Goodman's 'the ripple, the wave that carried me home' a poignant tale of rebellion, reconciliation

“the ripple, the wave that carried me home” - ★ ★ ★

In her lyrical new play “the ripple, the wave that carried me home,” Christina Anderson examines a civil rights struggle that is perhaps less familiar to many than the battles Black people fought over voting rights, housing and education.

Set in the fictional city of Beacon, Kansas, her play, produced by Goodman Theatre in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, is inspired by real efforts - often met with violence - to integrate municipal swimming pools during the 1950s through 1970s.

Directed with care and compassion by Jackson Gay, who also helmed the Berkeley Rep production, the play also is the story of a woman coming home and coming to terms with her past, specifically her relationship with her activist, aquatics-loving parents who she believes chose the movement over her.

The earnest, expressive Christiana Clark radiates warmth as 30-something wife and mother Janice Clifton whose strained relationship with father Edwin Collen (a rock-solid Ronald L. Conner) and mother Helen (Aneisa Hicks) consists of what she describes as “Sunday polites,” meaning biweekly phone calls, birthday wishes and expressions of support for minor surgical procedures. Equally ambivalent is Janice's relationship with water, which she describes (per Anderson's plain-spoken poetry) as a “complicated element” that “heals, destroys, rescues, erases. It drowns. It saves. It holds memory. It washes away pain.”

That ambivalence surfaces in 1992 when Janice receives an invitation from Young Chipper Ambitious Black Woman (Brianna Buckley whose peppy performance perfectly reflects her character's name) to speak at the rededication of a community pool renamed in honor of her late father, an exuberant activist and the face of the movement to integrate Beacon's pools. But Janice acknowledges it was the quiet strength and “hushed sacrifices” of her mother, Helen (Hicks' exquisite subtlety makes for a potent performance), that made it possible for the city's Black residents to learn a lifesaving skill and to experience “water's power and peace.”

As she considers the invitation, Janice - who hates water and questions her parents' endeavors - flashes back decades to trace their efforts and her response, which in many ways reflects rebellion typical of teens.

“I don't want to spend my life chasing after white people, begging them to let me play with their toys,” she tells her parents, before hurling at them a hurtful coup de grâce as teenagers sometimes do.

Her father's response (which feels a bit out of character), sends the teenager into the arms of her beloved Aunt Gayle, deftly conjured by Buckley as “a cross breeze that glided through a hot house.” It also sparks a decadeslong estrangement between her and her parents.

The play deserves kudos for recognizing Black women's importance in the civil rights struggle. But it relies heavily on exposition (which Clark ably delivers) that is a bit overstuffed. The rebellion/reconciliation arc that animates the play is familiar and its conclusion comes as no surprise. But that matters little when the final moments are as lovely, as lyrical and as genuine as they are in Gay's production, which unfolds on set designer Todd Rosenthal's aging, empty pool and features a superlative cast reprising their roles from Berkeley Rep's incarnation.

Anderson's “the ripple, the wave that carried me home” is fictional, but it's a tale worth wading into for the poetry, performances and healing energy it provides.

Location: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago, (312) 443-3800, goodmantheatre.org

Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday through Feb. 12. Also 7:30 p.m. Jan. 31 and Feb. 5 and 2 p.m. Feb. 9

Tickets: $15-$45

Running time: About 100 minutes, no intermission

Parking: Nearby garages, discounted parking with Goodman Theatre validation at the Government Center Self Park at Clark and Lake streets

Rating: For teens and older

COVID-19 precautions: Masks recommended