{"id":9073,"date":"2012-10-10T04:31:56","date_gmt":"2012-10-10T08:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/?p=9073"},"modified":"2014-09-30T02:20:03","modified_gmt":"2014-09-30T02:20:03","slug":"theatre-fraternity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/theatre-fraternity\/","title":{"rendered":"THEATRE: FRATERNITY"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRATERNITY<\/em><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

Not only was The Ebony Repertory Theatre’s production of Fraternity<\/em> excellent, but the entire opening night experience was a winner. From the easy attached parking to the theatre itself to the play and performances to meeting my new favorite celebrity at the after-party, I couldn’t have asked for more.<\/p>\n

Since this was my first time at this beautiful facility, I must begin with it. I was expecting yet another little Equity-waiver theatre, and was prepared for that. But this one seats almost four hundred guests! It’s beautiful and new-looking, with no bad sightline seats. We couldn’t have been comfortable in a theatre.<\/p>\n

And there are big restrooms! No long lines at intermission. What a pleasure that<\/em> was! And the lobby’s so big that they could put on another production right there. What a great place!<\/p>\n

Next, it hit me pretty quickly that I’ve rarely seen such a well-dressed audience. That made the opening night feel as such, and I wish that every theatre-goer would follow suit. Please. (I’m talking to you, almost everyone who’s been to the Taper recently!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

(L to R) William Allen Youg, Roger Robinson, Mel Winkler, Rocky Carroll. Photo by Craig Swartz.<\/p><\/div>\n

The set, designed by Edward E. Haynes, Jr. to portray a private men’s club in 1987, was perfect. It couldn’t have been better.<\/p>\n

Now, here’s the deal with the play: it’s ostensibly about the politics of that time, a topic that, though so important, usually loses me. So, I missed a lot of what was happening in that area, so much so that I think I was rooting for the wrong candidate! (In my defense, I equated the race between the older gent incumbent and his younger prot\u00e9g\u00e9 to All About Eve<\/em>, a subject I’m much more familiar with. In cases like those, I’m always against the newbies.)<\/p>\n

But it was really about the beginnings of the civil rights movement, as discussed and re-lived by seven black males, most of them with at least some<\/em> semblance of friendship, and I just went with the humanity, and humor, of the situation. And those were great. We, the audience, laughed a lot, thought a lot, and definitely appreciated all the performances. All<\/em>! That’s a rarity. The actors, indeed, held our attention.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

(L-R) Playwright Jeff Stetson, Nasir Najieb, Harvy Blanks, Robert Gossett, Director Henry Miller, Ebony Repertory Theatre Producer\/Founder Wren Brown, William Allen Young, and Rocky Carroll. Photo by Malcolm Ali.<\/p><\/div>\n

The all-male, seven-man cast is uber-accomplished. I was most familiar with Rocky Carroll. (I’ve never seen NCIS<\/em>, the series he’s on, but we actually sat together at American Idol<\/em> on Adam Lambert’s season, when it got down to the final three. So it was nice to finally see him work on-stage.)<\/p>\n

I felt the most difficult task was assigned to Harvy Blanks as the reverend, who had to deliver two sermons; a gut-wrenching one in the first act, and a very humorous one in the second. He delivered them both with equal aplomb.<\/p>\n

I loved that the story was unpredictable; I kept holding my breath, not knowing in which direction the action was going to go. (That’s why I’m not telling you more of the plot here; just take the journey with the characters.)<\/p>\n

I often take notes during shows I’m reviewing. (Don’t worry–I don’t use even a pen light; I can write in the dark.) That way, I can remember just what I thought as it went along. But upon reviewing my notes for Fraternity<\/em>, I realized that I just jotted down a bunch of the great lines, to share with Mr. X when I got home. (He’s crazy into politics.) There were so many memorable lines in this play; I just wish I could repeat them with the perfection that this cast did.<\/p>\n

I hate that we never find-out which candidate wins, but that’s not the point of the play. And, on the one negative note, the show is a bit too long. I don’t know where it can be cut, but I’d say about ten minutes need to be shaved off it. [Note: It’s been around for over two decades, so I don’t think any trimming will be done at this point. I’m just saying.]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

(L to R) Blair Underwood, James Pickens, Eriq LaSalle. Photo by Malcolm Ali.<\/p><\/div>\n

You all know I love an opening night that includes an after-party, and this one was right on-premises in the theatre’s adjacent ample party room. It was a catered affair; loved those meatballs! There were many celebs including Eriq La Salle, (of ER<\/em> fame,) James Pickens (Grey’s Anatomy<\/em>,)\u00a0and Russell Hornsby from Grimm<\/em>, (which I’m sheepish to say I watch; I just can’t help myself.)<\/p>\n

So, every aspect of the evening was excellent. But the absolute highlight, for both my pal Vanessa and me, (yes, \u201cme\u201d is the correct usage; look it up if you don’t believe me,) was meeting Blair Underwood. I can’t tell you what a great guy he is!!! I had seen him on only two short-lived drama series (Dirty, Sexy, Money<\/em> and The Event<\/em>) so I saw him as an un-smiling grown-up. But, I’m here to tell you that he’s the most genuinely adorable guy ever! (Outside of Mr. X, of course. I mean that!) And, he looks about twenty years younger in person! He looks like a kid!<\/p>\n

Blair couldn’t have been more charming and attentive. It was like talking to an old friend. (One I actually like.) And he did something so rare when we were leaving that I may actually have never seen this behavior before; he asked me to repeat my whole name! Who does that??? Can you see why we loved him?! Vanessa and I raved about him all the way home. (There will be more about him in my next Celeb Sightings column.)<\/p>\n

Okay, so you may not get to eat meatballs and meet Blair Underwood, but seeing Fraternity<\/em> should be a worthwhile experience for everyone.<\/p>\n

Fraternity<\/em> running through October 28, 2012<\/strong>
\n Nate Holden Performing Arts Center<\/strong>
\n 4718 West Washington Blvd. \u00a0 323-964-9766 \u00a0\u00a0www.ebonyrep.org<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FRATERNITY   Not only was The Ebony Repertory Theatre’s production of Fraternity excellent, but the entire opening night experience was a winner. From the easy attached parking to the theatre itself to the play and performances to meeting my new favorite celebrity at the after-party, I couldn’t have asked for more. Since this was my<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-from-theater-to-events-to-the-circus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9073"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15785,"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9073\/revisions\/15785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}