Behind the Sun a Fascinating Story Let Down by Strangely Lifeless Production at History Theatre

I’m not sure how to explain the monotone performances I just witnessed in History Theatre’s Behind the Sun tonight. Most of these actors I’ve seen perform many times and I assure you they are talented performers. So why does 70% of the dialogue sound like a fifth grade teacher reading from a novel to students? Is it Richard D. Thompson’s Direction? Is it the script by Stanley Kipper and Laura Drake? If it was one performance or two I’d assume it was the performer, but it’s everyone with the possible exception of Darius Dotch who does everything he can to breathe life into the production. Perhaps Thompson was making some sort of artistic statement with this performance style like Yorgos Lanthimos? If so it’s point escapes me. In another bizarre choice, he has Joshaviah Kawala who plays the main characters son Tyler, shout every line, which understandably makes it hard to put any feeling behind the lines. There are certainly script issues including a denouement that seems too pat. Maybe the scripts dialogue just defies a dramatic reading? I don’t know, because the story and the details of the it are full of drama and potential.

The show follows Obie Kipper played by Darius Dotch and his wife Mary played by Charla Marie Bailey as they deal with life as a black family in 1956 Minneapolis. Obie wants to get out of the neighborhood they live in which is becoming more and more dangerous. Their son Tyler, played by Joshaviah Kawala, attends a Catholic school where the prejudice of the nuns almost cost him his life. Obie hatches a plan with his Jewish friend Abe, played by Scott Witebsky, to buy a house in an all white neighborhood. The first act of the show is basically laying the groundwork for why the family needs to move. The second act begins with the Kippers taking possession of the house and the atrocious things they have to endure in their first days there. By this point in the play I was amazed at the courage and perseverance of the Kipper family. I was wondering if I would have been able to stay or if what they were dealing with would have forced me to move. We then cut to some unstated amount of time later, it feels like maybe a few weeks to a month, and seemingly all the harassment has stopped and everything is great. The show runs a little under two hours including the 15 minute intermission, so adding a little time to the show wouldn’t be pushing anyone’s endurance. I’d have liked to have had a few more scenes to walk us through that transition of night of terror to everything’s fine.

It’s a great story and an okay script which has been produced before, but it needs another draft. For instance, there is an incident that happens offstage, a friend of Mary’s from the bus gets abducted after work. It’s a moment that pushes the family into implementing their scheme to buy the house. But I don’t know what happened to the friend. I didn’t know that was something that did happen. I’d like that to have been better explained. One element that did work beautifully was the set design by Rick Polenek. Changes made during intermission, which I failed to even notice were happening, that convert the Kipper home from their original to the new house very effectively. Look I don’t know whether to recommend this or not. I got a lot out of the story and Dotch gives a good performance as does Bailey when she is allowed to get worked up and show some emotion. But with a story this good, the production should be much better. Still, I learned stuff, and that goes in the plus column. Behind the Sun runs through October 13th at History Theatre in St. Paul. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.historytheatre.com/2024-2025/behind-sun

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