In 'Mud Row,' sisters argue about the meaning, value and future of a house
The decaying Pennsylvania house at the center of "Mud Row" stands in for the complicated legacies we inherit from our ancestors, including the potentially shameful parts. Do we keep the joint, rehab it and pass it on to the next generation? Or do we cash out and walk away?
Directed by Marti Gobel, this production of Dominique Morisseau's drama with comic elements is the linchpin of the MKE Black Theatre Festival, which continues through August at several Milwaukee locations. "Mud Row" is being performed at Marquette University.
"Mud Row" shows us two generations in this same house. In the early '60s, sisters Frances (Martilia Marechal) and Elsie (Ashley S. Jordan) share the home, which came from their mother's earnings as a sex worker. Frances is a determined civil rights activist, while Elsie hopes to marry into a higher level of Black society. Despite those philosophical differences, Marechal and Jordan give us a pair of sweetly caring sisters, who face life under the motto "love, fight and togetherness."
In contemporary time, their descendant Regine (Lillian Brown), an ambitious buppie, and her husband Davin (Ibraheem Farmer) turn up to look over the dilapidated property before selling it. But the fierce Toshi (Malaina Moore) and her streetwise boyfriend Tyriek (Marques Causey) are squatting in it. There's a family connection and shared history between the two women, explored through intense and sometimes painful arguments.
While Morisseau's play is certainly female-centered, it's fun to see Farmer and Causey breathe life into their guys.
"Mud Row" is a declamatory play; some of that talking from both generations shouts out early 20th century thinker W.E.B. Du Bois' concept of "the talented tenth," his argument that a cohort of college-educated Black men should take the lead in advancing the Black community. Du Bois developed and adjusted his thoughts on that subject later in his life. If Du Bois were in the audience for "Mud Row," I think he might quibble with use of that phrase as a mean-spirited epithet for Black elitism. But as the arguments in "Mud Row" demonstrate, both the fighters and the strivers in a family can learn something from hearing each other out.
If you go
Performances of "Mud Row" continue through Aug. 27 at Marquette University's Helfaer Theater, 1304 W. Clybourn St. This play is part of MKE Black Theatre Festival 2023, present by Black Arts MKE and collaborators. For "Mud Row" tickets and info on other festival events, visit blackartsmke.org.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Sisterly drama 'Mud Row' is linchpin of MKE Black Theatre Festival
