Dobama’s “Appropriate” runs through May 20

From the writer of Dobama Theatre’s 2016 hit, “An Octoroon,” comes a play that asks a question for which there is no easy answer: how does the past affect what we think and who we become?

“Appropriate,” winner of the 2014 Obie Award for Best New American Play, is running now through May 20 at Dobama Theatre. Written by 2016 MacArthur Genius Grant recipient Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, and directed by Dobama Artistic Director Nathan Motta, this play appropriates the white family drama to make whiteness racially visible at all times.

In “Appropriate,” the patriarch of the Lafayette clan has just passed away and the family is forced to descend upon its crumbling Arkansas homestead to settle accounts. As the three adult children rummage through a mountain of hoarded relics, they spar over a lifetime of junk, past relationship issues and inherited debts. But when they make a disturbing discovery among their father's possessions, the reunion takes a turn for the volatile, forcing every member to confront their family history and each other.

In its review of the play, The Washington Post praised, “. . . the playwright’s gift for drawing his characters into an escalating conflict and sustaining, with humor and craft, our curiosity . . .”

The cast of Dobama’s regional premiere of “Appropriate” features Abraham McNeil Adams, Tracee Patterson, Tom Woodward, Ursula Cataan, Kelly McCready, Ireland Derry, Jacob Eeg and Miles Pierce.

“Appropriate” runs Thursdays through Sundays. Ticket prices range from $29 to $32, with senior, student and military discounts available. Call the box office at 216-932-3396 for information or to purchase tickets. Tickets are also available at www.dobama.org.

Anne Bakan

Anne Bakan is the assistant managing director of Dobama Theatre.

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Volume 11, Issue 5, Posted 9:11 AM, 05.01.2018