Rubber City Theatre’s 2022/23 season opened with a prescient, spellbinding drama that would have been at home in any of the great theaters of New York or London. The director, cast and crew presented an intimate portrait of the more-than-four-decade friendship between two American icons, Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony, in Mat Smart’s The Agitators.
Brian Chandler expertly directed an equity cast that enthralled its audience from the opening scene’s harrowing depiction of Douglass on the slave block, through the enduring and tempestuous friendship between the two — a friendship embedded in the 19th century’s historic and traumatic events. The friendship survived through slavery, abolition, voting rights, women’s rights, and a civil war.
This two-person play was done with brilliantly sparse staging, and the sound lighting design brought that minimal staging to life. Two simple wooden boxes across from each other became train platforms on either side of train tracks, while the sound and lighting imitating passing trains created a sense of danger and threat — the shaking of the ground and the lights of the train made you feel like you were in the station. The whole effect created a feeling of suspense and unease.
In another pivotal scene the two characters sit on wooden benches watching a baseball game, brought to life solely through the genius of sound designer Hazen Tobar. We see only the two characters watching the game, but are brought to visualize what they see, through the sounds of the cracking of the bat, sliding of the players into the dirt and cheering of the crowd.
The suitably sparce set was intensified by background projections, designed by Chandler and the theater’s Executive Artistic Director Dane CT Leasure. The scenic and sound design became characters in the drama and pathos of this ingeniously written play. The background projections and soundtrack made the story even more relevant and immediate by juxtaposing abolitionist stump speeches with civil rights era footage and currant footage from Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movement demonstrations.
The casting was flawless. The background projections of original photographs of Douglass and Anthony seemed eerily identical to actors Jason Eno and Jess Hughes. These two exceptional actors elevated the already excellent material to even greater heights.
Chandler had a lot to work with in two such fabulous actors, and his passion for the source material was evident. The genius of his directing was not only to show the historic relevance of the relationship between Anthony and Douglass, but also to illuminate the personal relationship between the two. One of the play’s many strengths was its 40-year trajectory of both a friendship through almost a century of our country’s maturation as well as of each character’s personal journey. This personal relationship seemed even more relatable to contemporary friendships between members of the opposite sex of today. All of the issues discussed between the characters were relevant and unresolvable in the 1800s and still seem relevant and unresolvable today. Both characters had sweeping and far-reaching lives of distinction and both actors rose to the herculean task of portraying these characters from young adulthood into old age convincingly. The choices made by both actors made these complicated historical figures distinctive, original, and relatable.
The only sad thing about this production was its short run. I hope that there is a reprise in the near future with the same cast and director or that someone like Gail Berman picks it up for a made for television movie on HBO or Netflix. The material and acting were so stellar that they deserve a global audience.
One Response to “THEATER REVIEW: “The Agitators” @ Rubber City Theatre by Lisa DeBenedictis”
Frederick
When I read any article about Frederick Douglass, always remember his quote “Without a struggle, there can be no progress.”. One quote that i always remember when things don’t go my way.
Thank you for this.