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Theater review: Many faces of ‘Masks’ are show of human expression

Star Tribune

Published: May 17, 2004

By Rohan Preston

Carlyle Brown is a gifted playwright who seems to have one aim in his latest work: to complicate how we see our history and thus our everyday lives.  In one of the playlets that make up his provocative, often witty work, “Talking Masks,” a pair of hungry runaway slaves-a dark skinned black man played by James A. Williams and his light skinned wife, played by Louise Smith-happen upon an unattended picnic spread.  They can smell the food inside a tempting basket that includes fried chicken and candied yams.  He urges her to steal a meal; if caught, her skin color will lessen her punishment.  As soon as she makes a go for the food, the owner, a white woman, returns.

It is here that the slaves’ ruse comes into focus.  The wife is playing her husband’s white master (and enjoying it a bit).  But the master is not a particularly harsh one, letting his slave speak when not spoken to, a relationship that puzzles the white woman (played with apt haughtiness and furrowed brows by Gwendolyn Schwinke).  The white woman, although confused by their peculiar interaction, invites the white master (a light skinned black woman) to partake of the meal.  The presumed master then fetches some food for the slave (her husband).

Brown, who also directs “Talking Masks,” hits at one of America’s rawest nerves in this scene, which is based on the story of William and Ellen Craft.  But he does so in a way fraught with humor and that reveals the Kafka-esque world created by the nation’s racial caste system.

The smartly directed production, which premiered Friday at Pillsbury House Theatre in Minneapolis, is quite provocative.  It has six pieces strung together like appetizers, including one about a mother under interrogation for killing her child (“Mother Love”), another about two lovers saying goodbye over the phone (“The Human Voice”) and a sassy piece called “White Girl from the Projects.”

Because of its episodic structure, “Masks” is more a work of bite-size samplings than a full, meaty play.  Still, you have to hand it to Brown, for his astute observations and the light touch with which he stages this work.  “Masks” is simple, clean and effective, achieving a cohesive message about human connections.

One particular way he has upended expectations is in casting.  Smith, a fine performer with commitment and moxie, is white.  She plays a black woman who’s playing a white man in that runaway slave number.  This racial shifting, in history and in how we experience the play, highlights the absurdity of race as it shows the identity maze that racial policies can create.

Smith’s race may be unimportant in one way:  It’s not really fair to categorize this show as being solely about race, even though it is informed by the likes of psychologist Frantz Fanon and comedian David Chappelle, with Greek mask drama and a touch of vaudeville.

“Mask” is really a showcase for Smith, the veteran avant-garde performer who now heads the theater department at Antioch College in Ohio.  She is at the center of all the pieces, bringing her characters to thorny, throbbing life.

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