Clyde’s

 Clyde’s
Second Stage Theater
The Helen Hayes Theater
December 29, 2021 

Photo courtesy of Second Stage Theater

Lynn Nottage successfully steps into a new genre with her play Clyde’s.  It is bold and funny, yet still packs Ms. Nottage’s signature strong social message.  Director Kate Whorisky finds the pace and energy to keep the action moving.  The cast brilliantly creates larger than life characters who carry a vivid sense of vulnerability and humanity.

Uzo Aduba & Ron Cephas Jones
Photo courtesy of Second Stage Theater

Clyde (played by Uzo Aduba) owns a sandwich shop on a “nondescript stretch of road, in Berks
County, Pennsylvania.”  Montrellous (played by Ron Cephas Jones) urges Clyde to up the quality of the sandwiches in order to get more attention for the restaurant.  Clyde refuses to taste  his handiwork.  Montrellous trains the other kitchen workers, Raphael (played by Reza Salazar) and Letitia (played by Kara Young), to create new sandwiches with scrupulously chosen ingredients.  When Jason (played by Edmund Donovan) is hired to work in the kitchen, the creative momentum is thrown off.  Jason has recently been released from prison and is covered with white supremacist tattoos.  One by one each character reveals their incarceration history.  This is what they all have in common.  They desperately need their jobs at Clyde’s to get their lives on track, yet Clyde brutally keeps them all in place.  When a customer demands relish on one of Montrellous’ gourmet sandwich creations, all hell breaks loose. 

The Full Cast of Clyde's
Photo courtesy of Second Stage Theater

Uzo Aduba is a powerhouse as Clyde.  Her character makes dramatic entrances throughout the play, surprising and terrorizing the kitchen staff.  She is extreme and overbearing.  She pushes each one of her workers to the edge.  Just as it reaches a high point, Ms. Aduba softens and backs away, making you think there is a heart within her.  She then returns even more full of fire.  

Ron Cephas Jones is poetic and calming as Montrellous.  Reza Salazar is dynamic as Rafael.  Kara Young is a ball of energy as Letitia.  Edmund Donovan portrays Jason like a bomb ready to explode.  These skilled actors create characters with a burning desire to get out of the confines of their circumstances.  They are people who made mistakes in their past.  Their stories are complicated and touching.  You yearn for them to break out of the restrictions Clyde callously imposes on them. 

In this play, Ms. Nottage uses the kitchen of the sandwich shop to represent the limitations people put on themselves for past mistakes.  Clyde is the power that holds them down, whether it be the voice within or societal and economic challenges.  As each character forgives themselves, they move on, releasing themselves from Clyde’s demoralizing control. 

The Second Stage Theater production of Clyde’s is a MUST SEE.  It is playing at the Helen Hayes Theater through January 16.  Get a ticket today! 

Domenick Danza

Greater Clements

Greater Clements

Lincoln Center Theater

The Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater

December 7, 2019

Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater

Samuel D. Hunter’s new play Greater Clements is a moving and powerful story of the long-term effects of inactivity and denial.  The characters are richly developed, facing weighty challenges and life altering decisions.  Director Davis McCallum keeps the action moving in this two hour and forty minute play.  He rivets your attention and utilizes the entire theatre space to create the perfect atmosphere to draw you in.  The cast, led by Judith Ivey, all deliver flawless performances, fully bringing Mr. Hunter’s heart felt writing to life. 

Photo courtesy of Lioncoln Center Theater

The people in the small town of Clements Falls, Idaho have voted to dissolve the township.  What was once a thriving mining town will very soon not exist.  The territory will become part of the county, leaving longtime residents with a lack of identity.  Maggie (played by Judith Ivey) is closing the mine tour office and museum.  Her son Joe (played by Edmund Donovan) has recently returned to town after living on the streets in Alaska.  When Maggie’s high school sweetheart Billy (played by Ken Narasaki) passes through and stops in for a visit, she is faced with a surprising opportunity for a new beginning.  Billy’s granddaughter, Kel (played by Haley Sakamoto), is with him.  Kal carries some emotional baggage.  When combined with Joe’s past, this creates a problem.  In order to move forward, they all need to face the darkness that has been passed on through decades of silence and denial.

Judith Ivey & Edmund Donovan
Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater

Judith Ivey is magnificent in this role.  Her character links every element of the story, and Ms. Ivey keeps the audience focused on the action.  Edmund Donovan creates a potent empathy for Joe’s character.  Each scene exposes a deeper layer of his past, and Mr. Donovan plays every layer truthfully.  He and Ms. Ivey are amazing together.  Their mother/son bond is strong and genuine.  They are the heart of the story.  There are also strong performance by Andrew Garman, Nina Hellman, Kate MacCluggage, Ken Narasaki, and Haley Sakamoto.  Together this cast creates the urgency of this small town spiraling to extinction.

Judith Ivey & Ken Narasaki
Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater

Dane Laffrey’s set brilliantly creates the illusion of the multi-level locale.  This heightens the visceral understanding of the depth each character needs to go in order to face their truth.  The concept utilizes the audience space.  It expands the playing area and successfully pulls the audience into the center of the dramatic action.   

Samuel D. Hunter has written a play that is well worth seeing.  He makes a strong thematic statement of how denial and silence begets impotence in future generations.  It will make you questions your complacency with inactivity.  It is a significant work and an enthralling experience.  Greater Clements is playing at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E Newhouse through January 19. 

Domenick Danza