Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Keen Company solidly revives Lynn Nottage’s CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE OF JOY, an early work by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright

• By drediman
• March 8, 2023
• No Comments

Tonight, the Off-Broadway revival of Lynn Nottage’s Crumbs from the Table of Joy opened at Theatre Row courtesy of Keen Company. The 1995 work — essentially a memory play about a girl’s childhood in Brooklyn during the 1950s — is perhaps best known for being Ms. Nottage’s first professionally produced full length play. Since then, the playwright has steadily ascended to become one of our most important and successful playwrights, having penned two Pulitzer Prize-winning plays (Ruined in 2008 and Sweat in 2015; she also penned this season’s Clyde’s, which is sure to be up for awards in a few months).

I have have very fond memories of seeing the Goodman’s production of the play way back in 2006, and was therefore anticipating to revisit the play. As a specimen of a younger playwright, it’s fascinating to watch Crumbs within the context of Ms. Nottage’s larger body of work (I had the similar reaction when I watched Signature’s current revival of A Brand New Boise, an early play by Samuel D. Hunter). If the play doesn’t have the same tension, narrative complexity, and dramatic gravitas of her later works, it’s nonetheless populated with wonderfully-etched characters who have the spontaneity to both surprise and warm the heart. In short, it’s a joy to spend time with them (pun intended). There’s also an overall congeniality and humanity — already evident at such an early point in her career — in the young playwright’s writing that distinguishes the work, particularly in its depiction of the delicacy of childhood (and parenthood).

Keen Company has always done a fine job of re-examining works with respect and welcome intimacy. Its solid production of Crumbs — the play’s first New York revival — continues this trend. Directed by Colette Robert, the production does the work proud, capturing its rhythms and subtle shifts between heightened memory and naturalism beautifully. The cast of five is excellent from top to bottom. As the play’s youthful narrator, Shanel Bailey is the perfect blend of sweetness, restlessness, and precocious curiosity. As her more volatile younger sister, Malika Samuel gives a sassy, vivacious performance. Rounding out the fine cast as the adults — delivering sensitive portrayals — are Jason Bowen as the religious Crumb patriarch, Sharina Martin as his sensuous sister-in-law, and Natalia Payne as his German American second wife.

RECOMMENDED 

CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE OF JOY
Off-Broadway, Play
Keen Company at Theatre Row
2 hours (including one intermission)
Through April 1