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<\/a>We all think of Lorraine Hansberry\u2019s Pulitzer Prize-winning \u201cRaisin in the Sun\u201d as the first play written by an African-American woman to reach Broadway (1959). What most don\u2019t know is that the Obie Award-winning \u201cTrouble in Mind,\u201d but for demanding producers and a stubborn playwright, would have been the first to make it to the Great White Way.<\/p>\n
The play within \u201cTrouble In Mind,\u201d titled \u201cChaos in Belleville,\u201d is a melodrama set in the South that concerns a lynching. As it is rehearsed, friction occurs between white producers and the director and the largely African American company. Prior to the intended Broadway move of \u201cTrouble in Mind,\u201d producers insisted on a happier ending (likely one that put the powerful in a better light) and a change in title. Childress refused. Hence, the play was largely forgotten until recently. It is much performed at major regional theaters.<\/p>\n
Directed by Moxie Founding Artistic Director Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, \u201cTrouble in Mind\u201d is fast moving and involves nine characters at loggerheads, the most fascinating and fractious are the intractable leading lady Wiletta Mayer (Monique Gaffney) and the implacable director Al Manners (Ruff Yeager), surely two of San Diego\u2019s most accomplished actors.<\/p>\n Other characters are the memory-challenged theater custodian (Tom Kilroy), a young actor in his first important role (Vimel Sephus), Millie, the ing\u00e9nue (Cashae Monya), a seasoned black actor (Victor Morris, whose speech about a lynching he witnessed is chilling), the well-meaning white cast member, Judy Sears (Samantha Ginn, the height of subtle, comic cluelessness), the browbeaten stage manager (Justin Lang), and Judy\u2019s character\u2019s father in the play-within-the play (Nick Young).<\/p>\n The comedy proceeds from character and the characters are splendidly portrayed. Wiletta and Millie, particularly, are coming off years of portraying maids and servants with floral or gemstone names. They are eager to be seen as major characters by then contemporary audiences.<\/p>\n Even beyond its historical significance, \u201cTrouble in Mind\u201d is a true find and a marvelous vehicle for the prodigious talents on display here.<\/p>\n![\"_mg_7166web\"](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/mg_7166web.jpg\")
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(Foto por Daren Scott)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n![\"Screen](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Screen-Shot-2015-02-13-at-11.06.12-AM-204x300.png\")
Adding to the enjoyment is Angelica Ynfante\u2019s impeccably detailed set, the backstage of a Broadway theater in 1957. Eye candy fashions are created by Jacinda Johnston-Fischer, adorning female and male bodies alike, with the prizewinner being Gaffney\u2019s era-appropriate, draped floral number in Act II. Missy Bradstreet is the wig designer, her most characterful being Ginn\u2019s peek-a-boo blond tresses. Sherrice Mojgani is responsible for lighting and Rachel LeVine for sound.<\/p>\n