FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Actor Leonard Piggee, right, plays Memphis and Honey Brown plays West the undertaker in "Two Trains Running," which Piggee also directed.
‘Two Trains Running’ is
a most entertaining trip
Inner-city Pittsburgh is far removed from the streets of urban Honolulu, but it doesn't take long to see that the characters in August Wilson's "Two Trains Running" are easily recognizable. One is fresh out of prison and looking for a job. Another is chasing easy money as a low-level member of a gambling operation. A third is facing the loss of his business as part of an "urban redevelopment" scheme.
Add the myriad complications of male-female relationships, and the dynamics of Wilson's story transcend the immediate differences in geography, time and ethnicity. As brought to life in the confines of the Yellow Brick Studio by Leonard Piggee's Honolulu African American Repertory Theatre and the Actors Group, "Two Trains Running" is thought-provoking, unpredictable and thoroughly entertaining. A number of serious social issues percolate though the action and demand consideration, but there is plenty of tight sitcom-style comedy as well.
The year is 1969. The place is Memphis Lee's unpretentious diner across the street from the neighborhood funeral parlor. The cast of characters includes the owner (Piggee, who also directs the production), a waitress named Risa (Donna Sallee) and several customers who want to eat, talk or hang out. Some seem a bit stereotypical at first, but each becomes a fully developed personality. Several earn our sympathy to the extent we feel a personal stake in their struggle to survive and possibly get ahead in life.
"Two Trains Running": Continues at Yellow Brick Studio, 625 Keawe St., 7:30 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays and 4 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 8. No performance Jan. 30. Tickets: $10. Call 722-6941 or e-mail tickets@taghawaii.org.
>> Memphis, nearing retirement age, basically wants to stay out of trouble and keep his restaurant afloat. Driven off his farm in the deep South years earlier by brutal white racists and legal chicanery, he clings to the dream of going back someday to take revenge and reclaim his property. In the meantime he's received notice that the city plans to tear down the diner, and he's holding out for what sounds like an unrealistically high buyout price.
>> Risa flirts languidly but mostly keeps to herself and seems to be content doing as little work as possible. She slashed her legs with a razor a few years back -- seven gashes on one leg, eight on the other -- hoping that the scars would stop men from trying to have sex with her.
>> Sterling (Derrick Brown) is back on the street after doing time for robbery. He's looking for a job -- any kind of job -- but there aren't many openings for black ex-cons. He notices Risa, but how can a broke ex-con expect to get a woman?
>> Wolf (Moses Goods) is a numbers runner who uses the table closest to the pay phone as his "office" when Memphis isn't around to run him off. Wolf has also noticed Risa but has bragged too much about past conquests to garner serious consideration, much less reveal what's behind his facade.
>> West (Honey Brown) is the dapper, shrewd and upwardly mobile undertaker with a reputation for reusing coffins and other sharp tactics. West was a gambler in his youth but switched to the funeral game when he realized that eventually everybody would need his services.
>> Holloway (Gemini Burke), the resident philosopher, is the conduit for many of playwright Wilson's observations on the experiences of African Americans from the early days of slavery to the present. For instance, it's Holloway who points out, "Now that they have to pay you, they can't find you no work."
>> Hambone (Russ Goode) is a derelict with a tenuous grip on sanity. He painted a fence nine years ago expecting to receive a ham in payment but was only offered a chicken. Since that betrayal his vocabulary has been reduced to a single sentence: "I want my ham!"
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
The Yellow Brick Studio production also stars Gemini Burke, left, as Holloway, and Donna Sallee as Risa.
PIGGEE AND HIS cast play off each other beautifully as the story develops in unpredictable and sometimes enigmatic ways. For instance, is Sterling's interest in helping Hambone expand his vocabulary motivated by sympathy, or is he simply amusing himself at the derelict's expense? Will Memphis get the deal he wants from the city, or is challenging the white establishment a mistake? And, can any black man expect to confront the white bosses of the local numbers game and live to tell about it?
Some of the broader comic bits could be straight out of almost any of the black sitcoms now airing on national television, but skeptics will find that the more ominous segments -- Memphis' account of his near-death experience with racists, West's ruminations on the nature of life and death, and Holloway's insights on black history -- are as compelling and well written as the comic scenes involving Wolf, Sterling and Risa.
Piggee anchors the ensemble with an engaging portrayal of a scarred but proud man standing up for his principles. Derrick Brown makes a first-rate debut on the local stage in the other central role. Sterling is nowhere near as smart as he claims to be, but it becomes evident that he is not as naive as he sounds, either. Brown's skill in balancing these conflicting characterizations ensures a degree of surprise.
Goods, the most recognizable "name" in the cast, adds to his already impressive resume with a nuanced portrayal of a "player" for whom bravado is both a shield and a crutch. Goods' skill as an actor comes to the fore several times when he allows glimpses of Wolf's uncertainties and vulnerabilities to be revealed.
Burke, the other "name" actor in the cast, has many of the script's best lines and was an audience favorite on opening night.
Honey Brown personifies charm tainted with undercurrents of menace as the undertaker who has amassed wealth with a code of ethics that amounts to "See a fool, use a fool." Brown's effective use of movement and body language adds touches of physical comedy at key moments as well.
Sallee keeps Risa little more than a vaguely seductive cipher for much of Act 1 and therefore makes the waitress's guarded responses to Wolf and Sterling seem natural in Act 2. Goode has the smallest role but gives a consistent and convincing portrayal of a mentally ill street person.
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