The Natural Trial

A Play by Gerald Lemmons' Performed by the Black Artists' Manifesto at the Langston Hughes Theatre, March 25-28

Gerald Lemmons' The Natural Trial staged the weekend of March 25-28 at the Langston Hughes Theatre - presented the Black Artists' Manifesto troupe in a compelling drama of mass economic failure and urban panic. Set in a black neighborhood in a major city where an economic crisis is about to strike, The Natural Trial focuses on a black store owner (played by Michael Jackson) and his wife ( Alice Peaches Jones) who are warning their customers to prepare for the fiasco ahead.
Taking precautions themselves, the couple build a shelter two hundred feet below the ground and stock it with enough goods to get them through the crisis. When the shit hits the fan people are fighting in the streets for a slice of bread; water is rationed, electricity is discontinued, and the food stamps are used to feed only the whites, leaving the blacks to survive any way they can.
In the shelter are a group of survivors: Tyrone and Trudy, the two storeowners; their friends Anne and Emmanuel (Ira Lynelle Reid and Gregory Johnson), who give birth to their first child while underground; Harold and Judy (Curtis Martin and Linda Berry): Thomas. and

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The Natural Trial
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Lois (Donnell Berry and Marlene Johnson), two revolutionaries - a brother and sister - who are being sought by the FBI in connection with a shootout which left all the other members of the Revolutionary Party dead; and Bessie (Emma Cole), who was saved on the humble and (later on) at the expense of Thomas' life.
As the survivors cluster together in the shelter, all hell breaks loose outside. The social order disintegrates. and violent anarchy descends on the city. During one heated scene the shelter-dwellers venture back upstairs into the store to grab some more sustenance; an explosion outside the building brings down the walls on Thomas, the escaped revolutionary, killing him as he tries to help Bessie to safety.
The crisis abates, and the small band of survivors staggers back up to street level to survey the ruins. As the only citizens with the foresight to prepare for the holocaust, the handful of blacks looks out over the bleak cityscape and prepares for the long struggle ahead.

Working with a large cast (21 actors), complicated staging, and a wealth of sound effects, Gerald Lemmons and the Black Artists' Manifesto turned in an exciting, convincingly-performed dramatic effort - their best yet, in this writer's humble opinion. If you missed it, you can look for these upcoming BAM productions at the Langston Hughes: Dreamin' Inside Out, by Michael S. Gordon (May 20-22); The Trip (a musical), by Gerald Lemmons (July 22-23); Circle of Voices, by Gerald Lemmons (September 23-24); and Louis, also by Lemmons (November 18-19).

- Bernadette Harris