Gulfshore Playhouse gets ready, set for David Mamet's RACE

WHAT DO WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK about race?

What assumptions do we make, what biases do we secretly harbor, what anger do we swallow, what miscommunication occurs?

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet tackles this knotty, incendiary topic in “Race.”

Accused of raping a young black woman, a wealthy white man hires two attorneys, partners at the same firm, to defend him. One is black, the other Caucasian.

Mr. Mamet calls his play “a tragedy about race” and has also said it’s “a play about lies.”

Gulfshore Playhouse brings it to The Norris Center in Naples with performances Jan. 27-Feb. 12 (and a preview Jan. 26).

“It’s a provocative, timely, interesting play that, on the face of it, lances racism and racial prejudice,” says Playhouse Producing Artistic Director Kristen Coury. “In reality, it brings up prejudice of all types of groups within the context of a very interesting story.” The play also contains Mr. Mamet’s usual, acerbic dialogue.

“It’s a provocative, timely, interesting play that lances racism.” — Kristen CouryPlayhouse producingartistic director “It’s a well-made play that I think everyone will enjoy,” Ms. Coury says, adding one of Gulfshore Playhouse’s many missions is to offer audiences what she refers to as “a full meal.”

Very often, she explains, “You leave a show and can’t remember what you saw. By the time you get to your car, it’s already gone. The story wasn’t that great or memorable. My goal is never to do that. I want to leave people feeling: That wasn’t an appetizer. That was a full meal.”

Another mission, she says, “is to give people something to think about and talk about.”

And she expects “Race” will stimulate many discussions.

Jefferson A. Russell and Eric Hissom star as Henry and Jack in Gulfshore Playhouse’s production of “Race” playing Jan. 27 through Feb. 12. COURTESY PHOTO “I love to create provocative theater,” she says. “I mean to provoke, so that when people leave, they’ll be talking about it, wondering, discussing.

“That’s the beauty of theater: It will actually open up a line of communication for people to talk about things that they might not necessarily talk about (otherwise).”

Talk-backs with the cast and director will take place for audiences after the Feb. 2 and 9 evening shows and the Feb. 12 matinee.

The rehearsal process

The four-person play calls for two black actors and two white actors.

Eric Hissom, fresh off of the national tour of “The 39 Steps,” stars as one of the lawyers; Jefferson Russell, who recently portrayed Captain Beatty in “Fahrenheit 451” at the Round House Theatre in Washington, D.C., portrays the other.

BRENT LANGDON Brent Langdon, who’s performed in “the Crucible” at Hartford Stage and “Richard II” at the Yale Repertory Theatre, is cast as the accused. And Edena Hines, who recently performed in “Shipwrecked” at the Penguin Repertory Theatre in Stony Point, N.Y., plays the attorneys’ legal assistant.

At the beginning of the rehearsal process, the actors and Ms. Coury sat for a day and a half and talked. “It’s called table work,” Ms. Coury says. “We talk through the script itself, make sense of every single sentence, every single motivation, every reason why.

“David Mamet doesn’t give any back story, so you have to create that for the characters,” she adds. “We don’t know why or how they hired the legal assistant, how long she’s been there, how long (the two lawyers have been) partners, what really happened.”

EDENA HINES The play also highlights how different generations view racial interactions.

“The male black actor is in his 40s, and the actress is in her 20s,” she says. “It’s interesting to see their perspectives on race from a generational perspective.

“The rich white guy who’s accused had made a slight against a black male friend of his in college. It was thoughtless, but offensive. Any guy, back in that day, would’ve known to swallow that and not openly react in any way, shape, or form.”

But times have changed, Ms. Coury adds, and if that were to happen today, the friend would most likely speak up and object.

ERIC HISSOM “It’s not OK anymore to just swallow it,” she says. “It’s evolution.”

An incendiary topic

In a New York Times opinion piece, Mr. Mamet wrote that his play is intended to be a contribution to the dialogue on race.

“As a Jew,” he wrote, “I will relate that there is nothing a non-Jew can say to a Jew on the subject of Jewishness that is not patronizing, upsetting or simply wrong. I assume that the same holds true among African-Americans.”

That sentiment is echoed in the play, Ms. Coury says.

“There’s a point where the white guy says to the black legal assistant, who’s female: ‘I know there’s nothing a white person can say to a black person about race that is not both incorrect and offensive.”

JEFFERSON RUSSELL The character goes on to say, “Race is the most incendiary topic in our history, and the moment it comes out, you cannot close the lid on that box. That may change, but not for a long, long while.”

“That’s a white man saying that,” Ms. Coury says. “David Mamet also throws that into the mix. He’s saying that we’re exploring this topic together; I’m not going to purport that I understand everything there is to know about race.”

Audiences may have more questions than answers at the close of “Race.”

“David Mamet does a great job of really making us realize that prejudice is so much grander than just race,” she says. “It’s everything: preconceived judgments about men and women; Northerners and Southerners; fat people, skinny people; rich people, poor people; Jews, Christians. The list goes on.

“You can keep naming ways that we decide groups are ‘other.’ Do they speak with a different accent? Eat different foods? Celebrate holidays differently or celebrate different holidays? It’s incredible when you start to really realize the way we pre-judge people we consider different from ourselves.”

The play is ambiguous.

“There are a few characters about which you don’t really know for sure if they’re guilty or innocent, in a variety of ways,” Ms. Coury says, clarifying that she’s not just talking about the accused.

During rehearsals, depending upon the day and how an actor plays the role, she changes her mind in thinking, “He did it,” “I don’t think she did it,” she says. “It comes down to the nuance of how it’s played. That’s what will affect our opinion of the outcome.

“The play is like a mirror, but it’s like someone quietly handing you a little hand mirror. It’s not preachy.

“It’s an incredible play… lush with thoughtful points. It’s an interesting story you can get wrapped up in. It’s not in your face, it’s: Think about this, discuss this.

“It’s a great piece of theater.” ¦

“Race”

>> When: Jan. 27-Feb. 12
>> Where: The Norris Center, Naples
>> Cost: Tickets start at $35
>> Info: (866) 811-4111 or www.gulfshoreplayouse.org
>> Note: Explicit language. Not for children.