‘Best of Enemies’ infuriating even as it takes brave step
In a climactic scene in the play “Best of Enemies,” A.D. Players’ well-intentioned attempt at sparking discussion about race in America, a member of the Ku Klux Klan pulls a shotgun on a black woman. The woman smiles and draws a Bible from her purse. The Good Book, she says, is a more powerful weapon than any gun. The audience chuckles. Pulling out a Bible might not have been a viable option for the countless men, women and children lynched by the KKK. But in the world of “Best of Enemies,” the rules are different. In “Best of Enemies,” terrorists can be fended off with books, racism can be absolved by tearing up a KKK membership card, and a story can pretend to be heartwarming while using the N-word with the relish of a Tarantino film.
“Best of Enemies” is, on one hand, a professional, high-quality piece of theater. The acting, costume design, stage design and direction are all effective on an artistic basis. It’s an unusual step toward the edgy and progressive from A.D. Players — the company’s usual fare is family-friendly, pro-Christian stories of uplift. And the story itself is based on true events. Written by Mark St. Germain, “Best of Enemies” chronicles the friendship between C.P. Ellis, a member of the KKK, and Ann Atwater, an African-American civil rights activist.
Ellis was, indeed, an Exalted Cyclops in Durham, N.C. He did form an unlikely friendship with Atwater while they were partners in a joint community effort called “Save Our Schools,” to improve both the white and black schools of their town. Ellis did leave the KKK to later become a union advocate. Atwater did eulogize Ellis.
But just because “Best of Enemies” is based on history and carries a positive message doesn’t mean it’s infallible. The play is, in fact, the most infuriating kind of anti-racist story.
The hero of “Best of Enemies,” after all, is white. The director, artistic director, lead actor and author of this story are all white. These facts themselves would not be an issue — there’s nothing wrong with artists being any race. But “Best of Enemies” inarguably represents a one-sided point of view. The story is about white villainy, white heroism and white redemption, and the black characters serve as mere facilitators.
Ellis has all the complexity, courage, growth, heroism and emotional monologues that Atwater doesn’t. Played by Kevin Michael Dean, Ellis first enters the stage in a red KKK robe, preaching the sub-human status of African Americans and raising his hand in a Nazi salute. He uses phrases such as “porch monkey” and talks about lynching innocent people as if it was a community service.
Then, after a conversation with Atwater, it hits him that racism doesn’t make sense — they’re both hardworking, disenfranchised Southerners with hardscrabble childhoods who want a better future for their children, after all. Later, he tears up his KKK membership card, right in front of all of his KKK friends. It’s a glorious, triumphant moment for the man.
But notice how, even after his redemptive arc, he never apologizes for his behavior. It’s as if the play wants to erase its own history. Seconds after any racial slur, the play delivers a joke. The audience laughs. It’s the kind of laughter that isn’t just cheap, it’s dangerous. Chuckle at this bumbling, relatable Joe Sixpack and you’ll forget, if only for a moment, the hood and robes he once donned at night.
Atwater, meanwhile, is a statue. Alice Gatling does more as an actor than she’s given. Her monologues are a pleasure to watch, even if their content and context remain limited. But Atwater nevertheless suffers all the hatred and violence in the world with a smile and a Bible. She’s a static character but also the epitome of the black-woman stereotype — the character who will always choose the path of grace, wisdom and nonviolence. When Ellis’ wife, Mary, shows up on her doorstep unannounced, Atwater greets her with open arms and can’t help but comment on how “beautiful” this wife of a KKK member is.
Later in the play, Atwater visits Ellis at the hospital. Ellis, now a pariah in the white community for partnering with Atwater, has harmed himself out of anguish. Atwater weeps. “I once had as much hate in my heart as you did,” she says, nearly kneeling by his bedside. “Perhaps even more.”
Last August, in the wake of violence at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., President Donald Trump said of the clash between neo-Nazis and counterprotesters, “I think there is blame on both sides.” Atwater’s teary-eyed confession of being as hateful as a Klansman follows the same logic as Trump’s remark. Her comment suggests that there exists some kind of moral balance between her and Ellis. In that hospitalbed scene, “Best of Enemies” says the indignation of a civil rights activist and the murderous hatred of a terrorist are, in a way, equivalent.
A false balance of black-versus-white conflict is just one of the many disturbing subtexts the play hides underneath its smiling, upbeat veneer. The play isn’t as interested in black pride, black history, black suffering or black strength as it is in white guilt or white redemption. It invites white audiences to acknowledge racism and then walk away with a happy ending. Yet it demands audiences of color to swallow their pride and clap for a white man while he slings the N-word at them.
A.D. Players has taken a risk in presenting a play with tough subject matter. I applaud the company’s willingness to do so. Let’s see even more next time. Let’s acknowledge the heroism, villainy, sexuality, fallibility and dynamism of characters who aren’t white.
Just don’t be fooled by the sheep’s clothing of “Best of Enemies,” a play that purports to be both a feel-good comedy and an unflinching examination of racism when it is actually neither. It’s at most a step toward beginning a conversation about race. And it’s so, so not enough.