James Ijames’s Good Bones at the Public Theater also takes on the importance of community and largely succeeds in exploring the conflict between gentrification and besieged minority neighborhoods. His basic concept is sound, with several fiery clashes between his quartet of characters, representing different interests as the forces of change and social inequity threaten an African-American urban district.
Ijames’s previous work at the Public, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Fat Ham which later transferred to Broadway, was an innovative meta-theatrical flight of imagination, parodying Hamlet and skewering toxic masculinity and sexual stereotypes. Good Bones is strictly representational—Maruti Evans’s gorgeous set includes a literal kitchen sink. The playwright also introduces supernatural elements but barely develops them. His plot also feels somewhat sketchy so that Good Bones seems like a rough draft rather than a completed project.
Upwardly mobile African-American couple Aisha, a marketing exec, and Travis, a chef, have moved back to Aisha’s old neighborhood with dreams of renovation and renewal. Their contractor Earl also grew up in the same area which was rife with crime, but also full of connected, caring neighbors. The hood is currently undergoing a transition, a condition Earl fears and resents. When it’s revealed Aisha is on the team to bring a gigantic sports arena (nicknamed the Death Star) to the environs, Earl tries to make her see she is betraying her roots and destroying a vibrant network of families. Earl’s sister Carmen, an ambitious college student, enters late in the play, bringing her own concerns and conflicts.
The climactic confrontation between the quartet at a dinner party to celebrate the completion of Earl’s work is a scintillating, pitched battle with each side armed with valid arguments and passions. Aisha has strong points to make about her horrifying experiences in the projects, countered by Earl’s pleas for understanding and how African-Americans constantly get the short end of the stick. This final extended scene is intense and riveting but the hour leading up to it lacks drama and spark. The author interjects the idea of ghosts, but does not explain sufficiently who is haunting the house and what their objectives would be.
Saheem Ali delivers a proficient job of staging, building tension to the explosive dinner party. I enjoyed his gradual revealing of Evans’s magnificent kitchen design by having the characters take down a few tarps and plastic curtains at a time.
Susan Kelchi Watson as Aisha, Mamoudou Athie as Travis, Khris Davis as Earl and Tea Guarino as Carmen each detail the internal struggles of their roles with subtlety and depth, but Good Bones feels like it needs further renovation.
