Oceanside Theatre's humorous 'Hen& Biscuits' a relatable household comedy
Funerals may be comforting and unifying for members of the family. They will also be hotbeds for the airing of previous grudges and long-untold household secrets and techniques.
All the above happens when the Jenkins and Mabry households come collectively to mourn their patriarch in Douglas Lyons’ Black household comedy “Hen & Biscuits,” which Oceanside Theatre Firm is presenting in its California premiere. The play opened Saturday on the Brooks Theater in downtown Oceanside.
The play debuted on Broadway in 2021. Since then, it has turn into among the many most produced performs in America and Lyons has turn into a much-in-demand author for stage and display. “Hen & Biscuits” kicks off OTC’s first season beneath new creative director Kevin “Blax” Burroughs, who additionally directed the manufacturing.
In his director’s notes in this system, Burroughs describes Lyons’ play as a narrative written “by a Black artist for the Black group,” however the trials and tribulations of the characters on this 90-minute comedy are common. There’s a wry humor and knowingness to the various Black cultural, music, non secular and racial references within the play, however audiences of all ethnicities will join with these characters and their struggles.
The play is called after the favourite meal of the late church pastor Bernard Jenkins, whose funeral day has arrived. Heading up the holy festivities are his daughter, the conservative and often-disapproving Baneatta Mabry and her longtime husband, Reginald, who has nervously assumed management of the household church. Becoming a member of the Mabrys on the service are their two grownup kids, seemingly directionless daughter Simone, and upbeat son Kenny, a New York stage actor who arrives together with his anxious White boyfriend Logan. And arriving from Atlanta is Baneatta’s self-adoring youthful sister Beverly, who brings alongside her teen daughter La’Trice, an aspiring rapper.
Tensions flare between the long-estranged Baneatta and Beverly, and Baneatta’s chilly rejection of her son’s homosexual relationship is potent. However as soon as the high-energy and wacky funeral service will get beneath method, the household begins to attract power in unity and plenty of touching, conciliatory speeches are made. Then an uninvited visitor reveals up on the funeral with a secret identified solely to Baneatta and the story takes a swift flip.
Kimberly King and Durwood Murray lead the solid as Baneatta and Reginald Mabry, who share a young, lived-in heat because the long-loving couple, and Murray’s high-stepping sermon is likely one of the funniest moments within the play. Because the extroverted Beverly, Taylor Renee Henderson hilariously electrifies the play, stealing each scene she’s in. Kiara Hudlin has an understated grace as Simone; Allyce Calloway has the requisite snark and sass you’d count on from 15-year-old La’Trice. And Jacob James and Marley Bauer stability every others’ vitality as Kenny and Logan. Michael Amira Temple completes the solid because the funeral’s shock visitor.
Andre Buck Jr. designed sound and created authentic music for the play. Emily Carter designed costumes. Reiko Huffman designed the church surroundings and Mashun Tucker designed lighting.
Among the plot threads in “Hen & Biscuits” are clichéd, and never the entire jokes land, however there are additionally some great monologues and heartfelt household moments.
‘Hen & Biscuits’
When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Via March 24
The place: Oceanside Theatre Co. on the Brooks Theater, 217 N. Coast Freeway, Oceanside
Tickets: $45
Telephone: (760) 433-8900
On-line: oceansidetheatre.org
Credit: Original Article