After several years of pandemic woes and leadership churn, Baltimore Center Stage is promising a fresh and ambitious start, led by artistic director Stevie Walker-Webb.
As the inaugural play of Walker-Webb’s inaugural season, “Oh Happy Day!” certainly delivers — and it’s more than appropriate that it’s a riff on Noah’s Ark, the ultimate do-over tale.
The 90-minute world premiere, written by and starring Jordan E. Cooper, takes place in modern-day Mississippi and dives deep into questions of love and family, church and God, identity and free will.
All these themes sound heavy — and they are — but the play itself is uplifting and funny, propelled by a tight, witty script, dare-you-to-stay-seated original songs by gospel composer Donald Lawrence, and the luminous (and more than a little sassy) stylings of the choir, Latrice Pace as Glory Divine, Tiya Askia as Mighty Divine and Courtney Monet as Holy Devine.
The action starts when Keyshawn, played by Cooper, returns to the family that kicked him out as a teenager. He blames them for his life of prostitution and drug use, and they blame him for outing their pastor and costing family patriarch Lewis (James T. Alfred) his job at the church.
Meanwhile, Keyshawn’s sister Niecy (Tamika Lawrence) is getting no gratitude for holding the family together while raising her son Kevin (Justin Sturgis). Even the meat she barbecues is roundly critiqued as too tough to swallow.
When Keyshawn’s return goes horribly wrong, God appears (in several different guises), instructing him to build an ark in order to save his family and himself. But can Keyshawn forge new connections to a family and church that don’t accept him? And does he even want to?
The biblical story of Noah’s Ark probably lives in many people’s mind as a tale of cute animals marching two-by-two to safety.
“Oh Happy Day!” dispenses with the animals and instead delves into its complicated themes of redemption and connection through the words and actions of deeply flawed people who are struggling to do the right things. Keyshawn and his family, like Noah and his, are not sin-free. God isn’t so perfect either, at least not in a way that humans can understand.
They try, though, often getting tangled in their own logic. One of the best exchanges is when Keyshawn and his father are arguing about the famous phrase in Leviticus, the one claiming that a man lying with a man is “an abomination.”
Keyshawn argues that the same book also says that eating pork and shellfish are sins, and Lewis walks right into the trap, yelling at his son that “being gay and eating sausage are not the same thing.” Cooper tilts his head for the perfect beat, getting a big laugh without saying a word.
The set, until a surprise at the end, never changes, with all the action taking place in the yard of a humble home that’s both a blessing and a curse to this troubled family. A barbecue grill, cooler, and a few chairs are among the few simple props. Dramatic lighting and ominous rumbles convincingly portray the storms and strife.
Cooper, just 29 years old, is already a big deal, the youngest Black American playwright on Broadway with his Tony-nominated Ain’t No Mo’ (directed by Walker-Webb) and multiple Emmy nominations for The Ms. Pat Show, on BET, which he created, directs and executive produced.
As Walker-Webb noted, Cooper could have taken his new play anywhere, but he chose Center Stage and Baltimore for its debut before it goes to the Public Theater in New York City. At the curtain call, the two men hugged for a solid, emotional minute; there may have been tears.
Together, they have created something new out of something old, a new piece of art based on one of the oldest tales we know, and maybe a new chapter for Center Stage and Baltimore after a few years of choppy water.
“Oh Happy Day!” originally set to run through October 13, has been extended through October 20. Find tickets online at www.centerstage.org.
