By Pat Launer
“Strange Fruit,” a chilling song written (as a poem) in the mid-1930s by Abel Meeropol and made famous by Billie Holiday, is about lynchings of African Americans in the South.
“Blood at the Root,” whose title is a quote from the disquieting song, was inspired by real events in 2006 in Jena, Louisiana, in a high school where black and white students did not freely mix. There’s a large tree on the campus which, by unspoken rule, can only shade white students. One uncommonly hot October day, black students, in an act of defiance and equality, sit under the tree. Shortly thereafter, three nooses are found hanging from the tree.
School administrators call it a prank; black students don’t think so.
A fight breaks out and six black students beat up a white student, who winds up in the hospital. The six are sent to jail and tried, as adults, for attempted murder. A week before the incident, a black teenager was jumped by a group of white young men. The perpetrators were not even charged with assault.
In Dominique Morisseau’s potent and poetic play, we meet six students and see all sides.
There’s Raelynn (Dina Mitchell), an optimistic young black woman, anxious for change, who decides to run for school president. Her brother, De’Andre (charismatic Carter Piggee), is a running back on the football team. He’s one of the accused, and while incarcerated, through anger and tears, he raps a gut-wrenching spoken word treatise on “The Rules” for black men.
Asha (Jazmine Reynoso) is a white girl who fraternizes and identifies with African Americans, but doesn’t feel comfortable joining them under the tree. Toria (Augusta Mariano), an impassioned, opinionated budding journalist, just wants to cover “real events” in the school paper. But her straitlaced African American editor takes no sides, expresses no opinions, and only wants to keep his head down and play it safe (the other black students call him an Oreo).
Then there’s Colin, a white transfer student, the quarterback on the team. Like all the others, he’s an outsider, too, ridiculed for his sexuality and ultimately beaten up.
What starts out with superficiality and cliché, in a brisk 85 minutes begins to delve deeply beneath the surface, mining real feelings and rationales, and spotlighting the many sides to this story. The students could be stand-ins for blacks and whites throughout the country today, particularly in these tense times for race relations.
Randy Reinholz, director of community engagement and innovative programs at San Diego State University, tautly directs a cast of earnest undergrad theater majors. All could benefit from improved clarity of diction, but their commitment to the material is impressive.
The simple design (Sarah Mouyal), a tree with blood-red roots extending out onto the ground, is effectively lit (Michael Ekema-Nardella).
The drama is presented by special arrangement with Pennsylvania State University, which commissioned the play. It should be required viewing for all high school and college students — and their parents. Another work by the much-acclaimed young playwright, “Skeleton Crew,” set in Detroit, will be featured at The Old Globe next spring.
Right now, we all need to take a breath, take a step back, and try to really listen to other people with opinions that differ from ours. It’s high time for healing to begin.
- “Blood at the Root” runs through Oct. 9 in the Experimental Theatre, on the campus of San Diego State University
- Performances are Wednesday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m.
- Tickets ($15-$17) are available at 619-594-6365 or online at ttf.sdsu.edu
- Running time: 85 min.
Pat Launer is a long-time San Diego arts writer and an Emmy Award-winning theater critic. An archive of her previews and reviews can be found at patlauner.com.
