Since The Rope Dancers, the first play it produced over 60 years ago, Dobama has been known for staging alternative works that would not otherwise be seen in Cleveland.
Their stages have been lit up by such plays as True West, Catch 22, Roots, God of Carnage, An Octoroon and and the first professional area production of Angels in America. Cleveland’s off-Broadway theater is now presenting the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner, The Hot Wing King.
Though the Katori Hall script received mixed receptions in early stagings, the Pulitzer citation described the play as “a funny, deeply felt consideration of Black masculinity and how it is perceived, filtered through the experiences of a loving gay couple and their extended family.”
When I think of Pulitzer Prize-winning plays, such classics as Our Town, A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman and Proof come to mind. Though it has some poignant moments, The Hot Wing King is not a script of that quality.
The play follows Cordell (Wesley Allen), his boyfriend, and their friends in Memphis, preparing for the annual “Hot Wang Festival.” Cordell’s kitchen is a flurry of activity as his boyfriend Dwayne (Corin B. Self), and their close friends Isom (Charles Mayhew Miller) and Big Charles (Syrmylin Cartwright) are busy marinating, frying and carrying on in a bid to make him a winner of the annual hot wing competition.
When Dwayne’s nephew, TJ (Prophet Seay), the son of his sister, who died of an overdose, shows up, the subject of Cordell’s marriage to a female and his two sons come forth, it becomes a recipe for angst.
“I am thrilled to further the conversation around what makes a family in Northeast Ohio, especially in the Black queer community,” says director Sheffia Randall-Nickerson. “Navigating my own blended and chosen family these several years made the story behind The Hot Wing King especially compelling!”
Dobama’s production is basically well-conceived and many of the performances are on-point. When the emotional levels, especially in the dramatic scenes when Cordell and Dwayne clash over their relationship, and the subject of whether they will allow TJ to move into their house comes up, the play hits its emotional peaks.
Other times it’s almost begging for laughs. Part of this is due to the uneven script; other times overdone flamboyance takes over and takes away from the script’s message.
Cameron Caley Michalak’s realistic whole house set is meticulously designed and executed. Vanessa Cook did an outstanding job of acquiring the many authentic props. As is often the case at the extremely long and narrow Dobama acting space, speeches were lost due to the lack of consistent projection.
CAPSULE JUDGMENT: The 135- minute play, with intermission, is filled with many moments of laughs and angst, enough to hold the audience’s attention. In spite of this, the sometimes soap opera-like script just doesn’t have the quality to be expected from a Pulitzer Prize-winning script. Go, see, but realize that Angels in America this is not!
Performances are Thursdays through Sundays from January 24-February 16. Evening performances are at 7:30pm and matinees at 2:30pm. For information and tickets call 216-932-3396. Ask about the “pay-what-you-can” performances.