Exit Strategy, Zeitgeist Stage Company, Plaza Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts, through March 5. (617-933-8600 or bostontheatrescene.com)
By Jules Becker
Long before the 2016 election and the recent appointment of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education, Zeitgeist Stage scheduled “Exit Strategy” as part of its latest season. Call it an understatement to say that this acclaimed Ike Holder work could not be more timely.
Set at a financially strapped contemporary inner city Chicago school, this 90 minute drama with notable comic moments has a lot to say about the state of public education in modern-day America. In fact, Holder’s play is so unflinching an indictment of failings in American schools that it should be required repeat viewing for charter school-centered DeVos. Hub theatergoers now have a special opportunity to see this invaluable call to action thanks to a blisteringly powerful New England premiere by Zeitgeist Stage Company.
Tumbledon, the 3000-student school in question, may be fictional, but its scenario is as freshly ominous as today’s headlines. Computers and even books are in relatively short supply compared with the resources of the schools in the city’s more upscale areas. Teachers and their principal alike know that a demolition crew will be on school grounds with red tape and bulldozers the very day after the close of the academic year.
(L to R): Johnny Quinones, Victoria George, Robert Bonotto, Jalani Dottin-Coye, Lillian Gomes, Matthew Fagerberg, and Maureen Adduci.
(Photo: Richard Hall/Silverline Images)
Faculty reactions are a study in contrast with those of administrators. African-American activist Sadie prefers to connect to people – and especially students — with high energy and empathy but is willing to protest. Meanwhile, Hispanic colleague Jania – who works with special needs students and translates school announcements into Spanish – despairs that anything can be done to avert what seems to be an inevitable closing. Veteran English teacher Pam (nearly 25 years on staff) speaks to principal Arnold about having a retirement plan, yet a stunning moment not long after their emotionally charged conversation reveals her actual response.
If Arnold intends to “close out the year with dignity,” vice principal Ricky seems serious about actually rescuing the school from closing. His offer to intervene with a real plan is greeted with great cynicism – especially from Arnold, who faults him for not joining an earlier strike and doing too little too late. Jania accuses him of “Michelle Pfeiffering” the school – a clear allusion to the well-intentioned but unsuccessful educational efforts of the idealistic new teacher she convincingly played at an inner city California school in the unconvincing 1995 movie “Dangerous Minds.” (There is even a snatch of the movie’s iconic musical piece “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio). Will Sadie and Luce – an Hispanic teacher enamored of the would-be hero and ready to give him his all personally – support his efforts? Once ostensibly trouble-making senior Donnie – who has hacked the school’s computers to create a Kickstarter project to keep the school alive – enters the play as Ricky’s energetic assistant, the plan and its impact reach a new plateau of possibilities and challenges.
Holder has the talent to make theatergoers care not only about under-nourished schools and under-appreciated teachers and staff but also about the fortunes of each person as a well-defined character. A stellar cast do much to supplement the considerable sympathy and pathos that the playwright generates through his sharply detailed, warm and often poetic dialogue. Zeitgeist mainstay Maureen Adduci has all of Pam’s feistiness and vulnerability as well as her professionalism. She is also touching providing spirited mentoring for Arnold.
Robert Bonotto, another talented company veteran, captures Arnold’s world-weary pessimism as well as his feeling for Pam. Matthew Fagerberg proves very convincing as Ricky, the play’s trickiest role. He has the right balance of tentativeness expressing his love for Luce and growing authority as this once un-dynamic administrator begins to take flight as an organizer. Lillian Gomes has Sadie’s charm as well as her pluck. Johnny Quinones has all of Luce’s heart with Ricky and his good-natured insight. Victoria George is a standout as indomitable Jania. Her impassioned memories of the bulldozing of a previous school’s library with the books still inside should be studied by budding actors for their intensity and feeling. Jalani Dottin-Coye is a revelation as Donnie — fiery and outspoken but also aching for guidance from Ricky.
Double threat Miller once again transforms an intimate space — here creating the fairly spare teachers’ lounge complete with numerous file boxes. A wall-long backdrop mural – rich with red, orange and green coloring — contains the name of the school in large lettering and teems with expressive urban graffiti. Elizabeth Cole Sheehan’s costumes capture the varying formality and informality of the characters – particularly Ricky, whose establishes a personal style with his sharp ties. Michael Clark Wonson’s nuanced lighting reflects the ups and downs of the school. Matthew Good’s sound design evokes the school’s urban rhythms.
The abbreviation ADR — or All Due Respect – runs through the play as a kind of ironic buzzword for characters hungry for validation and a similarly needy education system. Whether public schools and the people who love them rise or fall, argues Holder’s courageous play, the fight for equal opportunity and academic integrity must go on unabated. Zeitgeist Stage’s inspired “Exit Strategy” should provoke and fascinate even the neediest theatergoers.
Boston Theatre Wings 