THE HANGOVER REPORT – Tori Sampson’s impassioned THIS LAND WAS MADE speculatively looks back at the genesis of the Black Panther Party

Leland Fowler, Libya V. Pugh, and Anoinette Crowe-Legacy in Vineyard Theatre’s production of “This Land Was Made” by Tori Sampson (photo by Carol Rosegg).

Earlier this week, Tori Sampson’s This Land Was Made opened Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre. Set in Oakland in 1967, the impassioned new play in essence looks back at the genesis and early days of the Black Panther Party. According to the playwright, much of the play is based on her own personal connection to the associated events that transpired during that time in history. As such, the work fascinatingly exists somewhere between the realms of actual events and speculative/fictional happenings of Sampson’s imagination.

Structurally, the play is composed as a memory play told from the perspective of one Sassy, a writer who in her past was entrenched Oakland’s budding, explosive political and civil rights scene. Over the course of the play, she unlocks memories from that time, manifesting them in a series of scenes that vascillate between naturalism and stylized flights of fancy. As written, many of the play’s characters register as archetypal, for better or worse. On one hand, this decision neatly lays out the opposing forces at play. But on the other hand, it simplifies the messy nuances that surely must have played into the proceedings — ultimately at the consequence of the onstage drama.

The Vineyard Theatre production has been directed by Taylor Reynolds, who has given the play an atmospheric staging that embraces its various modes. Particularly notable is scenic designer Wilson Chin’s detailed, lived-in bar set, itself a sort of character in the play. Generally speaking, the cast delivers solid — if somewhat predictable — performances, beginning with the vivacious Antoinette Crowe-Legacy’s Sassy, a sweet and sour creation that injects a captivating sense of urgency and importance to the history she takes it upon herself to unpack.

SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED

THIS LAND WAS MADE
Off-Broadway, Play
Vineyard Theatre
2 hours, 10 (including one intermission)
Through June 25

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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