COMMON GROUND’S ‘DAY OF ABSENCE’ A LANDMARK PLAY THAT STILL RESONATES
It’s mere coincidence that Common Ground Theatre’s long-planned production of “Day of Absence” opened for streaming on Friday, just six days after the death of its venerated 90-year-old playwright Douglas Turner Ward.
But the passing of Ward — who cofounded and for many years ran the Negro Ensemble Company in New York — reminds the viewer of how innovative a writer he was, and how this boundarybreaking 1965 play is still, unfortunately, relevant today. The filmed play, directed by Common Ground artistic director Yolanda Franklin, was presented for just three Zoom-based performances last weekend.
“Day of Absence” is a satire described as a reverse minstrel show. Black actors wearing whiteface makeup portray the White citizens of a small Southern town in the mid-1950s, where all of the city’s Black residents mysteriously disappear for one day. The White residents become increasingly desperate, despondent and angry as they realize how dependent they are on the Black neighbors they clearly detest.
The satiric characters are intentionally funny and cartoonish, but their prejudice is anything but. As one whiteface character says in the play: “Lincoln freed the slaves momentarily, but Old Dixie bounced back ... Superiority always wins out.”
The town quickly grinds to a halt with no Black maids, nannies, drivers, caregivers, handymen, trash collectors, stock boys, delivery workers, cooks and customers. Babies are left untended, bathrooms go uncleaned. The town reverend blames voodoo for the disappearance, which he calls “a perversion of Christian principles.”
Walter Murray led a strong 15-member cast in a free-wheeling performance as town mayor Henry R.E. Lee, who goes on television to plead sweetly with the missing Black people to return, saying: “You don’t know what it’s like to wake up when your cheerful, grinning, happy-go-lucky faces are missing.” But within minutes he’s threatening to crucify them for their “unpardonable defiance.” Eventually, in their fury and frustration, the White townspeople go on a looting spree.
Standout performers included Grandison Phelps III and Ernie McCray as porch-sitters Clem and Luke, Leon Matthews and Carla Banu Dejesus as a couple whose marriage collapses without their maid, and Gino Walker in two roles as city hall workers. Also featured were Anthony Hamm, Adam Connie Sr., Dwaine Collier, William James, William Barstad, Jasmine January, Kristen Washington and Joneshia Jenkins.
Because of the timing of Ward’s death, director Franklin held surround events after each performance to honor his memory. On Feb. 26, she invited two cast members to talk about their experience in whiteface, including Matthews, who said it was an important moment for him and for his family.
“It means a lot to me to do this reverse role,” he said. “It teaches the audience to look at history and how White folks have treated Black folks and it doesn’t sugar-coat it. You can see how White folks thought of us, how they used us and how they treated us. I wanted to pull the blinders off people’s eyes.”
For more on Common Ground Theatre, which is celebrating its 57th season this year, visit commongroundtheatre.com.