(photos courtesy of @theorangeportrait)

I caught an invited preview of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” produced by the Naptown African American Theatre Collective, a resident company at the Phoenix Theatre, and directed by Edan Evans. 

Some thoughts: 

— How long does it take for a performing arts group to establish its reputation for quality and become an anchoring local theater company ? In the case of NAATC, it took just a few months. Thanks to this production and “Detroit ‘67” back in August of 2023, I’m hoping to get to every show it produces. (Next up is Loy A. Webb’s “The Light” in May.) 

— “Ma Rainey” centers on a recording session for a set of songs by the titular real-life blues legend. But while Ma Rainey is the title character – and a force of nature once she enters – playwright August Wilson gives her a terrifically anticipatory build up. While we wait for the chronically late diva, we spend much of the first act with the recording studio chief (a harried Patrick Vaughn) and Rainey’s I’ll-take-care-of-this manager (Scot Greenwell, on point throughout) and in a break room with the quartet who will be playing with her.

.– The sometimes philosophical, sometimes playful, sometimes hostile conversations amongst those four is where we start to sense the weight on each of them and the artistic decisions and compromises that are a regular part of their lives. The acoustics in the Phoenix’s main stage are not always the audience’s friend and so, early on, some lines were lost, particularly those of Slow Drag (John Singleton) – a shame since his character is a necessary balance to the others and Singleton’s low-key presence is clear and committed.

— For me, a sign of a good direction is when I see actors connected firmly not just to their characters but to each other. And both Ben Rose (as trombonist and bandleader Cutler) and Bryan Ball (as the well-read pianist Toledo) prove crisper and shine brighter than I’ve seen them before. 

Xavier Jones, Scot Greenwell, John Singleton, Ben Rose and (at piano) Bryan Ball in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”

— The catalyst of the quartet is Levee, a dream-big trumpeter who plans on forming his own band and becoming a star, thanks in part to his own arrangements. Xavier Jones, a new face to my eyes, handled the complexity of the man with a youthful swagger masking inner anxiety. It’s to his credit that the ending, which runs the risk of feeling out of the blue if the build up isn’t as strong as it is here, feels of a piece with the rest of the play.

— And then there’s Ma Rainey herself. Alicia Sims gives a full-bodied performance where we can see her near-constant rebalancing as well as practically hearing the music in her head. It takes talent to show not just Rainey’s bold outward-facing persona, but also the woman underneath who has a clear understanding of the power plays at work for a Black woman in the music business in the 1920s. Hint: She doesn’t demand a Coke just because she’s thirsty.

— Wilson’s plays do not follow traditional narrative arcs and his characters are never cliches. He’s willing to let characters be right sometimes and wrong others and for audiences to applaud someone one moment and cringe at the same character’s actions another. And he does that with poetic prose that creates a unique but relatable theatrical world. Wilson seems less interested in a specific take-away and more into bringing a world to life. And, here and elsewhere, he does that expertly.

— I’ve checked out photos of the sets for other productions of “Ma Rainey,” often in larger theaters, but the tightness of the split set at the Phoenix adds to the powderkeg tension of the play. Credit to set designer Fei and scenic designers Cole Wilgus and Ky Brooke. Wigs by Asanta Foster and costumes by Robert Moore and equally on the money.  

— Now, about the font size in the program bios…anybody got a magnifying glass? 

— Personal note: I am now over the hump. Finally seeing “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” on stage means that I have now had the pleasure of attending six of August Wilson’s 10-play cycle, each set in a different 1900s decade. And I’ve seen them from a range of quality companies including the late-lamented Philadelphia Drama Guild, the Arden Theatre Company, Indiana Repertory Theatre, the Phoenix Theatre and now NAATC. Each was distinct but also each honored one of the greatest playwrights of the, well, of ever. Theater producers, please keep me posted if anyone has “Jitney,” “Seven Guitars,” “King Hedley II,” and/or “Gem of the Ocean” in their pipeline. #completionist #lifegoals 

— And how wonderful is it that Denzel Washington is using his star power to make sure that all ten of Wilson’s Pittsburgh plays are filmed? So far, there have been first-rate movies of “Fences” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” with “The Piano Lesson” on deck with Samuel L. Jackson and Corey Hawkins (It was filmed previously for TV in 1995 with Charles S. Dutton and Alfre Woodard). Keep ’em coming.