Hovey Players presents ‘Appropriate’ by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Directed by Michelle Aguillon. Set Design by Tom Powers. Lighting Design by Eric Jacobsen. Costume Design by Gabrielle Hatcher. Sound Design by Chris Brousseau. Hovey Players, 9 Spring Street, Waltham, through February 3, 2024.
By Linda Chin
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ play Appropriate takes place on a plantation in Arkansas, present day. The Lafayette family patriarch has recently died, and his three adult children Toni, Bo, and Frank (who uses the name Franz) have gathered to prepare the house and its contents for sale. The siblings are estranged, and have each brought family members for companionship, comfort, and support during this stressful ordeal.
Toni (Sarah Logsdon), the oldest child and executor of the estate, is recently divorced and has brought her only child, Rhys (‘Em Sheeran), who she thinks is a f*ck-up. Bo (Tom Berry ) and his wife Rachael (Sara Jones) have traveled from NYC with their two children, Cassidy (Maia Ettinger) and Ainsley (Callan/Tristan Oliver), in tow. Franz (Casey Preston), the gentle, soft-spoken black sheep of the family, has brought his new-age fiancée, River (Kimberly Blaise). Dad was a hoarder, and the house is chock-full with junk and clutter. Both the property (which includes a cemetery of formerly enslaved people and a wooded area where lynchings took place) and the house (where the family discovers an album with horrific photographs) contain many buried secrets. There is clearly a lot in the house to pack and in their relationships to unpack.
Producing an ambitious, complex three-act play (with a running time of nearly three hours) is not an easy task and takes a village. The cast, creatives, and production team for Appropriate deliver wholeheartedly. Throughout the production, the actors delivered sizzling performances that expertly portrayed the simmering dysfunction and added to the heat of summer in Arkansas. Within the chaotic world of the play (and the Hovey’s intimate, aka small stage), Michelle Aguillon has created beautiful stage pictures, skillfully carved the characters’ arcs, and brought their multi-layered motivations to the surface. The dialogue, both comedic and dramatic, is delivered with skill, loving care, and respect for the story’s themes, actors, and audience. (Though at times, the yelling between the adults, parents, and children was quite loud and jarring, and I wished it could have been brought down a few notches).
Special shout-outs to the young actors Em Sheeran and Maia Ettinger, who, in their sensitive and nuanced portrayals of Toni’s and Bo and Rachael’s adolescent children Rhys and Cassidy, show us adults that it is possible to flourish despite a difficult family history, to have a relationship (as cousins) even if others in the extended families aren’t getting along, and that one can express intense emotions without shouting. They provide me with hope that there will be more unity in our divisive world in the future. For more information, go to: https://www.hoveyplayers.com/
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