Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Further re-evaluating the Alice Childress canon: CSC’s powerfully-acted revival of WINE IN THE WILDERNESS

• By drediman
• March 25, 2025
• No Comments

Last night, Classic Stage Company’s beautifully-acted revival of Alice Childress’s Wine in the Wilderness opened Off-Broadway, continuing the much-needed re-evaluation of the pioneering playwright’s long career and extensive body of work. This renewed interest began with Roundabout Theatre Company’s 2021 Broadway revival of Childress’s 1955 play Trouble in Mind starring the luminous LaChanze — who also directed this CSC production — and continued a few months later with Theatre for a New Audience’s exquisite revival of the 1972 play Wedding Band. Written in 1969 and set during the 1964 Harlem Riots, Wine in the Wilderness hones in on one Black artist’s attempt to visually capture the essence of Blackness during a tumultuous moment in history in this country for Blacks.

Although imperfect, eloquent poetry and deep feeling course through the piece, resulting in an intermittently transcendent theatrical experience. Wine in the Wilderness especially comes alive during its series of passionately written monologues, namely expounded by Bill, the struggling aforementioned artist, and his fiery potential muse Tommy. Over some difficult tug-of-war debates, both eventually start seeing the other in a new light, pointing to the paramount importance of listening to and learning from each other — a lesson that we could all generally benefit from during these unsettlingly divergent times — and inspiring Bill to conceive of a new vision of Blackness. The performances are strong across the board, with nary a weak link in the cast, starting with the brooding and sensual Gratham Coleman as Bill and the galvanizing Olivia Washington as Tommy. Although the lead up to the work’s final tableau could easily have registered as unnecessarily sentimental, I applaud the entire company for reigning in the histrionics, giving the compact play a genuinely profound conclusion (other standout performances include the sensitive and poignant work of Lakisha May and Milton Craig Nealy, who nicely balance the production).

Taking a hand at directing, the beloved actress LaChanze — who is perhaps best known for having snagged the coveted Tony Award for her leading performance as Celie in the original production of the musical adaptation of The Color Purple — does well to translate Childress’s text to the stage with heartfelt honesty, although not without the occasional clunky moment (e.g., the use of pre-recorded voices to depict Bill’s neighbors, some rugged transitions into and out of the monologues). Though no fault of het production, the play could have also been more effective staged on a more claustrophobic set tucked behind a proscenium as opposed to CSC’s wide open three-quarter thrust stage. Despite these minor misgivings, the play nevertheless unfolds with grace and power.

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WINE IN THE WILDERNESS
Off-Broadway, Play
Classic Stage Company
1 hour, 25 minutes (without an intermission)
Through April 13