REVIEW: Confederates (Mosaic Theater Company)
Preview: As a person of color in America, generational trauma lives within my DNA. And much like DNA, Mosaic’s production of Confederates by Dominique Morisseau— playing now on H Street — evokes the continuum of duality, rotating around the axis of Black womanhood. It’s an exciting if not inconsistent affair that bites at the realities of a post-slavery world, both acutely and far in the future. It asks, “what has really changed” by juxtaposing a Black woman at the top of her career versus one in bondage, to varied effectiveness.
Book: Morisseau’s dialogue is natural and quick-witted between the competing plots, yet the stories themselves are not as equal. The A-Plot, involving successful, tenured professor Sandra being humiliated by a racist picture of her put on her door, fluctuates between scathing social analyses and stale workplace politics. Conversely, there’s the enslaved Sara some 160 years prior, plotting freedom via her brother’s Union army presence and, later, her master’s daughter. I was expecting this to be the least developed of the two but ended up enjoying it more, thanks largely to the rock-solid performance of Deidre Staples and complimenting humor from Caro Dubberly. It explores intersectionality in a way the previous plot doesn’t as well, utilizing motifs of queerness and privilege in ways that are cast aside in the A-Plot. 5/10
Acting: As mentioned, solid efforts from Stables and Dubberly; particularly as Dubberly gets double-duty as both the master’s daughter Missy Sue and as the virtue-signaling student Candice in Sandra’s story. They provide the right amount of comic relief for both, and you can tell they’re having fun with it. Outspoken and towering, Joel Ashur also shines as Malik, the other student featured in Sandra’s story. His grounded arguments and gritty demeanor project confidence, especially in the face of the shaken pillars that Sandra sits upon. 7/10
Production: Director Stori Ayers maintains a vice grip on the letter of the book, leaving little to no wiggle room for narrative detours through action. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as Morisseau’s matter-of-fact book lends itself well to it. However, the production value is also allowed to be constrained, which is a bummer when gifted with set designer Nadir Bey’s touchingly overgrown, semi-immersive duplex of Sandra’s modern office and Sara’s slave quarters. 6/10
VisDev: I was left a little confused by this one. Pre-show staging is effective in its messages, as the front-row seats are practically sat upon the cotton-bush-speckled turf that bounds the stage. There are spirituals playing ambiently, which though cliched, make sense for the environment. Luckily, the title of the show sort of clues would-be viewers in, though it omits any pretext that sets it apart from any other slavery-themed show. 4/10
VERDICT: Confederates’ unique storytelling medium is inconsistent, but provides enough room for steadfast performance.
