Gotta Bring The Hood Back After Katrina

Last night, Rory, Mjeema and I went to see Lower Ninth at tiny TriBeCa theater, The Flea. Starring The Wire's own Chris Partlow (um, I mean, Gbenga Akinnagbe), the 3-man play had us Wire fans interested in seeing HBO's urban assassin transform on stage. But unfortunately, Gbenga wasn't there, and his understudy was replacing him for the night. After being promised he'd be in the show the following evening, we left the theater, opting to go tonight instead. Rory couldn't make it this time, but I'm SO GLAD we went back... The whole play takes place on a rooftop during the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Still a little shaken from his performance in the final scene, I spoke to Gbenga's co-star Gaius Charles (Friday Night Lights) after the show, and told him how much I appreciated that intense part of the play. After a brief conversation with them and Mjeema, I asked a question and both he and Gbenga agreed that, "YES," theater is much more difficult than on-screen acting. But -according to Gaius - the benefit to stage acting is seeing the viewers' immediate reaction in-person (as opposed to not at all). I instantly blushed, realizing that only a moment earlier, I had done just that by explaining to him how powerful the last scene was to me. Touching on survival, heroism and faith, you know ZILLA took something away from it!

I managed to get a 2-minute clip during the play, so take a look below. In this scene, E-Z (Gaius) is talking to the ghost of Lowboy (Gbenga), presumably while dreaming or hallucinating.



Both the NY Times and The Village Voice gave it pretty sour reviews, but quite frankly, I don't think either review was well-written, so screw them both :) Or maybe I'm just bias because Mjeema and I got to meet the talented gentlemen afterward? Who knows...