Penn State School of Theater presents a dramatic coming of age story by rising playwright Tarell Alvin. In The Red and Brown Water is set in the Louisiana Projects, centered on a girl named Oya who longed to be a runner, but due to unforseen circumstances, her life opportunities were cut short. She is courted by two men, Elegba (a womanizer & a vain young man who joins the military) and Ogun Size (a timid young man who has a stutter). Oya must choose between a tumultuous life with a man to whom she's attracted to or a stable life with a man she is not in love with.
In The Red and Brown Water displayed a wonderful sense of community. The relationships between characters were well thought out and beautifully developed. Most notably, Oya has strong relationships with every member of the community. Her neighbors are like family, and each of them play a role in her life. The decision to morph Louisiana Projects into an ancient African setting in which every cast member wore the simplest clothing, gave more emphasis on characterization. The audience also gets a sense that the Projects could be compared to an African village where tribes were dominant and kinship was important.
The production benefited from strong acting and character development from each and every actor. Dre Parker shined as Oya. She embodied her character both mentally and physically. Her Oya was quite complex, she was naive, confused, and even assertive at times. The audience could feel her pain and identify with her. Also, Christian Thompson gave a superb performance as Elegba. He made his narcissistic character quite believable, but was also keen on not making him a stock character. Stori Ayers as Elegua brought massive amounts of comic relief. She milked every line she had on stage and was a pure pleasure to watch. Her "cougar" chemistry with Christian was extremely funny.
The ensemble of dancers and singers must be recognized. They remained in character the entire time and were on queue perfectly. The dancing was incredible - Quilan Arnold's breakdancing was jawdropping.
The only criticism I have would be the introduction of characters. Some names could not be heard, so, it was a bit hard to follow the story at times.
This is not my first time seeing a live performance, but it was my first time seeing a producting from The School of Theater. I am involved in student run theater groups, No Refund Theatre and Thespians which are low-tech/budget, so, I was pleasantly surprised to see the wonderful technical work done on this show. It looked professional. Seeing this show has encouraged me to attend more productions from The School of Theatre.
Bravo!
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