1989 CHICAGO YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL
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What does this mean from a theatergoer’s point of view? In the case of this year’s three winning one-acts, chosen from 113 submissions and currently on view in an evening-long production at Pegasus, it means that these writers are writing because they have something to say. These scripts aren’t the calculated crowd pleasers one encounters from budding commercial craftsmen trying to make their way onto the television fast track. For all their flaws–awkward structure, simplistic exposition, and overly obvious moralizing are the main ones–these plays exhibit a seriousness of purpose far different from the manipulative inanity that generally passes for teen-oriented (or for that matter adult-oriented) entertainment.
As a package, the three pieces present some interesting patterns. Two plays are about (and by) blacks, the third about (and by) a white. The two plays about blacks–There’s a Right and a Wrong Way to Love Someone, by Rimini Butler, and Go for the Bad, by Michael Horton–are both concerned with troubled families: in each, a teenage boy groping toward manhood is in conflict with his unmarried, confused mother, and the near-crisis family situation is eased by the appearance of a firm but kindly surrogate father who steers the boy in a positive direction.
I say “even amusing” because if anything is in short supply in these three plays, it’s humor. The only really funny moments of the evening come less from the scripts than from the performances–especially those of Marco Antonio Coronado, a remarkably expressive actor, as the deaf friend of David; Evan Lionel as the high-spirited pal of Roy in There’s a Right and a Wrong Way; and Tom Dobrocky as the comically macho gang leader in Go for the Bad. It’s another interesting pattern that the second bananas have the best roles.
