There’s something refreshing about a theater show that doesn’t care what the audience thinks about it.
That’s why I enjoyed director Lou Bellamy’s “the art is the art” take on “Paradise Blue” at Penumbra Theatre.
It’s the third play of Dominique Morrisseau’s “The Detroit Project,” which chronicles life in Detroit throughout history.
The 2015 play takes place in 1940s Detroit as the owner, workers and residents of the Paradise Club must come to terms with the imminent gentrification of the Black Bottom neighborhood.
As club owner Blue (Mikell Sapp) fights the demons of his parents’ deaths and the mental illness in his family, he argues with his jazz band members Corn (Lester Purry) and P-Sam (Darrick Mosley) about what to do with the place. Things get complicated when a mysterious woman named Silver (Angela Wildflower) rents a room upstairs.
The true heart of the show, though, is Pumpkin (Nubia Monks), Blue’s doting girlfriend and the caretaker of the club. She tries to explore her passion for poetry while also dealing with Blue’s emotional volatility.
It almost feels like a classic play, like “A Streetcar Named Desire” or “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof;” the realistic one-room set leaves all the attention on the acting. But the women characters in “Paradise Blue” are well-written, have personalities and talk about things other than the men in their life, unlike those classic plays.
Pumpkin and Silver’s relationship shines as Silver slowly empowers Pumpkin to stand up for herself. In the end, neither women’s struggles are the tragedy of the story, even if their lives have been largely affected by the men in them. Morrisseau masterfully demands them respect in their character development.
Ultimately, the ensemble cast of five truly shines here, and Bellamy lets us sit back and observe their hard work. The feeling is rare at a time in theater where it seems like all theaters want to do is address the audience with not-so tongue-in-cheek jokes. Let me be an audience member and observe true professionals do what they do best, and let me come to my own conclusion about the story — not have it written out for me in a cheesy fairy tale ending.
The market has become oversaturated with desperate, audience-pleasing shows that are fine to sit through but ultimately leave me unimpressed and never again to think about what I just watched.
Instead, the ensemble of “Paradise Blue” lays it all out on the table and doesn’t care what you think about it. They present the art for what it is.
Ultimately, Penumbra succeeds in displaying this piece of art perfectly in every way possible; the story is emotionally compelling enough to distract from any nitpicky errors — and there aren’t any, anyway. It focuses on real-life issues like domestic abuse, mental illness and women’s empowerment.
No, you don’t have to stretch your imagination here, but is that necessarily a bad thing? All of the issues it tackles are intellectually stimulating enough, even if you’re not entertained by the fantastic live performances you see in front of you.
“Paradise Blue” captures Detroit at a moment in time: members of a Black community faced with gentrification trying to keep the family they have left.
With Morisseau’s script and Bellamy’s directing, it’s heartbreaking, funny, impressive and ultimately a must-see.
“Paradise Blue” plays at Penumbra Theatre through March 9, 2025.
Anya Capistrant-Kinney can be reached at capi2087@stthomas.edu.
