Families are endlessly fascinating constructs. As simple as they are in function, they teem in variety, complexity and mystery. That volatile mix of attributes sit at the base of Mud Row, Remy Bumppo’s sensational season opener now playing at Theater Wit in Lakeview
Written by Macarthur Award recipient Dominique Morriseau in 2019, it overlays the lives and stories of two pairs of sisters. The first, Elsie (Alexis Janae) and Frances, played by Toccara Castleman, live in a part of a Pennsylvania town known as Mud Row. It’s just around the time the modern-day civil rights movement took root in the 40’s and 50’s. The other two sisters, Regine and Toshi, occupy the present day. And although we learn Regine’s (Ayanna Bria Bakari) life and career are in Philly, her and Toshi’s (Tiffany Renee Johnson) interactions also take place in Mud Row. A metaphor for any community that’s stigmatized, sometimes reviled and commonly occupied by the other. Acclaimed for her writing gifts, Morriseau’s play spools out information teasingly and asks us to connect carefully placed dots. By doing so, we eventually discern that Elsie and Frances are Regine and Toshi’s grandmother and great aunt, respectively.
That knowledge helps crystallize much of what we see, hear and discover. They’re the kind of things that define character and emphasize interpersonal dynamics. Beautifully directed by Malkia Stampley, we’re given a clear picture of who these women are as individuals. How they’ve been shaped by their natural inclinations and the times. Elsie is a climber anxious to shed the stamp of place. Someone who doesn’t want to be defined by where she’s from. She’s dating a boy from the world she wants to enter and not only does she not disclose specifics about her background, she lies about certain specifics of her life to encourage his interest in her.
Frances is her opposite. Someone who won’t allow herself to be looked down upon and more than willing and able to answer insult with aggression. Even though she’ll resort to physical confrontation when demanding simple civil respect, she’s open to giving this new non-violence approach a try if it shows results. To highlight the special brand of courage built into her DNA, Frances confides to her sister the details of an incident at the hospital where she worked as a cleaner. When a supervisor vilely demeans her with a racial slur, Frances throws human waste in the woman’s face before walking out on the job. Later, when she eventually joins the civil rights movement, her courage and gumption would take on less vengeful; but more heroic, dimensions.
Despite their vast difference in core temperament, they’re devoted sisters living together in total support of one another.
When the time suddenly advances 70 years, Sydney Lynne’s neat and comfortably homey set becomes the place where Regine and Toshi’s grandmother passed away. The house has been vacant for years. Left as an inheritance to Regine, she and her husband, Davin (Jamaque Thomas) were finally there to sell it. The house holds no sentimental value for Regine. Her grandmother had been cold and demanding. Only bitter memories reside here for her. That remove was making her almost too eager to get rid of the house and accept any first offer. Even if it proved to be unreasonably low. Davin asked her to slow down and take the full measure of what she was doing.
Also unlike her husband, Regine’s views on racial kinship and solidarity are unusually dismissive. For her, the color of her skin presumes no affinity to anyone. He’s much more embracing of his Blackness and feels bonded to those who share it with him. It’s refreshing to hear the maturity and logic of both their views. His are well known and expected. Hers are startling, fresh and fiercely candid. They listen to one another with deference as each explains the logic behind their stances.
Bakari makes an electrifying Regine. With a cool that veers toward an aloofness, her intellect’s as refined as her wardrobe. It endows her with an appealing groundedness.
It’s not long after they arrive in the home that they notice things aren’t quite right. It looks as if someone’s been squatting in the house; immediately causing them to devise a plan to confirm their suspicions and hatch another to address it. They never suspect it could be Regine’s long estranged sister, Toshi, living there. The sister who gave herself over to the streets and drugs long ago and whose actions destroyed all vestiges of trust between them.
The confrontation that inevitably ensues is what makes great theater so engrossing. In this case, it’s a place where desperation, resentment, redemption, anger and the elixir of familial blood converge to cause an explosion of truth and revelation.
That happens after we get to know Toshi personally. The 2.0 version of her that’s trying to go clean by retreating to her grandmother’s house with her boyfriend, Tyriek (Jabari Khaliq). There’s still a lot of “street” in her talk, walk and attitude. But you sense from the way she and Tyriek relate to each other and see what they mean to each together that make you believe the stay clean part may be real. Both Johnson and Khaliq are dynamite in their roles and very desperate in their situation. If they get thrown out, oblivion would be all that they would have left to look forward to.
Bringing characters like Toshi and Tyriek to the stage sheds illuminating light on the unseen and on people who other people avoid. Recognizing and celebrating the deep humanity that exists in marked communities is one of Mud Row’s most welcome takeaways.
Keeping the play a two-tiered thriller, the storyline keeps circling back to check in on how Elsie and Frances are faring. Part of that outcome would have trickle effects on the story running along the adjoining track.
As casting director, Adelina Feldman-Schultz makes sure each role is filled with exceptional talent. That care in selection guarantees a performance honesty that blazes bright in every role. Folded over an unforgettably probing story about family, excellent acting makes Mud Row a theatrical feast.
Mud Row
Through November 15, 2026
Remy Bumppo think theatre
Venue: Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont, Chicago, IL
Highly Recommended