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Radio Golf
At
The Goodman Theatre
(Goodman Theatre Website)
170 N. Dearborn Street
Chicago, Illinois 60601
312.443.3800
Robert Falls: Artistic Director
Roche Schulfer: Executive Director
By
August Wilson
(August Wilson Bio)
Starring:
Michole Briana White, Hassan El-Amin, James A. Williams,
John Earl Jelks, Anthony Chisholm
Director: Kenny Leon
Assistant Director: Derrick Sanders
Set Design: David Gallo
Costume Design: Susan Hilferty
Lighting Design: Donald Holder
Sound Design: Dan Moses Schreier
Original Music: Kathryn Bostic
Dramaturg: Todd Kreidler
Vocal Coach: Erin Annarella
Production Stage Managers: Narda E. Alcorn, Marion Friedman
Stage Manager: Joseph Drummond
Casting: Harriet Bass, Laura Stanczyk
Chicago Casting: Adam Belcuore
Publicity Director: Denise Garrity
Publicity Associate: Brandon Hayes
Exclusive Corporate Sponsor: Sara Lee Foundation
Sponsor Partner: Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Foundation
Susan Weinrebe
January 22, 2007
Quite the piece of gristle to chew on is this play, Radio Golf, August Wilson’s final work before he died in 2005. The tenth play in his decathlon cycle, expositions all, of African American life since the turn of the century, it alone examines the middle class experience.
Placing intrinsic value on craftsmanship, shared heritage, and recognition of “right from wrong,” the characters are placed in situational conflict when federal funding for urban renewal, politics, and personal gain pit one against another.
Harmond Wilks, a man with mayoral aspirations, and his real estate partner, Roosevelt Hicks, a man with dollar signs frontletting his eyes, stand to make tremendous financial gains if their plans for an apartment complex go through. First, though, an old house of little perceived value must be demolished.
That house becomes the fulcrum upon which Wilks’ and Hicks’ fortunes balance as they struggle to place themselves along the continuum of the consequences of their decisions, among them, giving due diligence to respecting their pasts and racial identity.
Nothing in an August Wilson play is as straightforward as at first it seems. Convoluted issues of morality and identity mirror human issues, particular to each play’s place in time. Even the opening song of Radio Golf, reprised several times during the performance, shifts its import as do the allegiances of the two men. So when we hear the rousing verses: "Hail, hail, the gang’s all here, It’s one for all, the big and small, It’s always me for you…", that sentiment is turned ironically topsy turvy by play’s end.
The aspiration to rise and advance economically and socially is what I believe to be part of the human experience. Mr. Wilson, in his brilliance and wit, larded the play with injections of wry and broad humor relevant to his subjects. Yet, I know that the depth and emotion, carried by some of that humor and certain references, possibly even character “types,” eluded me, not being in the vocabulary of my own background. Anthony Chisholm is maddening and mad like a fox, as he characterizes the fast-talking Elder Joseph Barlow, who never answers a question head on. A survival mechanism? Likewise rapid-fire, the rough bits of handyman Sterling Johnson’s life are smoothed by the impeccable humorous dialog and timing of John Earl Jalks.
Nonetheless, set as it is in a development office that is clean and well lighted, albeit flanked and topped by decaying remnants of the rest of the building, Radio Golf addresses levels of the quandary we must all confront - to define what we value and the means to preserve it.
Pictured in August Wilson's Radio Golf directed by Kenny Leon are (l to r) Michole Briana White (Mame Wilks) and Hassan El-Amin (Harmond Wilks).
Photo courtesy of Eric Antoniou
Pictured in August Wilson's Radio Golf directed by Kenny Leon is John Earl Jelks (Sterling Johnson).
Photo courtesy of Richard Anderson
Pictured in August Wilson's Radio Golf directed by Kenny Leon is Anthony Chisholm (Elder Joseph Barlow).
Photo courtesy of Eric Antoniou
Pictured in August Wilson's Radio Golf directed by Kenny Leon are Hassan El-Amin (Harmond Wilks) and Anthony Chisholm (Elder Joseph Barlow).
Photo courtesy of Eric Antoniou
Pictured in August Wilson's Radio Golf directed by Kenny Leon are (l to r) James A. Williams (Roosevelt Hicks) and Hassan El-Amin (Harmond Wilks).
Photo courtesy of Peter Wynn Thompson
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