Artney Jackson
By James Anthony Tyler
Directed by Laura Savia
“It’s about more than popularity.”
Artney Jackson is more than just popular. People adore him. In the break room at the cable company where he has worked for more than 25 years in Las Vegas, people gather daily almost just to talk with him. His co-workers, his team, assemble to share food, stories and theories of life, and to garner wisdom from his input. He is up for a major promotion and everyone wants to help him, including the woman he would replace as she moves on in her life and career. This man is even popular with his son AJ whose mental health issues are tempered by a loving father and pills, in about equal amounts.
This new play, onstage at the Nikos Stage as part of the Williamstown Theatre Festival’s season of new works, is a charmer. It is also overwhelmingly predictable and adds little to the life of the theater in general. It will undoubtedly be a popular choice for community theaters in the future; it is a safe play where no political, social or economic issues are really discussed. We pretty much can sit back and enjoy some clever dialogue, watch some very talented actors wend their way through a week in January 2016 (among the last moments of the American safety zone) and achieve reasonably happy endings. It is funny, though, how nonsatisfying a bunch of happy endings can be.
The retention team at the cable company, under the leadership of a black woman, consist of five black workers including Artney and his son Artney Jr. (AJ). Due to his seniority, everyone on the team has a special relationship with the title character.
The actress known as Portia plays Jackie Zinner. She is terrific. If there is a moment in the play that moves you, it is her breakdown, and she plays it simply and sincerely and finely. You feel the tug in the heart that Artney feels, experience Zaahir’s concern for her. You love her for her perseverance in the face of personal disaster. Portia does the small dramatics with the same flair she employs in the more comic moments of her role. She is a delight to watch.
Christopher Livingston plays Zaahir with the self-assured cockiness of the educated man in a job that is not up to his official standard. He is a good friend, a good man. He plays the loyalty of person who respects his fellows and is only marginally jealous of another man’s charm. It’s a very endearing performance.
Joshua Boone plays Perkins Howard, Zaahir’s buddy whose credentials aren’t as good as his, who ultimately wins the personal argument they have over the course of the play. He is also the friend who moves mountains to help Artney win the job that has eluded the man. Boone is also a charmer. He is very good-looking and self-assured, and plays that emotional ground that hovers between mature and immature very well. He was a joy to watch in the role.
As the boss about to retire, Rhonda Simpson, a gorgeous actress with a sensuous voice named Alfie Fuller attacks the role head on. She moves like a musical comedy star, says the most perfect lines with a sincerity that makes us suspicious and, in her character, inspires trust and dislike in the various other characters on her “team.” Fuller is a definite asset to this play. Rhonda is the one character we are pulled away from through the writing and the direction, a lovely achievement by Laura Savia, through the circumstances of the play and the ways in which she takes over the scene. I enjoyed her work very much.
The two men at the center of the drama are AJ Senior and AJ Junior. Michael Braugher plays the son, who suffers from bipolar disorder. At age 30 he is trying to make a break from his father’s house, and this is the core issue in the drama of this comedy. Braugher is handsome with a rich voice and his character’s plight is a very understandable one as he plays it. His work inspires our sympathy for AJ and that is a good thing. His use of anger technique similarly inspires our sympathy for Artney himself. Braugher plays the fine line perfectly.
Ray Anthony Thomas (who replaced Clarke Peters) is the title character around whom the entire play revolves. This is a fine performance by a consummate professional. He gives us everything the playwright wishes and a bit more, as well, for his own personality comes through the role and his smile, his frowns, his ups and downs seem like second nature to him (yes, that’s a “My Fair Lady” reference—he’d be a wonderful Doolittle in that show). Artney is always present in this play and Thomas is an actor who can handle the constant presence on a stage. For most of the play’s 91 minutes, we are with him and he never disappoints us.
Director Laura Savia has done a fine job with the show, keeping us focused and interested in the simple plots that bedeck the story. Arnulfo Maldonado has provided an apt setting for the play and Emilio Sosa has adorned his players in costumes that are simply right for each one. Isabella Byrd’s lighting is simple and straightforward and works for the play, as does Stowe Nelson’s sound design. If there is a fault to find in this production, it is in the play itself, not in the way so many artists have put it on the stage.
Predictable in plot, riddled with happy endings (all but one issue is resolved happily) and beautifully performed in a pristine space, this world premiere production is an easy play to sit back and enjoy.Just don’t expect much and you’ll have a great time.
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Artney Jackson plays on the Nikos Stage at Williams College’s ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance, 1000 Main St., Williamstown, Massachusetts, through Sunday, July 22. For tickets and information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar, go online to wtfestival.org or call the box office at (413) 458-3253.
Editor’s Note: The playwright James Anthony Tyler has a long association with Berkshire Playwrights Lab. His play, “Some Old Black Man,” was developed and brought to New York by BPL. On August 8, BPL will present a staged reading of Tyler’s newest play, “hop tha A” at The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Mass.
