OnyxFest is Indy’s first and only theater festival dedicated to the stories of Black playwrights. These one-act celebrations of Black life and culture are presented by IndyFringe and the Africana Repertory Theatre of IUPUI. After an initial weekend at the IndyFringe Theatre, upcoming performances are Friday through Sunday, Nov. 10-12, at historic Crispus Attucks High School, in the Auditorium at 1140 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street, Indianapolis. For information and tickets, visit OnyxFest.com.
By Wendy Carson
Delores Thornton brings us the story of her mother’s life and arduous journey from Georgia to Indiana in search of a better life and freedom from the racial oppression of the South.
We first meet Babe (Leondra Radford) at the forming of a new mental health support group in the year 2000. The therapist, Dr. Davis (Chris Sears), has assembled clients who all have different issues, but have personalities that complement each other.
They include a young alcoholic wrestling with moving on with her life (Kim McMurray); a former drug addict who still gambles (Gene Howard); and Babe, of course, who has been experiencing migraines and nightmares. Thornton plays an older woman who suffers from anxiety, especially when driving.
On her own with Dr. Davis, Babe participates in several sessions of hypnosis – despite the warnings from the voices of her friends and family, neatly channeled by the spirit of her old friend Octavia (Dr. Cheryl Talley-Black, who also provides some beautiful spiritual songs that cover the scene changes).
As the show progresses – with memories from 1989, through the decades, back as far as 1922 – we are given glimpses of the traumas Babe experienced and insight into how her brain coped with this knowledge for all of these years.
Director Trease Sears does a great job of keeping each character true to their story as well as having the unenviable task of directing the author of the work itself. The play is a searing indictment of the mental toll Jim Crow and the Civil Rights struggle took on so many. Thornton hopes that this will also encourage a more open attitude among Black communities to seek help when needed.