'Where We Stand' from Steppenwolf poses questions, invites conversation
In the stage directions for her play "Where We Stand," writer/actor Donnetta Lavinia Grays describes the production as a conversation. Not merely a conversation between actor and audience, but a conversation between members of a community.
"I like questions," said the award-winning playwright whose "Where We Stand" begins streaming next week as part of Steppenwolf Theatre's virtual series. "I'm always trying to pose questions."
In the case of her one-person show, those queries are meant to spark conversations - difficult, complex conversations - about community, responsibility, blame and forgiveness.
Her modern fable takes place in an unnamed town where a long ostracized resident known only as Man encounters a stranger, who promises the residents prosperity if the Man convinces them to rename the town. Eventually, the Man is called to account for his and the community's Faustian bargain, leaving the audience to vote on his fate. The conversation that ensues before audience members cast their votes is what Grays finds intriguing.
"Where We Stand" goes without traditional theater trappings such as lights and sets and finds Grays sitting among audience members and speaking directly to them in the language of her native South Carolina.
"Something about the language of that region has a poetry to it," she said.
Grays is a Broadway, film and TV veteran who began writing poetry at 14. Her influences include Gwendolyn Brooks, Nikki Giovanni and playwright Ntozake Shange ("For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf"), whose pairing of poetry and theater resonated with Grays.
"Where We Stand" was commissioned for the Public Theatre's Mobile Unit, which stages free productions in New York City libraries, community centers, detention facilities and homeless shelters for people who don't have access to theater. Performing for incarcerated audiences prompted Grays to consider what it means to return to a community, to seek justice and mercy, to offer and accept forgiveness.
It premiered off-Broadway in 2020 at the WP Theater just before the COVID-19 pandemic forced theaters to close. Grays' performance was filmed during a co-production between WP Theater and Baltimore Center Stage, in which she and David Ryan Smith alternated playing the "Man."
Director Tamilla Woodard, who directed the film version streaming at Steppenwolf, has been associated with "Where We Stand" since its first workshop in 2018. Her introduction to the play was through one of the songs Grays composed for the piece.
The director was struck by Grays' writing, storytelling and musicality.
"It was somewhere between music and poetry, and it was both music and poetry," said Woodard, who described her primary function early on as that of a "deep listener."
"The process of creation, especially when starting at such a nascent point, is pretty intimate," Woodard said. "There wasn't a lot of daylight between us."
In person, "Where We Stand" is an immersive, participatory event.
The fourth wall doesn't exist. The audience sings and claps. None of that was possible on film, although Grays speaking directly into the camera approximates a direct address to the audience.
"We're not pretending anything," Woodard said. "This performance is happening in the unusual circumstance of an empty theater."
And yet, says Woodard, the action unfolding in an empty theater suits this tale of a man who has long been alone, is embraced by the community and then finds himself at risk of being isolated again.
Grays acknowledges the production may make some viewers uneasy. It's one thing to say you believe in equality, equity, justice and inclusivity, she said. But "it's a harder thing to put it into practice."
After we listen, she continues, after we've done our research and made an effort to do better, what does action look like?
"What is our responsibility to that person who's been on my periphery?" asked Grays.
It's a question worth pondering. A conversation worth having.
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"Where We Stand"
When: Begins Wednesday, June 16
Where: Streams at steppenwolf.org
Tickets: Steppenwolf NOW admission is $75, which includes access to six virtual productions available for streaming through Aug. 31. Steppenwolf NOW memberships are $50 for essential workers, artists, students and teachers. Membership is free for Steppenwolf 2020-2021 Classic members, Black Card holders and RED members. See steppenwolf.org/now or call (312) 335-1650.