Jackie Alexander Productions | <I>The Desire</I> Reviews

National Board of Review

Between Action and Cut
June 2007
by John Gallagher

THEATRE: I saw a wonderful new Off-Broadway play, THE DESIRE, written and directed by Jackie Alexander, running at Brooklyn’s Billie Holiday Theatre through June 24. This comedy-drama really has it all – a wonderful story that operates on several levels, scintillating dialogue, compelling direction, a fantastic cast. The play takes place at the East Hampton beach house of Ty Jenkins, an ambitious African-American attorney on the verge of a partnership at a prestigious law firm. Over the course of a weekend, life suddenly gets very complicated as he juggles a marital engagement and an affair, a dinner party with his boss and the boss’ wife, and the unexpected arrival of his salt-of-the-earth cousin, a refugee from Hurricane Katrina, who may or may not also be an escaped criminal. This six-character play is tight as a drum, eleven perfectly constructed scenes balancing serious issues like fidelity, family, race and government failure re Katrina with character-driven humor that had the audience howling gleefully in between the dramatic stretches.

As Ty, Wendell B. Franklin is the anchor that holds down the piece, and he is ably supported by Kerri Miller as the girlfriend and especially Kellie E.McCants as the fiancée; her suspicions about “the other woman” are among the play’s joys. Shane Taylor has the juicy role of Ty’s cousin Willie, and he makes the most of every minute he’s on stage, including an hilarious rendition of Otis Redding’s “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” that brought down the house. Anthony Sandkamp is perfectly cast as Ty’s boss Bob, and, as she did as the “awards girl” at the NBR Awards Gala in January, gorgeous Heidi Kristoffer lights up the stage with pure starshine as Bob’s wife Marlene; she gives life to what could easily just be a stereotype as a country club spouse. Among the show’s highlights are her meeting with Willie, and their interaction as he tells of his experience in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Jackie Alexander is also a filmmaker (he wrote, directed, and acted in the award-winning indie JOY), and THE DESIRE has all the makings of a terrific movie. In the meantime, the play could easily withstand a move to Broadway (www.thebillieholiday.org).

The Amsterdam News

June 2007
by Linda Armstrong

The Billie Holiday Theatre on Fulton Street in Brooklyn always offers productions that are entertaining, amusing, and thought-provoking, and its present offering fits right into that mold. "The Desire" is a funny, at times surprising, and definitely thought-provoking play written and directed by Jackie Alexander. When you watch this drama, keep in mind that people are not always what they seem. There are definitely twists and turns in this production, which make it enthralling to watch.

"The Desire" is the story of Ty (played by Wendell B. Franklin), a Black lawyer, who is about to be made a partner in a white law firm in Manhattan. He is a man who has romantic issues and issues with family. He is especially uncomfortable when his cousin Willie (amusingly played by Shane Taylor) comes to see him unexpectedly and shares the fact that he is a Hurricane Katrina survivor and also shares stories of Ty as a youth growing up in the projects in New Orleans--information that Ty has tended not to share with his boss and not too much with his fiancée Angela (played by Kellie E. McCants), either. Ty's character is very private and doesn't like to reveal himself to anyone. But now, with his cousin Willie around, Ty doesn't have to share things about himself, because Willie is happy to do it. He is someone who is outspoken and lets everyone, including Ty's rich white boss, know that what happened with the levees breaking in Hurricane Katrina and the government's slow reaction was due to the fact that the victims were Black.

This production is well written and well acted. The rest of the cast includes Heidi Kristoffer, Kerri Miller, and Anthony Sandkamp.

As I mentioned earlier, what a character seems to be is really not the final word. When you go to see the show you'll realize what I'm talking about.

Kudos must be given to Patrice Andrew Davidson for the gorgeous, detailed set she created to recreate a rich, elegant setting of a house in East Hampton. Other members of the production's creative team include Helen L. Simmons, the costume designer, and AVAN, responsible for lighting design and production stage management.

"The Desire" is playing through June 24. For more information about the Billie Holiday Theatre or for tickets, call (718) 636-0918 or go to www.thebillieholiday.org.

Nashville Scene

Free Willie?
New production explores the uncanny ability of love to cause laughter—and pain
September 13, 2007
by Martin Brady

The second offering in this year’s Shades of Black Theatre Festival comes courtesy of SistaStyle Productions, an active newcomer in Nashville’s African American community theater scene. Jackie Alexander’s play The Desire recently closed off-Broadway, and this mounting is the work’s first regional production since the New York engagement.

A mix of social drama and sitcom, The Desire unfolds in a dozen scenes over two conventionally constructed acts. The main character is a Long Island lawyer named Ty, who is on the verge of accepting a partnership at a big Manhattan law firm.

At first, we find him juggling relationships with his fiancée Angela, a TV producer, and a white girlfriend from his not-too-distant past. But suddenly, his cousin Willie enters the scene. Barely a week after Hurricane Katrina, Willie has made the trek from New Orleans to Ty’s beach house in the Hamptons. What Willie wants (and what he represents from Ty’s past) becomes the chief mystery element in the drama.

Yet the romantic complications—with Willie often playing a key role as comic foil—are also a focus of the play. They are both a source of laughter (by way of farcical contrivances in the action) and serious reflection on love’s uncanny ability to cause pain.

Director Jacqueline Holmes, an MTSU theater professor, keeps the production moving, with each of the many scenes ending in intriguing little cliffhangers. Playwright Alexander has worked in a subtext of contemporary sociology, which explores the divide between African Americans who have “made it” and those who are still fighting the old battles of poverty, crime and life in the projects. These topics are handled thoughtfully. After the laughter has died down, they become the issues that the arrogant attorney Ty must grapple with.

David Chattam plays Ty. He’s well cast and works the bravado and eventual confusion of his character to good effect. Mary McCallum is the levelheaded and sensitive Angela, and she’s consistent throughout, whether dealing with her suspicions about Ty’s lack of commitment or extending her friendship to the down-and-out Willie.

Amanda Bailey is the booty-call girlfriend, and she makes a convincing transition from frivolity to frustration in the wake of Ty’s misleading overtures. Gary Douglas and Molly Hoekstra portray Ty’s law partner and wife, respectively. They are supposed to be funny characters—upper-crust, limousine liberals who embrace Willie and his supposed pathos with knee-jerk predictability. Unfortunately, Douglas and Hoekstra give quirky and unpolished performances. We sometimes chuckle at their dialogue. But mostly, their self-conscious acting draws the wrong kind of attention.

Darius Willis, in the pivotal role of Willie, is much more successful. Despite some rough edges in his acting—he could profit from a firmer directorial hand—Willis revealed an engaging stage presence. There was energy in his movement and passion in his vocal delivery. He was a lot of fun to watch.

Despite an imperfection or two, The Desire is worthy theater. Indeed, it proved to be that rare kind of play that offers both comic diversion and intelligent social commentary at the same time.

THE DESIRE | CONTACT | SYNOPSIS | GALLERY |

VIDEO PROMO (may take a few seconds to load)