I saw myself as a character on the stage at the Den Theatre. It was weird and exhilarating to see the everyday struggles of a young Black woman making her way in a world with the odds seemingly in her favor. Playwright, producer, and director LaRose Washington's Within a Shadow tells the story of a quirky Black college senior from a nice upper-middle-class family. The play is adapted from Washington's screenplay Lex the Movie. It is a funny and emotional story of a Black woman claiming the right to her version of what a Black woman is. She gets to decide how she is supposed to react to systemic racism and sexism that may seem to be on the wane but shows up every day in subversive and passive-aggressive ways.
Washington plays Lex who is quirky, smart, and clunky around her hot jock crush Jeremiah played by Matt Chester. Lex doesn't code switch to sound more "Black.' She is smart and speaks "proper English." She wears jeans and grungy gym shoes, with pencils in her hair in a bun. Lex has a mentor in Professor Wright (Margo Harper) an architecture professor. Professor Wright is successful and confident. She encourages Lex to apply to her firm as a junior architect and talks her off the ledge when other Black students pressure her to be a part of the Black Student Association. Harper gets one of the best lines in the play when Lex asks her what to do about blowing her interview because she cannot articulate what makes her special. Professor Wright says, "Fuck 'em all!" It is very sage advice because no matter what Lex does she will not fit into anyone else's expectations.
Some of the cruelest pressure comes from childhood friend Jasmine (Lydia Moss), who attends the same school and code switches to "be down with the people" proving her Blackness by objecting to Lex's choice of friends and how she talks. Lex has not joined the Black Student Association and doesn't allow anger over the social unrest to change who she is.
The last semester of college is fraught enough with academic and future career pressures. Within a Shadow adds the social unrest of police killing Black people with indemnity. Her sociology tells her that she is a good Black while claiming that she is lowest on the desirability scale after white, Asian, and Latino women. I was laughing at the great dialogue and how things are still the same as when I was in college 40 years ago.
Washington's dialogue is sharp and well-paced. She has a knack for comic timing. Her best friends, Cece (Theresa Liebhart) and Rasheeda (SaniaFaith) are wonderfully written. Cece is a product of a trailer park and a junkie mother. Washington's and Liebhart's characters' argument about white privilege is one of the best articulations I have heard on the subject. I loved the character of Rasheeda. SaniaFaith plays her with sexy confidence and unique comic flair. She lights up the stage.
Tanner Sabol plays Lex's possible boyfriend Aiden as a chill and open person. It doesn't feel like acting when he interacts with Lex. There is a natural chemistry that transcends racial differences. Jeanne Scurek plays Professor Cronke, that sociology professor who seems to be at every university. It was a flashback to my sociology professor who was eccentric and deeply absorbed in empirical data. Scurek has that edge of weirdness in her portrayal that gave me a flashback to freshman year—in a good way. Jeffrey David Thomas plays a dual role as Cece's jerk boyfriend Henry and as the worst singer at an open mic—ever. Will Colley is funny and spot on as the open mic emcee getting the worst singer off the stage.
The staging is a bit clumsy with the quick scene changes but I think that will be sorted out as the play continues performances. Andy and Mary Cahoon's stage design is done well and accommodates the scene changes. Washington does her work justice as the director. Within a Shadow is honest and doesn't flinch at the hard conversations that continue to be necessary in America and the world. I was a Lex back in 1982 as far as ambition and quirk. I also believed that I could be me without code-switching. I caught a lot of flack for "talking white" and not having my hair done. One difference is that I wore some awful rubber cowboy boots that hurt my feet. There was also a bamboo cane as an accessory. It was a Bianca Jagger thing. Why else? Get yourself to this show and see if you recognize anyone or yourself. Within a Shadow is social commentary done well and a story told with heart.
Red Theater's Within a Shadow plays through October 15 at the Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. For tickets and more information please visit thedentheatre.com.
For more information on this and other plays, see theatreinchicago.com.
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