Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Basketball Off-Broadway: Inua Ellams’ mythically-scaled THE HALF-GOD OF RAINFALL and Candrice Jones’s exceptional FLEX

• By drediman
• August 21, 2023
• No Comments

This summer, a pair of plays with intrinsic ties to the sport of basketball graced the boards of two of New York’s premiere Off-Broadway stages. Luckily, I was able to catch both before they shuttered this past weekend. As per usual, here are my thoughts on them.

THE HALF-GOD OF RAINFALL
New York Theatre Workshop
Closed

First up at New York Theatre Workshop was The Half-God of Rainfall (RECOMMENDED) by Inua Ellams. Co-presented by American Repertory Theater, the play tells the story of a Nigerian woman who bears a son after being raped by the god Zeus. Having been spawned by a god and a human, the semi-divine youth comes to realize the supernatural abilities in his possession, and grows into a defiant professional basketball star who challenges the gods themselves. The play seems inspired by Richard Wagner’s epic Ring Cycle operas – in both, the gods’ complicated and at times incestuous relationship with humans is the catalyst of the drama. In his compact yet mythically-scaled play, Ellams melds Orisha and Ancient Greek mythologies, as well as the sport of basketball, resulting in a fascinating – if curious – concoction. The powerfully-acted production was staged by director Taibi Magar with impressive visual flair, particularly with respect to Orlando Pabotoy’s heroic movement direction and Tal Yarden’s atmospheric projection design.

FLEX
Lincoln Center Theater at the Mitzi E. Newhouse
Closed

Then uptown at the Mitzi E. Newhouse, there was Lincoln Center Theater’s sensational production of Candrice Jones’s exceptional new play Flex (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). Set during the late 1990s, the piece depicts the trials and tribulations of an all-Black girls high school basketball team in a small town in Alabama. It’s a meaty and satisfying piece of playwriting that unfolds organically yet manages to cover a good number of issues without feeling forced or heavy handed. The whole endeavor comes together beautifully in Lileana Blain-Cruz’s muscular, confident production – text, performances, and design serve each other as inspiringly as the teammates depicted onstage do. Led by the blazing Erica Matthews, each member of the ensemble cast conveys their respective character’s growing pains with nuance and the unmistakable coiled energy of youth. In summary, Flex is a superb and ultimately uplifting play. Together with Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ The Comeuppance, it represents some of the very best theater I’ve encountered this summer. Suffice to say, both deserve a fruitful future lives.