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The Gospel of LovingKindness

Posted December 21, 2015 by qotsm in Arts & Entertainment

Set against a backdrop of the Windy City, complete with the sights and sounds of the “L Train”, the Sears Tower, and the harsh cold of south side Chicago, Marcus Gardley’s “The Gospel of LovingKindness” is a gripping look inside the world of inner city violence, loss, and heartbreak. The loss and heartbreak comes on many levels, through lives cut short and dreams deferred. While the story takes place in Chicago, the narrative is not unique to any particular city or town; this is “Anyplace, USA”.

Gospel_10The play is inspired by the story of Hadiya Pendleton, who in 2013 at the age of 15, performed for President Barack Obama at his second inauguration. She was shot and killed one week later, on January 29th, one mile away from the President’s Chicago home. The First Lady attended Hadiya’s funeral, and her parents were guests at the President’s State of the Union address in February, 2013.

Gospel_14The story follows two young African American men, Manny and Noel (both played by Manu H. Kumasi), each making their transition from adolescence to adulthood. While Manny’s life seems on a high, just back from a concert in Washington where he, like Hadiya performed for President Obama, Noel’s life is racked by the competing challenges of work, school and early parenthood. After Manny is shot and killed for his Air Jordan sneakers, his distraught mother, Mary (Helen Hayes Award-winner Deidra LaWan Starnes) must re-trace his ill-fated trajectory, conjuring along the way the ghost of the 152 year-old civil rights legend Ida B. Wells (Erica Chamblee) in an attempt to put a stop to the cycle of violence that afflicts so many of our cities. Beloved DC veteran actor Doug Brown rounds out the ensemble in a number of key supporting roles.

gospel of lovingkindness headshotThe cast is nothing less than phenomenal, shifting characters and emotions on a dime with chameleon-like ability. A cast of four portrays a cast of many, making you believe and empathize with each and every one of the characters. If “The Gospel of LovingKindness” doesn’t make you feel something in the depth of your soul, you may already be dead.

Manu H. Kumasi, is awe inspiring as both Manny and Noel, playing two very different characters with similarities, but polarizing opposites that converge within one common soul. He gives a powerful performance which leaves you with questions both asked and answered to an unresolved problem that plagues the soul. “Playing multiple characters, in some ways is much harder than playing just one character, although in some ways it’s actually helpful” says Manu. “In my last play, “Darius and Twig”, a TYA production at the Kennedy Center, I played seven different characters. It was nuts, but I love shows where I get to play more than one character.”

Such an emotionally driven production requires the actors to go to a place that will cause them to emote the necessary feelings that dominate this play. Manu shares, “Unfortunately, this play is very real. Too many of my friends have had life stories that are identical to Manny’s or Noel’s. I don’t have to go very far to call up the emotions needed for this play. Check today’s news, or yesterday’s, and tomorrow’s. It’s reality, it’s right here.”

Gospel_1On the issue of gun violence, which is a central issue in “The Gospel of LovingKindness”, Kumasi says, “Gun violence, in this case, is a manifestation of much deeper issues like inequity, scarcity of resources, broken homes, displaced families, oppression, lack of empathy…you name it.” Although the play deals with serious subject matter, “I hope the audience members enjoy the many moments of humor in this play. This play is funny! But I also wish for hope to arise from a deeper understanding of the lives that members of this community have to live, and the need for all of us to do our part in the universal struggle to make this world a better one for everyone.”

This play forces us to take a look at the world from within, while forcing us to examine a world without. In the wake of Spike Lee’s “Chi-Raq”, we are made to look in a mirror that does not necessarily reflect a pretty image. We can look away, but we cannot get away from the reality that constantly stares us in the face. Like Manny’s mother, Mary eludes to “We all have to do our part. There is work to do. Let’s get to work!” Perhaps the solution begins with a little “LovingKindness”.

Darryl Rembert


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