UNION, NJ — The third and final play of the Premiere Stages 2022 season opened on Thursday, Oct. 13, at Kean University, and its title, “Certain Aspects of Conflict in the Negro Family,” says a lot about it. Written by TyLie Shider and directed by Othell J. Miller, the work is an examination of four characters; while it’s not plotless, their stories are without conclusions. This is no problem. Assumptions must sometimes be made, but character motivations are clear, and the result is entertaining.
The time of the action is July 1967, during the Newark riots, and the place is the front porch of a tidy Plainfield home. The riots are a peripheral element in a universal story of aspirations, at least until the final scene, when shots are fired at the four, huddled characters: Peach, a divorced hairdresser played by Diane L. Parker, whose front porch is the play’s setting; her unfaithful, but still loving ex, Clif, played by Eddie Gouveia Blackman; her unemployed son, Junior, played by Kena Anae; and the virginal Ruth, played by Nicole Prothro.
But the characters nearly being shot was probably more troubling to the audience than it was to them, as, afterward, they posed for a group photograph. There is an unspecified time lapse between these scenes, and between other scenes as well, a disconnect, as it were, which underscores an examination of the “aspects” of these people’s lives. There are also two effective monologues, by Clif and Ruth, when they are stopped by the police after leaving Peach’s front porch.
“We’re not angry; we’re intolerant,” Ruth says to the unseen, unheard police officer.
The front porch, by the way, by scenic designer Bethanie Wampol Watson, is perfect.
The chemistry between the former husband and wife is warm, funny and angry, with Clif usually showing up on the front step of Peach’s home to woo her from a window seat, for breakfast at a diner or to return with him to Georgia.
A parallel relationship is played out between Junior, a guitarist with active hormones, and Ruth, the pastor’s daughter and a singer, as they work on what they hope will be a hit record.
But Junior is a dreamer, much like Clif, his father, who had aspirations of his own singing career. There is real emotion when father and son have the stage to themselves, with Clif admonishing Junior for quitting his job at a record store because the owner would not sell a record he made.
“Singing is hard work,” Clif tells Junior. “My father told me, if something starts to control you, leave it.”
Nonetheless, Clif tells his son to be honorable with Ruth.
“Try to give her something to hold on to,” he said. “And if you fail, fail fast and keep on trying. I tried.”
But Clif acknowledges that when he tried to get into the music business, he was overmatched, and it was like “fighting fire with a twig.” He presses dollar bills into his reluctant son’s hand, telling him not to let it burn another hole in his pocket.
It is in this scene that Junior tells his father that he hates his half-brother, a professional musician. This is not the only example of how we think we know everything about a character, only to learn we did not know enough.
The scene between father and son ends with Junior running away and Clif calling out.
“A man gets knocked down and he gets up and you think he’ll win this fight and he gets knocked down again and you think he’ll lose and he gets up again. That’s you son, that’s you, and I’m rooting for you.”
But this review does not say enough about this effective play because there are too many aspects to consider. You will have to see it for yourself.
“Certain Aspects of Conflict in the Negro Family” will continue Thursday, Oct. 20, to Saturday, Oct. 22, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 23, at 3 p.m., under the tent at Liberty Hall Museum, Kean University. Tickets are available at tinyurl.com/3ez3p4ur or from the box office at 908-737-7469.
Photo Courtesy of Mike Peters