‘In the Heat of the Night’ works up a sweat confronting racism

Loosen your scarves and shed that heavy sweater. The temperature is rising inside Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre, where “In the Heat of the Night” is making it hot under the collar for one black man in the South, circa 1962.

Virgil Tibbs, a California police detective headed home after visiting his family in Alabama, is arrested for WWB — Waiting While Black. He is taken in as a murder suspect by an eager officer and maintains his dignity while the racist members of the threeperson police force confirm that they have made a false arrest.

Tibbs is ready to shrug it off — “It’s not the first time” — and be on his way when he learns he is to be loaned out as a consultant to help local law enforcement find the murderer of a local real estate magnate.

In his smart pin-striped suit, Kevin H. Moore as Virgil Tibbs does a slow burn, faced with a police chief who calls him “boy” and most others who call him the N-word to his face, without a second thought.

A precious few in Klan-infested Argo, Ala., are ready to accept his authority, no less call him “Mr. Tibbs.”

Unlike the super sleuth in the John Ball novel and Sidney Poitier’s barely controlled rage in the movie, Mr. Moore portrays Virgil as soft-spoken and dignified, a man who takes his time and enunciates his words — perhaps having tried to lose his Southern accent back in California?

Daniel Pivovar’s Chief Gillespie would try any proud man’s patience, and he isn’t the worst offender. The death of Charles Tatum (Brett Sullivan Santry) is the chief’s first murder case, and he is in over his head. That fact forces him to grudgingly accept a black man’s help.

Tibbs’ mere presence brings out the different degrees of racism represented by each member of the police department, beginning with Gillespie’s ingrained bigotry. At the other end of the spectrum is officer Sam Wood (Jonathan Visser, in fine low-key form), who grows in genuine respect for Tibbs. And then there is Pete — Tal Kroser of Pittsburgh CAPA, Point Park University and Bricolage’s “DODO,” in a standout performance as an unabashed racist.

This “In the Heat of the Night,” by Point Park University’s Matt Pelfrey, is first a treatise on one man’s confrontations with Jim Crow racism, and then a complicated whodunit, with plenty of suspects to confound the investigation.

Arthur Peden, Adam Seligson, Jenny Malarkey and Mr. Santry slip in and out of multiple challenging roles in a play that also challenges our own ability to confront unabashed racism and sudden violence.

Tatum’s murder is witnessed from different perspectives, with the audience in close proximity within the intimate alley setup. Monteze Freeland directs with some unexpected lighthearted touches, as characters move in and out of scenes in full view of the audience, but the play is unwavering in confronting the racism and violence that permeate the story.

Every seat is close enough to the action to see the actors sweat and feel the heat of the room. It’s easy to joke about escaping the cold to see “In the Heat of the Night.” It’s not so easy to confront an ugly truth of more than 50 years ago that persists today, and that’s the reason to brace yourself and step inside.

Enter August Wilson’s ‘King’

Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company’s next production is August Wilson’s “King Hedley II” at the August Wilson House in the Hill District in April, a follow-up to the 2016 production of “Seven Guitars.” It had been previously announced that “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” would be next, but the rights to that play became unavailable.