Black Nativity.

I saw Black Nativity, by Langston Huges, at the Intiman Theater (201 mercer street, in downtown Seattle) on December 1st.  Black Nativity is a retelling of the nativity story of Christ, with an entirely black cast.  The play has many gospel hymns and classic christmas carols sung in a gospel style.

The set for Black Nativity was farily sparse.  It included a raised platform in the middle of the stage, and a smallish hut at the back behind the manger.  The stage was kept intentionally simple, I think, to allow the audience to focus on the abstract aspects of the play such as the colors of the lighting and costumes, and the music, and the theme of the play.  The music was also performed live, so there were guitars, keyboards, drums, microphones, amplifiers, and a lot of wires, among other things on stage as well.  The sound, as you can imagine, was quite good with all the music being performed on stage.  The musicians were all very talented and the music was gripping.  Occasionally sound effects (Like a clap of thunder) would be played through the speakers, but these were usually used like props.  Lighting was a big part of the production, and colored lighting was used extensively to influence the mood.  For example, the stage was initially lit with blue and orange lights, but during the birth of Jesus they changed to a deep red.  Lighting and color were used in this way throughout the show.  The costumes functioned much like the lighting.  They were mostly bright solid colors.  A chorus of angels, for example, would all be wearing entirely solid white robes.  The characters of Joseph and Mary wore slightly more complicated costumes with more colors to make them stand out.

There were very few characters in the play, given the size of the cast.  There was Joseph and Mary (neither of which had any speaking lines) played by Bojohn Diciple and Erricka S. Turner, and the narrators played by Reverend Dr. Samuel B. McKinney and Phyllis C. Yasutake.  Joseph and Mary both did a wonderful job of acting through body language, facial expressions and gestures.  The narrator was energetic.

The play was very well put together, and very entertaining to watch.  Gospel music is always a kick and the musics in the production was no different.  The play was especially interesting for me, being neither black nor strongly religious.  I felt like I had somewhat of an outsiders viewpoint on the whole thing.  Even so I could still definitely appriciate the play.