Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – LESSONS IN SURVIVAL: 1971 is a stylish reenactment of James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni’s rich, still-timely dialogue on Blackness

• By drediman
• June 10, 2022
• No Comments

Last night, the stage version of Lessons in Survival: 1971 opened Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre. Co-conceived by Marin Ireland, Peter Mark Kendall, Tyler Thomas (who also directs), and Reggie D. White and created in association with The Commissary, the two-hander is essentially a verbatim recreation of poet Nikki Giovanni’s still-timely interviews on race and the Black experience with famed novelist and Civil Rights activist James Baldwin, which were broadcast on WNET’s television series SOUL!, a weekly variety show that sought to shed light on Black culture. The in-person staging currently at the Vineyard is a follow up to The Commissary’s acclaimed virtual version of the piece that was streamed during the pandemic as a response to the horrific murder of George Floyd.

As a piece of theater, Lessons in Survival: 1971 takes its cue from two relatively recent projects presented by the Vineyard, Tina Satter’s Is This a Room and Lucas Hnath’s Dana H. (however unlikely, both of these decidedly avant-garde productions made it to Broadway earlier this season). Like both of these works of documentary theater, Lessons in Survival‘s text is culled directly from its aforementioned primary source. In performance, it plays like a hybrid of the two works – although animated by voice and action (like Is This a Room), Mr. Thomas’s production also funnels in audio recordings of the actual interviews through ear pieces to inform the performances (like Dana H.). In doing so, the show’s creators seem to be arguing that a more potent experience is to be had by directly channeling the energy and essence of the underlying interviews rather than attempting to dramatically recreate them – and thereby potentially diluting and/or tainting them. I can’t argue with the effectiveness of the approach, and the resulting show fascinatingly registers like a seance rather than your typical dramatic fare.

Mr. Thomas’s staging is both understated and stylish, placing Giovanni and Baldwin in various modes of intimate conversation throughout the evening. Scattered here and there are brief video-driven interludes that occasionally reset their conversation, allowing audiences a chance to digest and process the rich dialogue, while injecting visual flair into the proceedings. Both Crystal Dickinson and Carl Clemons-Hopkin as Giovanni and Baldwin, respectively, are superb, uncannily replicating the cadence and intelligence of their subject’s delivery. The both bring subtle, nuanced life into these two personalities. As Giovanni, Ms. Dickson is more restless and brash in her political views, while Mr. Clemons-Hopkins brings perspective and wisdom to his portrayal of Baldwin. These are uncanny and bewitching performances that are as sinuous as they are articulate.

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LESSONS IN SURVIVAL: 1971
Off-Broadway, Play
Vineyard Theatre
1 hour, 30 minutes (without an intermission)
Through June 30