UNION — The current Premiere Stages production, at Kean University, “Mala Aria,” is a complex story that, for the most part, does not fit into a mold, which is good.
As always, you can count on seeing fine performances from Premiere Stages, and the set design is always nifty, this one thanks to David Barber, a member of the school’s faculty.
The story is a little troubling, which is also good.
Written by Gloria Majule and directed by Jamil A. C. Mangan, it begins with a family unit in mourning: Baba Amazia enters, holding the ashes of his wife. His daughters, Kesia, played by Nazira Cisse, and Amazia, played by Shiro Kihagi, are with him. Eugene Nesmith is Baba.
They move about in a ritual pattern, the sisters exchanging places, part of their traditional grieving process.
At the kitchen table, Baba attempts to enlist his daughters in a dance to dispel their grief. They resist. Music plays from a transistor radio he holds. Then Kezia and her father talk.
Kezia wants to go to America for her doctorate in entomology. Her dream is to eradicate malaria. To her father, that is a noble pursuit, but why not go to school in Tanzania? That’s where there’s malaria, not America. Because America is progressive, Kezia argues, and wins out. Off she goes, promising to return when she completes her doctorate.
But Kezia is hiding something, even from herself. She is a lesbian. Not a good identity to have in Tanzania.
She works hard in America. We see her in the lab. She keeps in touch with Amazia, by cellphone. Sometimes during their conversations, they meet at the center of the stage to continue talking, returning to the lab and, for Amazia, the kitchen table, to end the call. There is no distance too great to come between these women. Come to America, Kezia tells her sister. No, said Amazia, who cannot leave her father.
One day in the lab, Kezia faints. The doctor, whose given name is Jasmine, played by Anita Welch-Smith, checks her vital signs and finds them OK. She also finds Kezia attractive. Kezia rewards the doctor’s persistence with a kiss.
She moves in with Jasmine and breaks the news to Amazia, who had already figured her sister was a lesbian. The father wants to know about her boyfriend and Kezia lies. She tells him the truth on a visit to America. He is beside himself with rage. He disowns her. Kezia returns to America.
Baba does not want to speak to his daughter, but he finally must, to tell her that Amazia has died from malaria. Kezia returns to America. She believes she has discovered a way to end malaria, but will not share her findings with anyone to speed up a breakthrough. She gives her father anti-malarial pills.
He throws them into the sink. Why didn’t she offer them to her sister? Baba delivers a powerful, unrelenting speech denouncing American values and its cult of “I” and its creed of everything for me. Kezia tries to explain and cannot adequately. To reconcile this, one may see it as a blind spot. Again, the play doesn’t fit into a mold and is a bit troubling. She returns to Tanzania.
Baba receives a call from Jasmine, who convinces him to come to America. He does and they dance a dance of reconciliation, Baba holding his transistor radio, providing the music.
It’s a good play, an emotional play. But one thing jumped out at this reviewer. The dialogue is good, it moves the story and develops the characters. But there were some times when silence was needed. It’s not a great misfortune and perhaps just a personal preference. But there are times when “Mala Aria” is filled with emotional possibilities, when the emotions did not need to be parsed into dialogue. But this is a small thing. Go see the show. It runs until Sunday, Aug. 2.
For schedule and tickets, go to premierestagesatkean.com.
Photo Courtesy of Premiere Stages
