"A Love Like This" Play Review
Intimate. Ventilating. Empowering.
The Art Prevails Project and New City Players presents a cosmic exploration of the experience that is love — Black love. Supported by a dynamic cast of actors and playwrights, fiercely intelligent stage direction and set design, A Love Like This captures the weight and truth of a knowledge our people share: black love is multi-dimensional, it is wholesome, and it is alive. A Love Like This, directed by Darius V. Daughtry showcases the angles of love that are present in the scenes of our daily existence; forever a gift, and tangible in its transcendence.
A collection of 6 scenes, each written by different playwrights (Darius V. Daughtry, Crys Alexandra, Peter Lange, Daryl Patrice, and Kelli Rae Jordan) the play explores scenes of life in which this transcendent love lives. An interesting layer of perspective is added as we find certain actors return to the stage in different roles or realities, rather.
In the first scene, entitled Pops: A Musical (Alexandra), the audience witnesses a tale of Black love in the form of responsibility, honor, deference. A father (widowed; Byron Holton), his daughter (Ayomi Russell), and her love (Xaire) all struggle with difficult decisions as they discover what love deems their fate — to let go? to latch? Perhaps to learn a love that honors, a love that allows, or the reward of pursuing love. Later, Xaire returns to the stage in Deep Cuts, as a sullen young man vilified by love who finds himself involuntarily engaged in a barbershop seminar about self-awareness, finding the right woman, and real love. This choice to have certain actors bring life to characters of unrelated backgrounds or personalities supports an intention to reveal the multi-faceted nature of any black human. To oppose the mistaken assumption that black experience is monolithic.
The scope of storytelling in A Love Like This spans a wide range, covering black women stereotypes, police brutality, the reality of being a member of the LGBTQIAA+ community in a Christian family, and more. A story of this magnitude requires ample space to exist, so writer and creator of many realms(poet, playwright, actor, director, and dopeness curator), Darius Daughtry, selected the most creative venue to support his vision.
Daughtry’s work (A Theatrical Mixtape Vol. 1 & Vol. 2, Let The Good Times Rolle) holds a signature of bending the reality of a given space to envelop the audience as a part of the performance, the experience. He has a special skill for conducting the audience’s reception of reality through highly interactive staging, and A Love Like This takes this skill to new heights.
Set in the lovely, intimate Peck Courtyard of the Broward Center for Performing Arts, the vast Floridian nighttime sky, the open stage, and the soft labyrinth of the courtyard’s steps, curves, and staircases orchestrate a spiritual experience.
Purple portals of light illuminate narrator-poets (Nyah Hardmon and Marnino Toussaint) who guide the audience through to the next reality with the rhythm of their words as they descend from above or appear before your eyes. Sometimes the narrators are connecting ideas or preparing you to receive contrasting examples of black love. For the transition between Deep Cuts and Double Dutch, our lady narrator (Nyah) highlights the juxtaposition of Black Brotherhood and Black Sisterhood with the poem “Stay Loving the Crew”. These scenes display the kind of love and conversation that exists in black friendships in the familiar cultural sanctuaries of the barbershop (Deep Cuts) and jumping rope in the streets (Double Dutch). Another perfect moment to appreciate the honest storytelling of the play.
As if the sensory vibes of this show weren’t already pleasantly overwhelming, at various moments of the play, live music fills the courtyard. Soul-Funk-Fusion band PurpleFlux (led by actor Marnino T.) is the musical guest of the night. However, they aren’t the only musical magic in the show. At A Love Like This. you might hear a sweet serenade or a romantic rap battle. The staging allows for so many moving parts of the show to live in their own window. The perspective of the audience becomes panoramic. Once you connect to your seat, you realize you are connected to everything and everyone - the ground, the stage, the actors, the movement. A Love Like This warps you inside of a snow globe of stories, poetry, and music where the audience is given clear notice: “You are a part of this too.”
The Art Prevails Project and New City Players have successfully created a microcosm of black life that speaks to be understood only through the lens of love. It is a comforting, provocative display of love, black love & life in all of its essence. A Love Like This conquers the stage and envelops the audience with immaculate stage direction and design, thought-provoking stories, and the most emotionally compelling performance by an exquisite ensemble.
Daughtry writes, “This show was always about love for me. Love is beautiful. Love is complex. Love is human.” This work prizes black love as boundless, as both craft and culture, and infinite in form. Anyone who sees this production will know, A Love Like This is more than a show. It is a piece of meditation, and you will leave knowing your decision was an act of self-love.
A Love Like This also features the amazing talents of Stephon Duncan, JaShae Jones, Maggie Maxwell, Sheena O. Murray and Kent Wilson on stage and Roberta Burke as Stage Manager.
A brief online run of the show is slated in the coming weeks.
Contributed by Devonne Campbell - Sophia’s Daughter
