THEATER REVIEW; A Pageant Based on History, With Songs That Yearn

Abstract

Anita Gates reviews Westport Country Playhouse production of Constant Star, written and directed by Tazewell Thompson; photo (M)

At one point in Tazewell Thompson's "Constant Star," four black women stand onstage, elegantly dressed in black, with nooses around their necks. A fifth black woman tells the story of three African-American men who went into business together, opened a grocery store in their Memphis neighborhood in 1892 and were lynched for it. It is a potent, devastating scene, ending with the song "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel?"

But scene may be the wrong word. "Constant Star," the story of Ida B. Wells, is not exactly a play. It is not exactly a musical performance either. Although the production is laced with great gospel numbers, sung a cappella in lovely five-part harmony, most are severely truncated, leaving the audience yearning for more. (I found myself singing "Do, Lord" in the car all the way home from the theater.) "Constant Star" might best be described as a historical pageant, and as such it works nicely.

The curtain rises on five actresses -- Janeece Aisha Freeman, Gail Grate, Tracey Conyer Lee, Laiona Michelle and Gayle Turner -- who all play Wells. This sounds like an unworkable idea, even when it looks as if their handsome costumes, designed by Merrily Murray-Walsh, might represent five decades of Wells's life (1862-1931). The division of portrayal isn't that simple, yet by the end it is easy to believe that all five are the formidable woman they portray.

Mr. Thompson, who also directed, seems to be in love with Wells's outspokenness and firmness. When an employee asks to come in a little late the next morning, Wells, who makes Ebenezer Scrooge look like an understanding boss, tells her she has three choices: "You can be early. You can be on time. Or you can be deceased."

This is a fictionalized version of Wells's life, but the events in it are based on real ones. Born in Mississippi, Wells was the daughter of a carpenter and a cook, who were former slaves. Ms. Michelle is particularly winning as the very young Ida, bossing around her siblings and insisting that they address her as Queen. Their parents died in a yellow fever epidemic in 1916, and Ida held the family together by taking a teaching job.

She edited an African-American newspaper in Memphis and went on to a public speaking career, fighting for anti-lynching laws and women's suffrage.

She was a founder of the N.A.A.C.P. but ultimately was frustrated by its failure to do much more than what she saw as complaining and giving teas.

She had only disdain for Booker T. Washington, who advocated compromise.

Wells, we are told, never considered marriage or motherhood a priority ("babies smell funny," she says). But when she met Ferdinand Lee Barnett, a Chicago lawyer, she fell hopelessly in love. She married him in her early 30's and had four children. Although she considered most domestic duties demeaning, she did not feel the same way about child rearing.

One of the most endearing segments in "Constant Star" presents Wells, strong and dignified, making a speech but pausing now and then to reveal her inner state, which is girlish and giggly, thinking of Barnett in the audience.

Another memorable scene is based on an 1884 incident. Wells bought a first-class train ticket for the ladies' coach but was "asked" to move to another, less desirable car. When she refused, she was forcibly removed from the train. She hired a couple of lawyers, and the railroad was ordered to pay her $500 in damages. A higher court reversed the decision.

Wells was fiercely political, so she might have been pleased to hear the spontaneous applause and laughter that erupted at a recent performance when one actress ranted a little about the man in the White House.

William McKinley, of course.

"Constant Star" is at the Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, through July 30. Information can be found at [phone] or www.westportplayhouse.org.