When playwright Dominique Morisseau’s 2013 drama opens, Kenyatta—the father of the titular “Sunset Baby”—is filming himself as he muses about his life and legacy. It’s an intermittent motif in the play—Kenyatta records himself at intervals—and a mysterious opening: Who is he and why is he creating this video diary?
Gradually, Morisseau’s three characters emerge into fully realized and flawed human beings: Kenyatta, the absentee dad who chose the revolutionary activities of the Black Power movement over fatherhood and was a longtime political prisoner; Nina, the estranged daughter he neglected; and Damon, Nina’s boyfriend and partner in crime. The pair chose an entirely different life path than Kenyatta’s.
When Kenyatta shows up at Nina and Damon’s Brooklyn apartment, the plot is set in motion. He wants a stash of letters that Nina’s drug-addicted mother wrote to him and, when she died, left to Nina.
Because Nina’s mother was an important figure in the Black Panther-esque movement in which she and Kenyatta were active, those letters are valuable. But Nina, who keeps them hidden from everyone including Damon, eventually agrees to sell them to her father—for a formidably high price.
Why Kenyatta wants the letters is a mystery that Morisseau eventually quasi-reveals in an unexpected way that is entirely true to the story and the characters.
This is an intriguing trio: Kenyatta, the impassioned, unapologetic but deeply troubled activist; perpetually furious Nina, struggling to find her way to an independent life, which she envisions as world travel; and Damon, committed to his criminal lifestyle but agonizing over his separation from his own young son.
In this Lorraine Hansberry Theatre production, directed by the company’s artistic director, the brilliant local actor Margo Hall, the 90-minte drama is solidly engaging.
Courtney Gabrielle Williams’ angry, bitter Nina—named after Nina Simone, whose songs form a powerful backdrop to the action—is uncompromising as the tough central character who is looking for a way out of her trapped life. Williams allows Nina’s lifelong rage to take top billing, but she’s also full-on in her few vulnerable moments. That’s a difficult path for an actor to negotiate, but Williams makes it work. And director Hall is careful to allow plenty of quiet stage time for us to watch Nina at her dressing table, meticulously transforming herself into the flamboyant criminal version of herself—leopard-print coat, heavy makeup, cascading wig, etc. (costumes by Jenn Stephens) and, afterward, downsizing to her truer self.
As explosive and frustrated Damon, the devoted boyfriend, Titus VanHook is so believable and so fully invested that it was at times hard to follow his rushed, explosive speech.
But it’s Lamont Thompson’s quietly controlled and conflicted Kenyatta that leaves you wanting more. As is often the case in drama, it’s the younger characters that playwrights focus on. Struggling to explain himself to his daughter about the choices he made back in his activist days, Kenyatta says, “Love became a liability.”
The play and this full-blooded production explain, to the progeny of an earlier, single-minded and radical generation, who their parents were and are. At the same time, it’s a singular look into the hearts of all three characters.
Lorraine Hansberry Theatre’s “Sunset Baby” runs through Sept. 28 at the Magic Theatre, Building D, Fort Mason Center, 2 Marina Blvd., San Francisco. Tickets are $25-$55 at lhtsf.org.
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