Harlem Renaissance Man and His Family, Behind Closed Doors
By NEIL GENZLINGER
Published: November 21, 2010
The first act of “Knock Me a Kiss,” a dandy play about the ill-advised marriage of W. E. B. Du Bois’s daughter, is such rollicking fun that you may find yourself worrying at the intermission about whether there’s any way this production can successfully work itself around to the serious part of the story that you know lies ahead. But somehow it does, keeping its sense of humor but muzzling it just enough to allow some drama and poignancy to enter the mix.
Lia Chang
"Knock Me a Kiss": André De Shields as W. E. B. Du Bois and Erin Cherry as his daughter, Yolande, in Charles Smith's play at the Abrons Art Center.
The play, by Charles Smith, is a fictional imagining of a well-known real-life story: how in 1928 in the midst of the Harlem Renaissance, Yolande Du Bois (Erin Cherry), only child of one of the century’s leading black figures, married the poet Countee Cullen (Sean Phillips) in a ceremony that rivaled a royal wedding. The marriage quickly fell apart, apparently after Cullen told his new wife that he preferred men.
Mr. Smith’s smart script assumes that you’re aware of the rough outlines of this tale, and it derives its considerable humor from the advantage you enjoy over the characters, especially the clueless Yolande and her mother (Marie Thomas) and father (André De Shields). And this is decidedly not a W.Bois hagiography: the great man’s flaws, especially his odd ideas about love and marriage, are on full display, and Mr. De Shields expertly lets you laugh at them without allowing the role to degenerate into parody.
The Du Bois characters may get the focus, but it is the performances in two secondary roles that really keep the zip in this production by the Legacy Creative Arts Company and Woodie King Jr.’s New Federal Theater. Gillian Glasco brings sass and nice comic timing to her role as Yolande’s friend and confidante. And Morocco Omari, as the slick, slang-slinging jazzman whom Yolande really loves, starts things off with a dazzling opening scene and turns up just often enough to re-energize the proceedings when they seem about to flag.
There are moments in the second act when the play seems less like a work about the past and more like a work from the past — a bit of melodramatic excess creeps in — but Chuck Smith, the director, keeps this to a minimum. He also does as well as possible within the confines of dingy Abrons Arts Center space, delivering an engaging, well-acted production that deserves a better theater and a longer run.
