The stain of slavery has cast a dubious shadow over America for centuries, its many hideous consequences coming to light following our Civil War.
Yet thousands of stories remain untold – of individual black slaves, and of their interactions with their masters, white slave-holding families who treated humans as mere property.
Something we institutionalized as part of our society is aptly recognized as dehumanizing, insidious, immoral. Now comes Kemp Powers’ “Little Black Shadows,” which tells us a new story most likely unknown to the majority of us in a South Coast Repertory world premiere.
At SCR, that story emerges is that of slavery – as a normal, integral, accepted way of life in a closed social system – as viewed by children.
The children are Martha, known as Mittie (Emily Yetter), and Daniel (Daniel Bellusci), whose father (Mark Doerr) runs a small but thriving cotton plantation in 1850s Georgia.
But we also see their world as refracted by two other children – slaves Toy (Chauntae Pink) and Colis (Giovanni Adams). They exist only to serve the father’s privileged children, to wait on them hand and foot, to actualize their every desire – and to do so in utter silence.
The young duo are forbidden to speak unless first spoken to by their masters (or by “the big master,” Father). But they can’t help but observe and soak up the internal intrigue within the family they serve. So at night, their thoughts and feelings surface.
Colis sleeps on the floor underneath Daniel’s bed, and Toy under Mittie’s, but a vent in the wall between rooms allows them to communicate. So at night, the minds and personalities of these “little black shadows” are on display for us.
Because they’re house servants, they’re spared the hardships of the fields, and because they’re silent and obedient, they’re given full bellies and relative comfort while avoiding beatings. The more perceptive of the two, Toy realizes this, reminding Colis, “We is blessed.”
Colis sees the conflict brewing between pragmatic, business-minded Father and artistic Daniel, whose only interest is music. His impulse is to help the boy, but Toy cautions him: “You got to know your place. We’s shadows, and shadows is seen, not heard.”
Powers sets Father and Daniel on a slowly mounting but inexorable collision course. Our only question is how and whether Colis or Toy will be drawn in and what actions will result.
These scenarios and the “Black Shadows” script teem with psychological complexity, with the family breaking down into two camps: Father and Mittie, hardened by and unafraid of harsh reality, and Daniel’s refined sensibilities, defended by Mother (Elyse Mirto), who pampers him.
Director May Adrales and her design team create visual and aural layers that enhance and magnify Powers’ themes. Evocatively lit by Elizabeth Harper, David M. Barber’s scenic design and Sara Ryung Clement’s costumes depict the antebellum South as an almost idyllic, hermetic domain in increasing peril of being encroached upon and destroyed by the North.
But the crowning touches of SCR’s staging are the one-two punch of Charles Coes and Nathan A. Roberts’ sound design and original music and Hana S. Kim’s puppet designs and projections.
From the start, jangling yet delicate music box-like melodies impart the naïveté of children, cloaked in innocence yet longing to understand adult life. Balancing this are the wailing sounds of spirituals, aching with sorrow.
Even more striking are the shadow puppets projected onto Barber’s proscenium and sets: Hunched, broken field hands. Chains. Well-dressed masters whipping tattered slaves. Kim’s work delicately reflects everyday, universally accepted savagery.
Bellusci and Yetter drive home the plights of their characters: Had sensitive Daniel been born with Mittie’s take-charge nature, and she his, both might have been a whole lot happier.
Adams and Pink elicit our pangs of pity and compassion for Colis and Toy – Colis, for his innate joy and fervent wish to find his long-lost mama, and Toy for her compulsion to make sense of all she sees and hears.
Powers based his play on reality – not just its generalized contours, but specific details and even names, all relating to one of the most famous families in American history.
The playwright wisely drained the story of these references so as to make “Little Black Shadows” a tale we all can own – to our shame, no doubt, but also to our credit if we have the guts to admit to an inhumane, often bloody national legacy.
‘Little Black Shadows’
When: Through April 29. 7:45 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 2 and 7:45 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays
Where: South Coast Repertory Theater, Julianne Argyros, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa
Tickets: $30-$83
Length: 1 hour, 35 minutes (no intermission)
Suitability: All ages
Rating: ***1/2
Information: 714-708-5555, scr.org
