Dakar 2000

 Dakar 2000
Manhattan Theatre Club
New York City Center Stage I
March 6, 2025 

Photo courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club

The Manhattan Theatre Club production of Dakar 2000 is a one hour and twenty-minute roller coaster ride of truth and lies.  Playwright Rajiv Joseph has written an impeccable two-hander.  His characters quickly intertwine and are unable to separate.  The events of their three-day connection changes the course of more than just their lives, and leave one of them with more questions than answers.

When Boubs, a Peace Corp volunteer (played by Abubakr Ali), crashes his jeep on the road to a small village outside Dakar, he knows he is in trouble.  He was transporting supplies without the proper authorization.  He is taken to the main office to meet Dina (played by Mia Barron).  She is concerned about his well-being, yet continually grills him on the details.  She is charmed by his naivete and impressed by his ability to lie his way out of a bad situation.  To help prevent his being sent back home, she gives him a file of paperwork to fill out with a list signatures and fingerprints to gather.  This will make it look like she requisitioned the transportation of supplies prior to his accident.  He gratefully takes the file and gets right to work.  He meets up with her two days later.  After they share personal stories, she asks him to meet her at a hotel in Dakar on New Years Eve, with the implication of a more intimate encounter.  At the hotel, Dina sets Boubs up on a mission with a questionable outcome. 

Abubakr Ali as Boubs
Photo courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club

Abubakr Ali is charismatic, gullible, and suave as Boubs.  He opens the show alone on stage.  It is present day.  He tells a few stories, then admits most of them are lies.  This sets the tone for the rest of the story.  His character is confident and grounded.  When he then takes the narrative back to Dakar in the year 2000, he is a fast-talking twenty-five year old, immature and silly.  This transition is smooth and impressive.  The audience is fully on his side, even though, since he already told us, we know he lies.  

Dina Barron & Abubakr Ali
Photo courtesy of Manhattan  Theatre Club

Mia Barron is sharp and slick as Dina.  During her initial interrogation with Boubs, she carefully listens and observes.  She glibly weaves her way into Boubs’ trust.  The audience is very aware that she is also lying, but doesn’t know how much or why.  We are more aware of the dangers than he is, yet we are equally manipulated into full involvement.  Ms. Barrow is skillfully in control of the action.  She is the only one who knows where it will lead, and we stay connected to her with the hope of finding out. 

Director May Adrales paces this piece so the rhythms in the dialogue drive the intent.  The audience is fully engaged from the moment it starts, and becomes riveted as the action unfolds.  The theme and culminating message are strongly related to present day political occurrences. 

Dakar 2000 is playing at Manhattan Theatre Club’s New York City Center Stage I through March 23.  You must see it! 

Domenick Danza

Poor Yella Rednecks

 Poor Yella Rednecks
Manhattan Theatre Club
New York City Center Stage I
November 24, 2023 

Photo courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club

The Manhattan Theatre Club production of Qui Nguyen’s Poor Yella Rednecks is outstanding.  Mr. Nguyen tells the story of his mother and father, and his growing up in a small town in Arkansas.  It is funny and touching, rough and sweet.  Mr. Nguyen’s storytelling style is unique.  He tells this personal story of struggle and hardship in a bold and colorful manner.  His rhythms and humor are fully engaging, pulling the audience into the deeper emotion of the story.     

Maureen Sebastian, Samantha Quan, Little Man,
& Jon Norman Schneider
Photo courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club

The playwright (played by Jon Norman Schneider) enters the stage and tells the audience he is getting ready to interview his mother.  He is going to write a play about when she met his father.  His mother, Tong (played by Maureen Sebastian) lays down the rules for the interview and what she expects from his play.  She transforms into a young woman, a refugee from Vietnam in the 1981.  She meets and falls in love with Quang (played by Ben Levin), who has a wife and two children in Vietnam.  He was a helicopter pilot during the war.  His wife thinks he is dead.  He and Tong decide to get married.  They live in El Dorado, Arkansas with Tong’s mother, Huong (played by Samantha Quan), who helps raise their son, Little Man (a puppet, manipulated and voiced by Jon Norman Schneider).  When Quang receives a letter from his wife in Vietnam, the guilt from abandoning his two children rises to the surface.  He sends them money without telling Tong, which breaks her trust.  This is only the beginning of their many ups and downs, including the fact that Little Man is having trouble speaking English and is bullied at school.

Maureen Sebastian & Ben Levin
Photo courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club

The cast is superb.  Maureen Sebastian and Ben Levin have great chemistry and create a genuine bond as Tong and Quang.  Samantha Quan is full of energy as Huong.  She not only delivers the laughs, but also renders a truthful and touching scene in Act II with her grandson, Little Man.  Jon Norman Schneider’s grounded presence keeps the whole story connected.  There are strong performances by Jon Hoche and Paco Tolson, who both play numerous roles.  

Mr. Nguyen tells a lot of the story through rap lyrics.  They enhance the plot and heighten emotional impact.  Director May Adrales has done a brilliant job bringing this play to the stage.  Scenic design by Tim Mackabee is bright and colorful.  It is full of surprises, as each piece turns around to reveal unexpected settings.  Choreography by William Carlos Angulo is fun and energetic.  Puppet design by David Valentine is wonderous and charming. 

Poor Yella Rednecks is playing at the New York City Center Stage I through December 3.  Don’t miss it! 

Domenick Danza

Vietgone

Vietgone

Manhattan Theatre Club

NY City Center Stage I

November 25, 2016

Photo courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club

Vietgone is Qui Nguyen’s play presently running at Manhattan Theatre Club’s NY City Center Stage I.  This phenomenal script offers a valuable perspective on the experience of the refugees from the Vietnam War.  The characters lose their homes, their families, and their country.  They struggle to let go of the past in order to build a future for themselves in the United States, but they never forget who they are.

Quang (played by Raymond Lee) is a Vietnam helicopter pilot who rescues women and children when Saigon is invaded.  He is unable to get back to save his wife and two children.  Tong (played by Jennifer Ikeda) is given two tickets to the United States to escape the invasion.  She takes her mother, leaving her brother and fiancé behind.  These two characters meet in a refugee camp in Arkansas.  Quang vows to return to his family in Vietnam.  Tong battles with her mother, identity as an Asian woman, and deep fears of intimacy.  Their commonalities bind them in their journey of assimilation in a country and culture that knows nothing about who they are and what they have seen.

Raymond Lee, Jon Hoche, & Jennifer Ikeda
Photo courtesy of Mnhattan Theatre Club

May Adrales has directed a stellar cast who delivers realistic scenes and relationships that are touching, humorous, and poignant.  Jon Hoche, Jennifer Ikeda, Raymond Lee, Samantha Quan, and Paco Tolson join forces as an ensemble to entertain and enlighten the audience with the journey of their characters.  The set (designed by Anthony Tran), lighting (designed by Justin Townsend), and projections (designed by Jared Mezzocchi) create an atmosphere that incite the imagination and focuses the audience intensely on the action of the play.  

Jon Hoche & Raymond Lee
Photo courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club

In the final scene Mr. Nguyen makes a mind-blowing statement about the Unites States’ involvement in the Vietnam War.  It is from the perspective of a Vietnamese character who fought and lost everything.  It is noble and heroic, and unlike any political point of view we have heard on this subject.  You must see this play to experience the impact of this moment. 

Vietgone runs through December 4.  You have to see this show!

Domenick Danza