Following up on his successful 2006 solo show Emergence-See!, writer/performer Daniel Beaty returns with Through the Night, a dramatic monologue about the tensions between African-American fathers and sons, husbands and wives. The dynamic Beaty impersonates a slew of contemporary characters, transitioning from one to the other in quick, seamless fashion, coming up with a distinctive voice each time. He also occasionally kicks out the stops with an impassioned burst of poetry or song (Beaty could make a living as a gospel singer if he so desired).
The show's canvas is large -- perhaps a bit too large -- but Beaty doesn't let that faze him. He fearlessly gives us a self-loathing record company executive battling the clock to come up with a marketing campaign for a crappy new CD; a 300-pound bishop fighting to overcome his addiction to sweets; an ex-con trying to go straight as the manager of a health-food store (in the 'hood, no less); a boy-genius hoping to come up with an elixir that will solve all of the ex-con's problems (the latter's HIV positive with a baby on the way); and more.
All the criss-crossing conflicts introduced and explored in Through the Night must be resolved by dawn.
The tension is heightened by the play's filial concerns: what does one generation owe to the next, Beaty asks. And what do African-Americans as a people owe to the past, to their collective history? Should they live for themselves or for each other?
Beaty fights hard to answer these questions and to infuse each character with enough hope and courage to surmount their problems and move on.
Thanks to Beaty's powerful writing and acting -- and to Randolph-Wright's slick staging -- Through the Night crackles from start to finish.
