By LOU HARRY
I caught the opening night of Terry Guest’s play Oak at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Center, the second of its three rolling world premiere productions.
Some thoughts:
– Oak concerns a playfully named family that consists of young mother Peaches (Psywrn Simone), her restless teen Pickle (Jadah Rowarn), younger son Big Man (Joshua Short), and the kids’ cousin Suga (Tracy Nakigozi). The plot catalyst: in their Georgian town, children disappear – to any thinking person – at any alarming rate.
– Yet life seems business-as-usual. Oh, there are curfew warnings and parental efforts to limit their charges’ evening travel, but the kids are nonetheless allowed to roam.
– Clearly, there’s a metaphor (or more) buried here. There’s the desire and difficulty of leaving home. There’s the legacy of an enslaved woman wrestling with whether to stay with her baby or escape to freedom. There’s the reality of how Black lives lost don’t have the media impact of the disappearance of a young white girl.
– The play launches well, as a tale told by Pickle, then contradicted by Big Man. An edgy air of gothic mystery is built thanks in large part to Robert Koharchik’s minimal but effective set, Laura E. Glover’s expert lighting (even the theater ceiling develops character), Brian Grimm’s sound design, and Kristen Renee Boyd’s puppet design. And the quartet of castmates are certainly game, effectively balancing character-based laughs and heartfelt emotions. Director Mikael Burke keeps things moving forward propulsively.
– And, yet, Oak left me unsatisfied. I’m all for plots that allow for multiple interpretations, but I couldn’t – and still can’t – find one here that made much sense. The script lacks a rising tension level, theatrical devices are used inconsistently, the reaction to a character’s disappearance is disturbingly minimal, and the pat “I stayed for you” ending seems a cop out.
– In its details, though, Oak shines. In moments of sibling clashes (I loved the “asserting dominance” line) and mother/daughter conflict, Guest brings what could be simplistic fairy tale characters to full life. It’s those moments that point to the potential for Oak to become a play as strong as Guest’s The Magnolia Ballet, which the Phoenix produced beautifully a few seasons’ back. With an additional production coming in the fall in Buffalo, here’s hoping the work continues.
Oak continues through June 8 at the Frank & Katrina Basile Theatre in the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre, 705 N. Illinois Street, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Tickets are available here.
