UNION — “Still,” Premiere Stage’s current production at Kean University, is the story of two black men. One is a freed slave on an odyssey to find his family. The other is educated, born free and rooted to a desk at an antebellum Underground Railway clearinghouse, in Philadelphia. They discover they have a startling connection.
Written by Benjamin Marshall and directed by Marshall Jones III, “Still” is based on a true story by William Still, the New Jersey-born abolitionist who kept a journal of the individuals he helped to freedom. It’s a good play, although at times it may be a little too talkative. But there doesn’t seem to be any way of getting around that, because the Act I dialogue is mostly a mutual interrogation by two wary men. The acting of Carl Hendrick Louis, in the role of William Still, and Brian D. Coates, playing Peter Friedman, the freed slave, is so wonderfully nuanced, however, that you don’t mind listening to them.
Friedman’s suspicious, distrusting character slowly opens to Still’s beneficence and he peeks out. Unexpected humor sparkles throughout the play.
There are shifting layers of information in the story, clues that have to be connected into a construction. In his various explanations to Still, who is trying to determine his veracity in that he is a freed slave coming to him for help, Friedman provides different surnames, because he has had multiple owners; broken threads of biography, disjointed locations where he’s lived, various rivers traveled, because of the many times he has been bought and sold. But it’s not confusing. The play is written skillfully. What does emerge from Friedman’s recollection of his life is the full-blown grossness of slavery.
There are other instances of shifting layers of information, quite literally. The production involves the projection of silhouettes as part of Friedman’s memory. There are voice-overs during the projections, adding to the number roles – call them phantom roles – being presented.
At one point, Ashley Nicole Baptiste, in the role of Friedman’s wife, Vina, appears on a platform in front of the background where her silhouette was projected. The moment was thrilling: an incarnation! But when Still steps up to ask her a question and gets a response, the spell is broken. I was prepared to accept Friedman’s interaction with the embodiment of his wife, but I was not prepared to accept Still’s. Other characters from Friedman’s past appear on stage, but for me, they didn’t have the ethereal quality Vena’s surprising appearance first did and maybe never could.
The second act is poignant. Without disclosing too much, suffice to say that, when Firedman says, “Everytime I crossed a river from freedom to captive, this is the first time I’m free on both sides of the river. I was lost, now I’m found” — it rings true.
Also cast are D. Malik Beckford, Nafeesa Monroe and Perri Gaffney. Projection design was by Taj Rauch. Costume design was by Ali Turns. John Wooten, a Glen Ridge resident, is the producing artistic director for Premiere Stages.
“Still” will run until July 28, Thursdays at 1:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 3 and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 3 p.m. For more information, visit premierestagesatkean.com.
Photo Courtesy of Mike Peters