbolized in the checkers game between Parker and Jenkins, in this, The Ceremonies of Dark Old Men, lies the ritual that connects the greater self to the possibilities of a better future. Ultimately, when all of the elements of a stage production come together in excellence—text, direction and the alchemy of beautifully-integrated ensemble acting, magic happens. In its slice of life, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men resides in a world resonant with depth and meaning. It’s a gem.
Supporting the production on the tech side is scenic design by Harry Feiner; costume design by Isabel Rubio; and lighting design by Jimmy Lawlor.
Ceremonies in Dark Old Men plays through May 18, at Theatre at St. Clements, 423 W. 46th Street, NYC). Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7 PM, with matinees Sunday at 3PM. Tickets are $39 – $89. Premium seating and discounts (with valid ID) for students and seniors are available. For tickets and information visit ThePeccadillo.com.
Photos by Maria Baranova
