If Alice Walker says the world needs to know Zora Neale Thurston, I’m inclined to believe her.
“Zora,” a 1990 one-woman bioplay by Laurence Holder, is a start, but a surface one that gets bogged down by biographical details rather than the inner fire of the writer who reached fleeting appreciation with “Their Eyes Were Watching God.”
On an evocative set that brings alive a Harlem street corner in 1949, actor Lea LaShawn is more our tour guide through an exotic, passionate life than she is the human embodiment of Hurston.
The globe-trotting story she tells in the Aurora Fox studio theater is undeniably absorbing. And the Jazz Age clothes? Fabulous. But the script is one-sided and a bit soft, making for a rather ordinary telling of an extraordinary life.
Raised in Florida, Hurston ran away at 14, yet still earned an anthropology scholarship to Barnard, where she was the only black student in 1925. It was there she joined the so-called Harlem Renaissance that included Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes.
She was one of the first black authors to write authentic, phonetic dialogue, which made her a target for critics and a torchbearer for Walker, Toni Morrison and more.
Most important, she wrote about what it was like to be a black person in America.
We’re told in the play that Zora’s short stories and anthropological field research led to academic acclaim, but not great wealth. That her collaboration with Hughes in 1930 ended their friendship in a dispute over credit. We hear of men who came and left and how she died in poverty in 1960.
We just don’t experience it.
After 90 minutes, I felt like I knew what happened to Hurston, but not like I knew her. The play employs few theatrical devices to help bring this seminal social scientist, and her words, alive. What’s not fully expressed is the bodaciousness and courage that fueled her travels and writings.
“We gave the world fire,” she tells us. I wanted to feel that. Absent it, it’s pleasantly presented academia.
And incomplete at that. We’re told, sympathetically, how she “Tommed” — meaning she often wrote what her white benefactors paid her to write. A sex scandal involving a young boy is brought up and dismissed. And there’s no mention of her being found to be a plagiarist in 1972.
In the play’s 1990 New York debut, one actor played all the men in Hurston’s life, including Hughes, Alain Locke and Richard Wright. Here, it’s a one-woman play. And for the life of me, I can’t imagine why that approach is preferable to the interaction that would come with another actor on the stage.
LaShawn is better known as Lea Chapman for her many years performing in musicals for Boulder’s Dinner Theatre. So, not surprisingly, she has an eminently warm and likable stage presence, and is most affecting when given the occasional chance to sing.
She makes for a friendly host. Perhaps so friendly as to belie what we know to be true about such a headstrong pioneer. She’s also not quite yet fully comfortable with the pace of her monologue and how to best time her many costume changes.
Back in 2003, in considering Shadow’s 1960s doo-wop revue, “Street Corner Symphony,” I described Chapman as “a beguiling embodiment of young beauty, an astral guardian, a spirit who symbolizes the universal power, beauty, energy and pride of the black woman.”
I left “Zora” wishing I had seen a little more of that in her portrayal here.
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
“Zora” **1/2 (out of four stars)
Aurora Fox studio theater, 9900 E. Colfax Ave. Written by Laurence Holder. Directed by donnie l. betts. Through March 14. 90 minutes. 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. $20- $24. 303-739-1970,
This weekend’s theater openings
“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” Six young misfits in the throes of puberty compete in an “actual” spelling bee against one another, and four audience volunteers. Mature themes. Through April 17. Carousel Dinner Theatre, 3509 S. Mason St., Fort Collins, 970-225-2555 or
“And Then There Were None” Agatha Christie’s famously renamed mystery (it used to carry the politically incorrect title “Ten Little Indians”) about seemingly random guests who answer an invitation to a mysterious island and start dropping, one by one. Through March 27. Presented by Spotlight Theatre at the John Hand Theatre, 7653 E. First Place, 720-880-8727 or
“Little Murders”Jules Feiffer’s 1976 black comedy, written in response to the JFK assassination, is about a dysfunctional family and the psychological effects of paranoia. An average young woman marries her nihilist photographer boyfriend, which builds to a stunningly violent conclusion. Through March 14. Presented by Theatre ‘D Art at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs’ University Hall, corner of Union and Austin Bluffs. 719-357-8321
“The Pinch Hitter”A fun-filled, fast-paced baseball spoof about a small-time gangster who wants to throw the big game. This is the show that first brought us company veteran Annie Dwyer’s bubblegum antics, and all her various ways of taunting and amusing audiences. Through May 23. Heritage Square Music Hall, 18301 W. Colfax Ave., Golden, 303-279-7800 or
“Shakespeare Incorporated” This original historic comedy by local playwright Don Fried takes on the question “Who really wrote the works attributed to Shakespeare?” Here the Bard is a hopelessly untalented wannabe who’s just a front for aristocrats, ghostwriters and scoundrels who are using his name to further their own goals. Through March 13. Presented by the Coal Creek Community Theatre at the Louisville Center for the Arts, 801 Grant St., 303-665-0955 or
This week’s video podcast: Colorado New Play Summit
This week, we talk to experts about the four featured readings at the 2010 Colorado New Play Summit. Guests include: Kent Thompson, Caridad Svich, Tony Garcia, Jane Page, Gavin Cameron-Webb and Beth Holt. Plus … a special appearance by Buntport Theater. Video by John Moore.
To view our complete gallery of photos from the 2010 Colorado New Play Summit,
. Once you get to the first photo, click the triangular “play” button to start the slideshow.
Complete theater listings
Go to our complete list of in Colorado, including summaries, run dates, addresses, phones and links to every company’s home page. Or check out our listings or
The Running Lines blog
Catch up on John Moore’s roundup of theater news and dialogue:
