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The Story (McDowell)

Racial prejudice in America’s newsrooms takes many forms, according to award-winning African-American playwright Tracey Scott Wilson (The Story). This ripped-from-the-headlines drama, now enjoying its Triangle premiere in Raleigh Little Theatre's Gaddy-Goodwin Teaching Theatre, looks at racism in several of its ugliest varieties -- white-on-black, black-on-white, and black-on-black -- as well as sexism and class prejudice.

The curtain rises as idealistic white teachers Tim and Jessica Dunn (Scott Nagel and Izzy Burger) nervously navigate the mean streets of the inner-city section where they teach, looking for the neighborhood restaurant where they are to meet his wealthy parents. It is night, they are lost, and the shadows are ominous. A shot rings out, and Tim crumples and dies.

The search for the unseen, presumably African-American assailant obsesses the police and consumes two black reporters, wily veteran Neil Petterson (George Hill) and ambitious newcomer Yvonne Robinson (Chaunesti N. Lyon) and their African-American editor, Pat Johnson (Jackie Marriott). When Yvonne interviews Latisha (Stacie Alston), a teenage gangbanger from a well-to-do background, and Latisha claims to be a member of the girl gang AOB (Any Other Brother) that shot Tim Dunn, Yvonne has the scoop that will propel her from the Outlook (lifestyle) section to the Metro desk, where she can be a real journalist, reporting hard news. Neil, who is making surprising headway in unearthing Mrs. Dunn’s possible financial motives for murdering her husband, has a hissy fit.

Instead of following up on his promising leads on Jessica Dunn, Petterson starts to investigate Yvonne Robinson; and he finds discrepancies in her resume that bring to mind discrepancies in the stories of Janet Cooke of The Washington Post and other dissembling black reporters of more recent vintage. Could it be that Yvonne’s career-making story, “Confessions of a Girl Gang Member,” is all smoke and mirrors, too?

Chaunesti Lyon is a veritable tiger -- beautiful, but dangerous when cornered -- as Yvonne Robinson; and George Hill and especially Jackie Marriott provide perfect foils as African-American co-workers suspicious of Yvonne’s background and journalistic methods. All three devour their meaty roles with gusto.

Scott Nagel is good in the dual roles of Tim Dunn, who dies in the opening scene, and Yvonne’s white boyfriend and potential boss Jeff Morgan, an editor on the Metro section who comes from an extremely well-to-do family. Stacie Alston is remarkable as Latisha, a wild child of the hip-hop generation who, despite her family’s wealth and her prep-school education, claims that she is a member of a murderous street gang. But Izzy Burger, perhaps because of the small size of her role, makes less of an impression as Jessica Dunn, the grieving and very pregnant widow.

Lauren Reese, Starr Kilgore, and Donnis Collins (temporarily substituting for Courtney Hooks) form a chorus. They add crisp cameos as various police officers, reporters, and outraged citizens interviewed on the streets about the police crackdown on the minority community in the aftermath of the Dunn murder.

Director Linda O’Day Young does a superb job of sustaining the play’s dramatic tension. Scenic and lighting designer Rick Young creates an exceptional arena for the play’s convoluted and sometimes overlapping events, and costume designer Susan Worthington-White dresses the cast superlatively, in colorful outfits that reveal much about their own personal style.

This RLT production of The Story is one of the biggest surprise hits of the 2005 theater season to date. Dramatist Tracey Scott Wilson is absolutely fearless in her exploration about how racial, sexual, and class prejudices can handicap the search for a killer in a murder investigation and blind those who have them from ever seeing the real truth about themselves or each other. Don’t miss it.

Raleigh Little Theatre presents The Story Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 15-17, at 8 p.m.; Sunday, Sept. 18, at 3 p.m.; and Sunday, Sept. 18, at 3 p.m. in RLT’s Gaddy-Goodwin Teaching Theatre, 301 Pogue St., Raleigh, North Carolina. $15, except $12 for students and seniors Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday. 919/821-3111. Note: All performances are wheelchair accessible, and assistive listening devices are available for persons with hearing impairments. Raleigh Little Theatre: http://www.raleighlittletheatre.org/story.htm.

WHAT: The Triangle Theater Review is a FREE weekly e-mail theatrical newsletter, featuring previews and reviews by Robert W. McDowell and reviews by Alan R. Hall, Todd Morman, and Scott Ross. (For brief bios of our contributors, see http://www.cvnc.org/about/critics-bios.html.) John Lambert and Classical Voice of North Carolina reprint our previews, reviews, theater calendar, and theater and film links online at http://www.cvnc.org/. The Triangle Theater Review previews and reviews are now listed under “Performance Reviews” on the CVNC home page. (Just click on the show title for the preview, which will be followed on the web page by the review.) For a comprehensive list of Triangle “Theatre Openings,” see http://www.cvnc.org/calendar/openings.html. For our extensive list of “Theater and Film Links,” go to http://www.cvnc.org/links/theatre.html. QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? E-mail RobertM748@aol.com.

DONATIONS: If you value the comprehensive, in-depth local theater coverage that the Triangle Theater Review provides, please use your credit card to donate online via PayPal: http://www.cvnc.org/support/index.html; or mail a generous check today to Classical Voice of North Carolina, 3305 Ruffin Street, Raleigh, NC 27607-4025. Because CVNC is a 501(c)(3) organization, all financial contributions are tax-deductible. Be sure to indicate that you want to support continued online publication of the Triangle Theater Review.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE: E-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TRIANGLE THEATER REVIEW in the Subject: line. To have your name removed from our mailing list, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type UNSUBSCRIBE TRIANGLE THEATER REVIEW in the Subject: line.

COPYRIGHT: Editorial content and all formats © 2005 CVNC and the respective authors. Reproduction in any form without authorization of Classical Voice of North Carolina and the respective authors is prohibited. CVNC will maintain an archive of standard previews and reviews from past issues for at least a year, at http://cvnc.org/reviews/archives.html. To request copies of web articles from 2004 and earlier, e-mail cvnc1@earthlink.net.


You are here: Home > Reviews and articles about the theatre's productions > The Story (McDowell)

The Story (McDowell)

Racial prejudice in America’s newsrooms takes many forms, according to award-winning African-American playwright Tracey Scott Wilson (The Story). This ripped-from-the-headlines drama, now enjoying its Triangle premiere in Raleigh Little Theatre's Gaddy-Goodwin Teaching Theatre, looks at racism in several of its ugliest varieties -- white-on-black, black-on-white, and black-on-black -- as well as sexism and class prejudice.

The curtain rises as idealistic white teachers Tim and Jessica Dunn (Scott Nagel and Izzy Burger) nervously navigate the mean streets of the inner-city section where they teach, looking for the neighborhood restaurant where they are to meet his wealthy parents. It is night, they are lost, and the shadows are ominous. A shot rings out, and Tim crumples and dies.

The search for the unseen, presumably African-American assailant obsesses the police and consumes two black reporters, wily veteran Neil Petterson (George Hill) and ambitious newcomer Yvonne Robinson (Chaunesti N. Lyon) and their African-American editor, Pat Johnson (Jackie Marriott). When Yvonne interviews Latisha (Stacie Alston), a teenage gangbanger from a well-to-do background, and Latisha claims to be a member of the girl gang AOB (Any Other Brother) that shot Tim Dunn, Yvonne has the scoop that will propel her from the Outlook (lifestyle) section to the Metro desk, where she can be a real journalist, reporting hard news. Neil, who is making surprising headway in unearthing Mrs. Dunn’s possible financial motives for murdering her husband, has a hissy fit.

Instead of following up on his promising leads on Jessica Dunn, Petterson starts to investigate Yvonne Robinson; and he finds discrepancies in her resume that bring to mind discrepancies in the stories of Janet Cooke of The Washington Post and other dissembling black reporters of more recent vintage. Could it be that Yvonne’s career-making story, “Confessions of a Girl Gang Member,” is all smoke and mirrors, too?

Chaunesti Lyon is a veritable tiger -- beautiful, but dangerous when cornered -- as Yvonne Robinson; and George Hill and especially Jackie Marriott provide perfect foils as African-American co-workers suspicious of Yvonne’s background and journalistic methods. All three devour their meaty roles with gusto.

Scott Nagel is good in the dual roles of Tim Dunn, who dies in the opening scene, and Yvonne’s white boyfriend and potential boss Jeff Morgan, an editor on the Metro section who comes from an extremely well-to-do family. Stacie Alston is remarkable as Latisha, a wild child of the hip-hop generation who, despite her family’s wealth and her prep-school education, claims that she is a member of a murderous street gang. But Izzy Burger, perhaps because of the small size of her role, makes less of an impression as Jessica Dunn, the grieving and very pregnant widow.

Lauren Reese, Starr Kilgore, and Donnis Collins (temporarily substituting for Courtney Hooks) form a chorus. They add crisp cameos as various police officers, reporters, and outraged citizens interviewed on the streets about the police crackdown on the minority community in the aftermath of the Dunn murder.

Director Linda O’Day Young does a superb job of sustaining the play’s dramatic tension. Scenic and lighting designer Rick Young creates an exceptional arena for the play’s convoluted and sometimes overlapping events, and costume designer Susan Worthington-White dresses the cast superlatively, in colorful outfits that reveal much about their own personal style.

This RLT production of The Story is one of the biggest surprise hits of the 2005 theater season to date. Dramatist Tracey Scott Wilson is absolutely fearless in her exploration about how racial, sexual, and class prejudices can handicap the search for a killer in a murder investigation and blind those who have them from ever seeing the real truth about themselves or each other. Don’t miss it.

Raleigh Little Theatre presents The Story Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 15-17, at 8 p.m.; Sunday, Sept. 18, at 3 p.m.; and Sunday, Sept. 18, at 3 p.m. in RLT’s Gaddy-Goodwin Teaching Theatre, 301 Pogue St., Raleigh, North Carolina. $15, except $12 for students and seniors Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday. 919/821-3111. Note: All performances are wheelchair accessible, and assistive listening devices are available for persons with hearing impairments. Raleigh Little Theatre: http://www.raleighlittletheatre.org/story.htm.

WHAT: The Triangle Theater Review is a FREE weekly e-mail theatrical newsletter, featuring previews and reviews by Robert W. McDowell and reviews by Alan R. Hall, Todd Morman, and Scott Ross. (For brief bios of our contributors, see http://www.cvnc.org/about/critics-bios.html.) John Lambert and Classical Voice of North Carolina reprint our previews, reviews, theater calendar, and theater and film links online at http://www.cvnc.org/. The Triangle Theater Review previews and reviews are now listed under “Performance Reviews” on the CVNC home page. (Just click on the show title for the preview, which will be followed on the web page by the review.) For a comprehensive list of Triangle “Theatre Openings,” see http://www.cvnc.org/calendar/openings.html. For our extensive list of “Theater and Film Links,” go to http://www.cvnc.org/links/theatre.html. QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? E-mail RobertM748@aol.com.

DONATIONS: If you value the comprehensive, in-depth local theater coverage that the Triangle Theater Review provides, please use your credit card to donate online via PayPal: http://www.cvnc.org/support/index.html; or mail a generous check today to Classical Voice of North Carolina, 3305 Ruffin Street, Raleigh, NC 27607-4025. Because CVNC is a 501(c)(3) organization, all financial contributions are tax-deductible. Be sure to indicate that you want to support continued online publication of the Triangle Theater Review.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE: E-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TRIANGLE THEATER REVIEW in the Subject: line. To have your name removed from our mailing list, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type UNSUBSCRIBE TRIANGLE THEATER REVIEW in the Subject: line.

COPYRIGHT: Editorial content and all formats © 2005 CVNC and the respective authors. Reproduction in any form without authorization of Classical Voice of North Carolina and the respective authors is prohibited. CVNC will maintain an archive of standard previews and reviews from past issues for at least a year, at http://cvnc.org/reviews/archives.html. To request copies of web articles from 2004 and earlier, e-mail cvnc1@earthlink.net.

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