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FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS (PARTS 1, 2 & 3). By Suzan-Lori Parks. Directed by Jo Bonney. The Public Theater, in association with the American Repertory Theatre, New York City. 25 October 2014.
Father Comes Home from the Wars is an ongoing project, if not a promise; Parts 1, 2 & 3 were performed at both the Public Theater and the American Repertory Theatre during the 2014-15 season. In its planned entirety Father Comes Home will consist of nine parts, which span the past century and a half. Through these first three iterations Suzan-Lori Parks explores liberty: its worth, how it is transferred, given, stolen, denied. Here, as throughout her oeuvre, freedom serves as a project of our national history, of the histories-official, and as-yet-unearthed-of slavery, ancestry, and belonging. Riffing offof, and echoing Homer's Odyssey, this epic voyage maps freedom's journey, arrival, and how its one-time (and oftstill-unrealized) absence haunts our present. And as we have come to expect, wordplay and the distinctive rhythms that Parks infuses into her work circulate through the hauntingly masterful Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3).
These first three parts are set during the Civil War, following the slave Hero and his relationship to freedom. Part 1, "A Measure of a Man," opens with the Chorus of Less Than Desirable Slaves wagering on Hero's imminent decision on whether to join his master in the war; the master has promised Hero his freedom upon their return, should he choose to join the Confederate army. Hero is conflicted because he would leave behind Penny, his love; he would leave without his trusty dog, who is lost; and to trust his master is a gamble. Part 1 concludes with Hero's decision to...