Let's connect!
Enjoy Mill Valley
  • HOME
  • EVENTS & GUIDES
    • 2020-21 EMV Guide
    • 2020 Mill Valley Wine, Beer & Gourmet Food Tasting
    • Winterfest >
      • Activities, Food & Entertainment
      • About Winterfest
    • Calendar
    • Special Events
  • EAT
  • Stay
  • VISIT
    • Muir Woods
    • PLAY
    • Tour
    • Map
    • PRESS
  • SHOP
    • Enjoy Mill Valley Store
    • Shopping Areas
    • Apparel and Jewelry
    • Automotive
    • Banking & Financial Services
    • Biz, Consumer & Professional Services
    • Beauty & Grooming
    • Fitness & Sports
    • Food & Wine
    • Home & Garden
    • Kids & Pets
    • Health & Wellness
    • Nonprofit Organizations
    • Real Estate
    • Specialty Shops
  • A&E
  • EMV Films
  • BLOG
  • Mill Valley Chamber
  • City of Mill Valley
  • CONTACT US
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise on Enjoy Mill Valley
  • ShopMV

Marin Theatre Co.'s Production of 'Native Son' Basks in Rave Reviews

1/31/2017

0 Comments

 
Marin Theatre Company Artistic Director Jasson Minadakis didn’t mince words when he introduced the opening night production of Native Son, Nambi E. Kelley’s adaptation of Richard Wright’s hugely influential 1940 novel.

"It is unbelievable that this amazing piece of art that was created in 1940 is still so important and relevant," Minadakis said. "It's still so important that we built our 50th season around it. It's important to keep pushing the conversation forward and making sure that our society is more humane."

It was a bold statement to center MTC’s golden anniversary around Kelley’s adaption of Wright’s intense, suffocatingly bleak tome about young African-American Bigger Thomas’ downward spiral, as the aspiring pilot is stifled at every turn by society’s deep-seated racism, concluding, that “When you look in the mirror, you only see what they tell you you is.”

But it’s paid off in spades – the impact was palpable in the audience’s near-breathless exchanges as they exited the theater on opening night.

And the subsequent glowing reviews poured in soon after, with the Marin Independent Journal’s Sam Hurwitt calling it a “devastating gut punch of a play” in which society “is all too ready to believe the worst about (Thomas). That’s just one of the reasons why it’s so sobering to revisit this story now, because that readiness to demonize doesn’t seem to have changed much.”

For Talkin’ Broadway, Richard Connema writes that Jerod Haynes as Bigger “gives an intuitive performance that borders on a mishmash of rage and terror,” adding that he “skillfully plays the character with a creepy expression and a mysterious stare.” Connema also credits Kelley with the insertion of a new character, William Hartfield as The Black Rat, the subconscious of Bigger who both drives him toward poor decisions and seeks to help him reverse course.

And at the Huffington Post, former San Francisco magazine senior arts editor Pamela Feinsilber uses her Native Son review to throw broader praise at the Miller Ave. theatrical juggernaut, calling MTC “the most consistently excellent theater company in the Bay Area,” where “audiences have come to expect outstanding acting, directing, set and costume design, sound and lighting in any production we see here in Mill Valley.”

Feinsilber also hails Minadakis for his effort to “showcase plays with African American themes, by African American playwrights,” particularly those of Tarell Alvin McCraney, whose In the Red and Brown Water debuted in the Bay Area at MTC in 2010, long before he became a household name for his play that served as the foundation for the Academy Award-nominated film Moonlight.

To Feinsilber's point, Minadakis noted in his opening remarks that MTC participated in the Gaslight Project, in which theaters around the country put on lights outside on January 19 to "create a light for farm times ahead and to make, or renew, a pledge to stand for and protect the values of inclusion, participation and compassion for everyone regardless of race, class, religion, country of origin, immigration status, (dis)ability, age, gender identity or sexual orientation." 
​
As for Native Son itself, Feinsilber calls the play “gripping, thanks to its intensity, pacing, and fine acting,” and she says Kelley’s “imaginative conceit” that “shuffles time, characters, and events,” gives the audience “tumbled shards of Bigger’s life rather than a straightforward rendering. This approach makes a plot that seems rather simplistic—certainly when compared to the plays mentioned above—appear more complex.”

The 411: Native Son runs at the Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller Ave., through Feb. 12. MORE INFO & TIX.

Want to know what's happening around town? Click here to subscribe to the Enjoy Mill Valley Blog by Email!
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Subscribe to the free Enjoy Mill Valley Blog

    * required
    Click here to subscribe to the free Enjoy Mill Valley Blog by Email!

    RSS Feed

    Blog Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    Categories

    All
    142 Throckmorton
    Art
    Arts & Entertainment
    City Council
    City Of Mill Valley
    County Of Marin
    Depot Plaza
    Downtown Mill Valley
    Emergency Preparedness
    First Tuesday Artwalk
    Food & Drink
    Holidays
    Kiddo!
    Live Music
    Local Laws
    Marin Mommies
    Marin Theatre Company
    Miller Avenue
    Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival
    Mill Valley Film Festival
    Mill Valley History
    Mill-valley-in-the-news
    Mill Valley Library
    Mill Valley Market
    Mill Valley School District
    Mount Tamalpais
    MV Chamber Biz Buzz
    Parks & Recreation
    Philanthropy
    Public Restrooms
    Restaurants
    Shopping
    Strawberry Village
    Sweetwater Music Hall
    Tam High
    Tam Junction
    Tam Valley
    The Redwoods
    Volunteerism

Picture
   
85 Throckmorton Avenue
Mill Valley, Callifornia 94941
415.388.9700
info@millvalley.org



Copyright 2018 Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center
All images used with permission and/or source attribution.
Site Design by Linda Rosso Marketing and Communications