"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." -- George Santayana
The world premiere of multi-award-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan's [The Kentucky Cycle, All the Way] ReCON$truXion opened at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival on Friday night, receiving enthusiastic responses from the Octagon Theatre's capacity crowd.
In it, Schenkkan tracks the largely ignored story of John Lynch -- an African-American man who rose through the ranks of the political landscape in Reconstruction Era Mississippi all the way to the United States Congress -- and the pitfalls and temporary triumphs of a Reconstruction agenda that failed or was betrayed by the very people who lauded it at its start.
Many of the issues concerning the rights of freemen of color to exist on a level with their white counterparts in all social and political arenas have yet to be completely resolved, points which the playwright makes clear through historical references and sometimes anachronistic vocabulary that bridges then and now. Schenkkan skillfully shifts time periods, beginning in the twentieth century and going back and forth in time, allowing us to witness the impact that history has on the present. It's an easy link to today.
Eden Marryshow plays Lynch as an agent whose moral authority is always demonstrated with an urgency that commands respect, and who conscripts the audience into his memory-play. He is abetted by a dexterous ensemble of eight men and one woman who all play multiple historic figures: Grant [Liam Craig], Lamar [Grant Chapman], Garfield [Matt Wolpe], and others; in an otherwise powerful male dominated world, Devin Kessler portrays Mabel, Lynch's love interest, and his niece Agnes who assists him in editing his book while demonstrating against the controversial film Birth of a Nation; you have to pay strict attention, since some appear briefly and actors change roles quickly.
There are some stunning projections [Rasean Davonte Johnson] that visually enhance a monochromatic set [Robert Brill] and costumes [Richard St. Clair].
ReCON$truXion has a very short run at ASF; perhaps it will find a wider life elsewhere. As we approach America's 250th celebrations, there is still a lot at stake for "We the People".
