Review: In ‘The Nacirema Society’ at the Goodman Theatre, an all-star cast leans into the laughter
Thanks to shows such as “Blues for an Alabama Sky,” “Bourbon at the Border” and “Flyin’ West,” most Chicago audiences know Pearl Cleage for searing, carefully constructed poetic dramas, history plays detailing racism, sexism and survival.
But all three of those titles (one of which you can see now thrillingly revived by Remy Bumppo Theatre Company) were penned in the 1990s. Thereafter, Cleage found more fame as a novelist. I recall reading her delightful “What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day,” which became a best-seller and part of Oprah’s famous book club. When she returned to the theater, Cleage wrote a much more commercial kind of play in 2013, a situational comedy of manners poking gentle fun at the elite matriarchal structure surrounding Black debutants in Montgomery, Alabama, in the early 1960s.
The piece understandably walks a delicate line between understanding how such societies were formed by relatively wealthy women of color determined to create their own institutions promoting excellence, and nudging these organizations to move away from elitism within the Black community and toward positive societal change. In the case of this play, first seen at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta under the direction of Susan Booth (now artistic director of the Goodman Theatre), the moral messages emerge as comedic misunderstandings and various tricks and schemes unfold: tradition can stifle ambitious youth, privileged social events should be used to foster scholarships, not elitism, and old Southern families, Black or white, often have skeletons in the closet.
“The Nacirema Society Requests the Honor of Your Presence at a Celebration of Their First One Hundred Years,” the play’s full title, is set at the elegant home of the society’s chief protector. Its mechanisms involve hidden letters, overhearings, secrets aplenty and romantic attractions that must be hidden, even though they surely will out.
You have to buy the unlikely situation that the New York Times would allow a reporter to stay in the home of one of the subjects on whom she was reporting and that deep secrets reside inside books in a conveniently available bookcase and, in Act 2, the revelations come thick and fast. But then the idea here mostly is to have fun and create terrific roles for a company of Black actors.
At the Goodman, such a company has indeed been assembled by the director Lili-Anne Brown. It’s a who’s who of Black Chicago stage talent, as formidable a collection of experienced performers as any show here in a long time: E. Faye Butler (playing matriarch Grace Dunbar, often hilarious); Ora Jones (as her sidekick Catherine); Jaye Ladymore (playing the Northern journalist); Sharriese Hamilton (as a Dunbar by marriage, sandwiched between tradition and youthful rebellion) and Tyla Abercrumbie (as a woman on the outside of all this). Plus Felicia Oduh, Demetra Dee and lone male Eric Gerard play the members of the younger generation trying to make sense of all this mishegoss, and Shariba W. Rivers is a maid who says nothing but sees plenty.
All of these performers, as led by the indefatigable Brown, a Chicago treasure, are very funny throughout. There’s a lot of diversity of comic styles, too, ranging from Jones’ zany antics to Rivers’ physical comedy to Butler’s fulsome embrace of her Lady Bracknell-like character. Abercrumbie offers the edgiest performance, as befits her character: it’s an empathetic turn, and it does a good deal to deepen the largely situational action.
The show’s physical set, as designed by Arnel Sancianco, is huge — more than necessary, to my mind, and the lengthy transitions between scenes push up the running time past what’s ideal for a comedy like this. I’d rather watch the actors, especially in the first act, when they can lean into the laughs (and they surely do, sometimes literally) while maintaining the veracity of the situation. Things are not as nuanced in this show towards the end.
All that said, I heard great gales of amusement on opening night from a clearly delighted audience. People are ready to laugh and much here is funny.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
Review: “The Nacirema Society” (3 stars)
When: Through Oct. 15
Where: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St.
Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes
Tickets: $25-$70 at 312-443-3800 and goodmantheatre.org
