‘Our Daughters, Like Pillars’ – Written by Kirsten Greenidge; directed by Kimberly Senior; set design by Marion Williams; costume design by Sarita Fellows; lighting design by Mary Louise Geiger; sound design and original music by Jane Shaw; wig/hair and makeup design by Tommy Kurzman; stage managed by Kevin Schlagle. Produced by The Huntington Theatre at the Calderwood Pavilion/BCA through May 8, 2022.
by Julieanne Whitney
Our Daughters, Like Pillars is a story about complex family dynamics and the struggle to break free from the roles we are forced into playing within the family unit. Kirsten Greenidge’s new play focuses on a Black family at the center of which are three sisters doing what they can (or must) to hold themselves and each other together.
The title for the play comes from Psalms 144:12: “Then our sons in their youth will be like well-nurtured plants, and our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace.” Each one of the Shaw sisters is a pillar helping to hold up the family. Lavinia (Nikkole Salter), the eldest, is the strong center beam without whom the family would crumble. Octavia (Arie Thompson), the middle sister, is stuck playing peacekeeper, trying to keep her sisters from knocking each other down. And Zelda (Lyndsay Allyn Cox), the youngest, is constantly trying to prove herself, determined to show her sisters that she is just as capable and sturdy as they are. But what happens when one (or more) of the pillars starts shifting into a new position; when someone no longer wants to hold their portion of the weight? Perhaps inevitably, the foundation starts to crack, leaving the family in a precarious position.
Lavinia has gathered her two sisters, husband (Postell Pringle), and mother (Lizan Mitchell) together for a week-long vacation in the white mountains of New Hampshire. Banning the use of cell phones and demanding that all activities be done together, she has high– and secret– expectations for this overdue family gathering. But when two uninvited guests arrive (including Missy, the girls’ step-mother, played by Cheryl D. Singleton) Lavinia’s plans begin to fall apart as tensions collide and old wounds are torn open.
Allyn Cox shines particularly bright as the free-spirited Zelda, exuding charismatic ease and cool confidence on stage that is nearly matched by the effortlessly charming Julian Parker who plays Zelda’s laid-back lover, Paul. Sarita Fellows’ costume design fits so seamlessly with the characters it was easy to forget that the actors didn’t dress themselves. Marion Williams’ set design welcomes the audience into a woodsy cabin get-away that perfectly blends the outdoors with the in.
Greenidge is a great writer. In fact, much of her play is downright masterful. Her characters are real people, each one more layered than the next. Her dialogue is sharp, smart, and deftly crafted. But there are large sections of the script that are redundant and hinder the play’s momentum. Act One played like a beautiful record– spinning smoothly forward– but Act Two was like a scratch that ruined the previously consistent flow of the story. The writing was beautiful but rather than pushing the action upward toward the climax it sagged, making the climb through Act Three a bit of a struggle.
Our Daughters, Like Pillars is a rich, robust play about a family of women who are stuck in one place, equally unable to let go of the past or move into the future. Because they cannot change positions, the women are cemented to their pain. Perhaps, as Lavinia claims, “this is what a good family does. It bonds. It obeys.” But what happens to the family, Greenidge asks, when the weight becomes too much? Does it stay together, cracked and sore but in one piece, or do the pillars topple, letting everything– and everyone– fall apart? For tickets and information, go to: https://www.huntingtontheatre.org/
