If the so-called Dead White Males weren’t already granite, William Missouri Downs’ bold new play of the same name might do our founding fathers in. And take a few of the living down with them.
Downs’ important but rough-shod attack on public-school hypocrisies comes from a place of deep hurt, damaged idealism and a wicked sense of humor. He takes no prisoners and pulls no punches. He’s also at times downright irresponsible.
There is a fine line between having something to say and having an ax to grind. Downs’ promising and often hilarious story, now having its profoundly well-intentioned world premiere at the Miners Alley Playhouse, leaves no ax unground.
Downs sprays topics and targets as randomly as a school shooting, ultimately leaving even its most ardent apologists running for cover. But while some topics are introduced strictly for laughs – politically correct mascots, bureaucracy, the infringement of the religious right into public-school curriculums – he wants others such as burnout, bad parenting, creationism and gun control considered with grave sobriety. At one moment this is a potent farce, the next we’re being bludgeoned with agit-prop. One consistent tone would work better than navigating a play trying to be both at once.
That said, “Dead White Males” has a knowing point of view, terrific characters and is never dull. The story, set in fictional Pinnacle, Colo., centers on two teachers – one a naively idealistic rookie, the other a jaded burnout. Here they teach subjects they aren’t certified in, and you can’t perform “Twelfth Night” because gender confusion is dirty.
The play’s strongest two scenes mirror one another. In both, our two teachers are being observed by an unholy triumvirate – the school-board president, principal and master teacher. First, eager-to-please young Janet (L. Corwin Christie) is repeatedly, comically interrupted by silly points of procedure. In the weightier follow-up, the trio’s insistence that Doris (Boni McIntyre) teach creationism as a science causes her breakdown.
This framing is excellent but the script spins out of control for two reasons: First, this just is not a fair fight. Downs’ antagonists are racist, fanatic buffoons, which is good for a joke or 20, but robs the piece of the significance it desperately seeks at the end. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel. It’s too easy.
The second encompasses the several tangential second-act misfires. One, inevitably, involves a gun. Another concerns Ozy Mandias, the handsomely arrogant board president who’s also a mail-order divinity doctor. Mandias (what the Greeks called Rameses II), forces his teachers to their knees to pray to his Christian God, though Janet is Jewish. That’s not funny. It’s ludicrous and cruel.
The fatal blow is Downs turning his dirty old principal into a filthy old pedophile. In a tasteless and gratuitous scene, a game Pete Nelson is made to stick his hand down a young actor’s pants. This unfortunate twist turns a play about a sick educational system into a play about a sicko. Pedophilia comes with such strong, imbedded emotional responses, the audience can’t ever refocus on whatever it was this story had to say. I involuntarily shut down. For me, the play was over.
That’s a shame because of the remarkable performances by Jake Mechling as Mandias, McIntyre as Doris and, most astonishing, Christie as the alternately hilarious and heartbreaking rookie Janet. Her arc from genial butt-kisser to railroaded victim is refreshingly natural.
If Downs rewrites and reigns in his haphazard impetuosity, “Dead White Males” might have a long life contributing to an important national dialogue. If not, it’s as dead as those faces on Mount Rushmore.
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-820-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
** 1/2
“Dead White Males”
SOCIAL COMEDY|Miners Alley Playhouse, 1224 Washington Ave., Golden|Written by William Missouri Downs|Directed by Rick Bernstein|Starring L. Corwin Christie, Boni McIntyre and Jake Mechling| THROUGH OCT. 2|7:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 6 p.m. Sundays|2 hours, 5 minutes| $16-$18|303-935-3044
