Don’t Call Me Champ!
Fresh from a seven-year stretch in prison for murder, King Hedley II returns to the Hill District neighborhood of Pittsburgh where he grew up, determined to fly right at long last and make a home for his wife and his child she is carrying. But as he already knows as a Black man in the 1980s, the cards are all stacked against him and any dreams he might have.
So begins August Wilson’s “King Hedley II,” one segment of his 10-play cycle exploring the African-American experience in each decade of the 20th century that he wrote to great acclaim between 1982 and 2005, finishing shortly before he died too young at 60. Fences (1987) and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1984) come quickly to mind.
“Hedley” is set in the mid-1980s, dead in the middle of Ronald Reagan’s trickle down “make government small enough to drown in a bathtub” era, the height of the CIA-fomented crack epidemic, and the lock ‘em up surge in mass incarceration so wonderfully chronicled by Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow”--all quite intentionally targeting working class Black communities like Wilson’s Hill District.
Gorgeously reprised on Pasadena’s A Noise Within stage and sure-handedly directed by Gregg T. Daniel, “Hedley” showcases emotive, almost Shakespearean acting, featuring long soliloquies by all six actors who grace an expansive, cleverly designed stage.
Conflict abounds. Played by Aaron Jennings, Hedley nurtures deep resentments against his mother, Ruby, who left him with her Aunt Louise as she pursued a singing career decades earlier, returning only as Louise was about to die.
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Gerald C. RiversPhoto by Craig Schwartz
Played by Veralyn Jones, frail Ruby is the play’s heart and soul, no longer the apple of every man’s eye as the sexy lounge singer of her youth, but now wanting with all her heart to steer her son onto a better path, as she waits for an opening in senior housing.
Hedley’s wife, Tonya (Kacie Rogers), is anxious to have an abortion so she doesn’t have to raise another child alone, especially as she sees her husband’s post-prison schemes–financing his business plans by selling stolen refrigerators, for only the first example–will land him behind bars again, if not worse.
Arriving with a desperate secret to share, Elmore (Ben Cain) saunters back into his old flame’s life, determined to sweep Ruby off her feet again so that he will have a soft spot to spend his dwindling days. Each of his daily fedoras canted rakishly to the side of his carefully barbered head, Elmore can’t help but con everyone he meets, leading to the play’s tragic end.
Christian Henley, Gerald C. Rivers,Ben Cain, Aaron JenningsPhoto by Craig Schwartz
Pushed to a desperate edge by the era’s endemic racism, the men in August Wilson’s deeply felt examination of Black life over the decades make one rash, impulsive decision after another, including Hedley shooting a rival simply for calling him Champ rather than King, or plunging back into into the dimmest of criminal activity. The fact that they all routinely pack heat in those desperate times works about as well as you might expect.
By contrast, the two women–King’s mother and wife–use the very little bit of power they have to try to pull their men back from the brink. If only it weren’t such a losing game.
Also see Ed Rampell’s review at August Wilson’s Scathing Drama About Blacks During the Reagan Era
King Hedley II runs Thursday (7:30 p.m.), Friday (8 p.m.), Saturday (2 and 8 p.m.), and Sunday (2 p.m.) through April 28. Post-performance conversations with the artists take place every Friday and on Sunday, April 14. A Noise Within is at 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91107. For info: 626.353.3100 or www.anoisewithin.org.
The opinions expressed here are solely the author's and do not reflect the opinions or beliefs of the Hollywood Progressive.
