In a time in our history when yet again we are faced with a growing divide of “us” vs “them,” we are challenged to ask ourselves if the old proverb about how a “house divided against itself shall not stand” is indeed truth. Suzan-Lori Parks’ play The Book of Grace, making its Baltimore debut with Rapid Lemon Productions, tackles that notion.
Before continuing, a warning: this production contains depictions and descriptions of domestic violence, misogyny, and xenophobia in addition to the use of profane language throughout.
Set in a border-town in Southern Texas, we are introduced to our three characters through the framing of the chapters of a book; and this book starts with a prologue. Divided into their own individual spaces, the characters of Grace, her husband Vet, and his son Buddy display their individual natures and set the premise of their motivations as they seek to speak, to see, and to hear.
Ever the optimist, Grace, played by Jess Rivera, is the one who seeks the good in the world. Filled with the desire to find her own footing in life, but confined by her abusive and controlling husband, she is relegated to developing her own voice through a secret book of stories and newspaper clippings she collects that focuses on people being saved, lost animals, or the “luxury of perspective.” An intelligent woman, Grace has convinced herself that she is dumb as a means to cope with the confinement within her marriage. She sets the actions of our story in place when she invites her estranged stepson, Buddy, to visit for an award ceremony being held for his father. Rivera does a fine job at portraying the tip-toeing yet up-beat wife of an abuser as she attempts to diffuse the tension emitted by both her husband and stepson. Caught between merry-maker and diplomat, Rivera never misses a beat in treading lightly as she uses humor and civility to calm the often tense situations.
Patriarch and all-around source of everyone’s woes is Vet, played by Benny Pope. Stuck in a cage of his own creation, Vet is a man that is hyper-focused on boundaries and walls. A perfect reason for him to become a border patrol officer as his occupation. In his love for boundaries, he finds a simple yet damaging symbolism (although he will never willingly see how it is damaging to himself and others) in the way these barriers set everyone apart from each other and creates the literal “us” and “them.” Vet is a man that is rigid with boundaries, but also seeks to keep setting new walls for himself to “start new” instead of dealing with what is past. Having recently made a drug bust on several “aliens,” Vet is to be the recipient of an award for his actions and takes the time throughout the production to muse and string together his thoughts and view of the world around him (made better by the wall) into a speech. As an unrepentant abuser incapable of acknowledging the damage he has inflicted, Pope is striking and controlling in every facet of his portrayal of Vet. Pope is able to dance the line of a frightening narcissist who only knows how to get his way with everything as he uses strength and charisma to draw his victims in before slamming them back down.
Vet’s estranged son, Buddy, played by Pierre Walters, enters the story as a young man seeking redemption for past grievances from his father. However, redemption is already a lost cause in Buddy’s eyes as he is sure from the very beginning that his father is sure to fail at every chance to acknowledge and apologize for the harm he inflicted on Buddy and his mother in years past. As Buddy gives Vet a chance time after time to redeem himself, it is finally three strikes and he is out in Buddy’s mind, causing him to set down the path of revenge he knew was bound to happen. Walters shines as he portrays the raw characteristics of jumping from a young man seeking to gain a place in his father’s sight, to frightened child, to troubled militant rebel as he navigates the nuisance of Buddy’s lingering trauma as it manifests into blind anger, fear, and hatred.
Directed by Lauren Davis, this particular production definitely leans in hard to the feelings of awkwardness that arise when bringing together a survivor with their tormentor in a complicated family dynamic. Being such a small cast, the story is able to feel intimate in ways that are both comfortable and uncomfortable to watch, and this awkwardness is an effective direction to really bring home the separateness of each character and the ways in which civil approaches in the broader world can often fail to fully bridge the divide to come together cohesively when one party holds fast to the boundaries that separate.
The set is definitely designed and constructed with a lot of care and thought to the symbolism of the objects that build the environment our characters exist within. Designed by Kai Hopkins, the walls are covered with Grace’s waiting tickets, newspaper clippings, letters… and blood. All aspects of Grace’s character as she is the one that frames this story with her scribblings and clippings and letters to Buddy through the years. As one gazes into the space, the papers on the walls become increasingly concentrated on the back wall to the point where the audience is really only able to discern that the main wall of the house is built like the border fence Vet loves so much when careful lighting (designed by Jaeden Arrington) shines through the back of the stage to silhouette the bar-like structure similarly found on the Southern border of Texas. The furniture that is strewn around the interior of the house are all made up of foot lockers. A very interesting choice to represent the similarity between both Buddy and his father as men who prefer to lock everything away, out of sight, and exist amongst this need to keep separate.
While this particular production does well with what it has, the issues I have with this play are not the direction or the actors or the set as they are all wonderful with what they have before them, but rather the feeling of “unfinished-ness” with the script itself. It is clear that Parks attempts to make a display of the broader world and the ever-growing polarization of “us” vs “them” in our society through a microscopic lens of a broken family of three. But I left the theater asking myself, “who was this play really for?” Abuse survivors will resonate with many of the characters actions and motivations, but there is really no new lesson or triumphant message of hope and endurance at the end, and outside of seeking catharsis, many survivors don’t always seek out reliving their trauma on a night out. Abusers are not likely to have any great epiphany from this tale that will mend their ways and make them a better member of society. And those who do live life by the xenophobic “us” vs “them” mantra are probably not the theater-going types that will attend productions like these. In the end, this story talks, but it never really seems to complete its thought. In a way, it feels very much like Vet’s speech; a rambling work in progress. But perhaps considering this script was first written in 2010 but still feels like it could have been written yesterday, it is our world that continues to be the rambling work in progress.
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes with one intermission
The Book of Grace produced by Rapid Lemon Productions, plays through January 28th 2024 at The Strand Theater— 5426 Harford Road in the Hamilton-Lauraville neighborhood of Baltimore, MD. Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance online.
