The Old Settler is Far from Settled

The Intiman Theatre in Seattle, Washington, is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary, and fifth play presented as part of its Silver Anniversary was John Henry Redwood's The Old Settler, which previewed on October 25,1997, and ran between October 29 and November 22. Ably directed by Claude Purdy, production featured Tony Award winner Mary Alice in title role as Elizabeth Borny, with Obie Award winner Barbara Montgomery in supporting role of Quilly McGrath. Under directorial stewardship of Walter Dallas, play premiered last February at Mc Carter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey. The historical and geographical location of play is Harlem in Spring of 1943. The Borny-McGrath sisters live together in a comfortable apartment during Harlem's hey-day. Act One opens with two sisters returning home from a funeral. We learn that Elizabeth, on recommendation of her pastor, has rented a room in apartment she shares with her sister to a young country newly transplanted from South Carolina. Quilly worries that Elizabeth has made a hasty decision, despite minister's recommendation, because, knows, boy could be a rapist. But when Husband Witherspoon, played by Evan Dexter Parke, arrives to move into his room audience is greeted with a young searching for his long lost love, Lou Bessie Preston, who has been living in Harlem for several years. While Husband combs streets of Harlem in search of Lou Bessie, audience is presented with snapshots of Harlem through conversations of two sisters, who discuss church, women's group of which Quilly is a member (Ladies Of The Golden Scepter), and gossip in church about Elizabeth, old settler (i.e., a single woman over fifty) renting a room to a young man. When Lou Bessie (played by Gwen Mulamba) finds out that Husband is in Harlem and is trying to find her, she hastens to Elizabeth's apartment. Lou Bessie makes a grand entrance which is enhanced by loud and provocative style of her apparel, designed by Michael Alan Stein. While waiting for Husband, Lou Bessie and Elizabeth converse, and we learn that Lou Bessie imagines her relationship with Husband largely in monetary terms: She dreams of opening a beauty salon with insurance money Husband inherited from recent death of his mother. Their conversation immediately establishes good woman/bad girl dichotomy in scenes where, in spirit of Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus, Elizabeth and Lou Bessie battle for soul of Husband. A series of interesting moments and vignettes follows: Elizabeth and Quilly discuss a group of Blacks from their church who encounter blatant acts of racism while traveling by train to South; Quilly, concerned that her sister has a romantic interest in Husband, discourages her from getting involved with such a young man and thereby escalates tension between two sisters which will erupt in second act; Husband explains to Quilly why he chooses not to take up his country's patriotic call to arms against Germans and Japanese; confronted with fact that Lou Bessie has been transformed by her experiences in Harlem and South Carolina, Husband demonstrates that he is not equipped emotionally or intellectually to deal with person she has become; and tension between Lou Bessie and Elizabeth escalates in a battle for Husband's heart and soul. The play has several problems. One is that central trope of the old settler seems mired in confusion of play's identity, which takes on elements of different genres--Chittlin circuit melodrama, domestic realism--and different theatrical works--e.g., Emily Mann's Having Our Say and Pearl Cleage's Blues for an Alabama Sky. The audience is not lead to a full understanding of, or an appreciation for, cultural and social significance of the old settler to ethos of Black community (see Evelyn Higginbotham's Righteous Discontent: The Women's Movement in Black Church, 1880-1920)

Far right · Political science · History · Law · Theatre and Performance Studies