Jul 25, 2008

Playwright, show return to creative birthplace

Successful solo production revisits Bay Area

By John Angell Grant / Theater Reviewer

What is a genuine black man? That's the question that KGO radio talk show host Brian Copeland asks in his solo show "Not a Genuine Black Man."

"Not a Genuine Black Man" was a big hit at the Marsh theater in San Francisco when it opened in 2004, running for two years. It later toured successfully in New York and Los Angeles. The show is now back at the Marsh for a fortnight, and next month plays at the Historic Hoover Theater in San Jose.

As a KGO talk show host, Copeland gets mail. When one writer accused him of not being a genuine black man, he began to think about what that could possibly mean.

Growing up with a mother who stressed a formal and precise quality of quasi-theatrical speech, Copeland admits, "I don't talk ghetto." Does that make him not a genuine black man?

What ensues in this show is Copeland's alternately amusing, touching and tragic story of growing up in San Leandro in the 1970s. The story jumps back and forth in time between that period of his youth and his later adulthood.

In a recurring refrain, Copeland riffs on whether various behaviors in his history are "black" or not. For example, he loves Scotty in "Star Trek," which would suggest that he is not "black." On the other hand, cops sometimes reach for their guns when they see him - that's definitely "black." Such comparisons continue, as Copeland works through a series of racial stereotypes.

A range of story segments include much about his core relationship with his strong mother, who in the early 1970s moved her family from racially mixed Hayward to the then racially unmixed San Leandro.

Other story elements include Copeland's difficult relationship with a chronically unemployed and abusive absentee father, and a lengthy episode with a landlord who tried to evict the family for being black.

Elsewhere Copeland remembers an awkward brunch at an IHOP with a white waitress, a scary moment with a gang of white neighbors who accused him of throwing their cat in a swimming pool, and the painful story of a cop who patted him down when he was 8 years old.

Two huge life events provide turning points in the play. Copeland still lives in San Leandro today, acknowledging a group of supportive white locals who were key in his education and in helping him make a success of his life.

On opening night at the Marsh, Copeland didn't have his lines down perfectly, which slowed the show's pacing. His storytelling segments are often stronger than the segments that require acting. For much of the show, he defaults to a rather cute small boy's voice.

The story of "Not a Genuine Black Man" jumps around, which works OK, except that in the end it feels incomplete. We don't have all the dots connected.

In one particularly moving segment, Copeland works to untangle the tragedy of domestic violence from his sense of self-identity.

Ultimately, the show drifts between the issue of what it means to be a black man and what it means to be a member of the San Leandro community. The two themes could be easily linked, but aren't linked clearly, leaving the play's central story feeling unfinished.

Since the success of his play, Copeland has written a longer and more detailed version of his story in book form. That book has been selected as next year's pick for Silicon Valley Reads.

This means that all citizens of Silicon Valley are encouraged to read the book and participate in a range of public discussions in February 2009. For more information on that program, visit www.siliconvalleyreads.com.

Rating: Three stars

E-mail John Angell Grant at jagplays@yahoo.com.