LAFPI

The Southern California premiere of Nambi E. Kelley’s visceral, groundbreaking stage adaption of Richard Wright’s racially charged novel, Native Son, at Antaeus Theatre Company, directed by Andi Chapman.

Performances of Native Son open on Thursday, April 19 and continue on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m., and Mondays at 8 p.m. (dark Monday, April 23 and Monday, May 28) through June 3. There will be one additional Thursday evening performance on May 31 at 8 p.m. Previews begin April 12

Set in 1930s Chicago, where opportunities for African-American men are elusive, Kelley’s adaptation focuses on the inner workings of the protagonist’s mind as a series of unleashed events violently and irrevocably seal his fate.

Jon Chaffin stars as Bigger Thomas, suffocating in rat-infested poverty on Chicago’s South Side, with Noel Arthur as “The Black Rat” — the manifestation of Bigger’s double consciousness. When a job as the family chauffeur brings him into the white world of wealthy Mrs. Dalton (Gigi Bermingham), her free-thinking daughter, Mary (Ellis Greer) and Mary’s Communist boyfriend, Jan (Matthew Grondin), circumstances spiral out of control. The ensemble also features Mildred Marie Langford, Ned Mochel, Victoria Platt and Brandon Rachal. (Unlike most Antaeus productions, Native Son is single-cast.)

Double consciousness, according to W.E.B. Du Bois, refers to the effects of white racism — to “the sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.”

“This is the story of a young black man’s life in 1939 America, who from birth is compelled to pass through a tragic gauntlet of oppression,” states Chapman. “The play moves like a runaway train. The tension starts at the top and ratchets up from there.”

“Everything is told from from Bigger’s point of view, through his lens,” explains Kelley. “The adaptation is an exploration of the concept of double consciousness as it relates to the concept of one’s ability to fly or be free. Think of it as a mind-map.”

For more information,  go to www.antaeus.org.

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