Renegade troupe's edgy fare

by W. Fred Crow

Renegade Theatre Experiment begins its sixth season of edgy and sharp theatrical fare with the opening of the black comedy carrying the simple moniker "Noah Johnson." The play comes from the pen of award-winning playwright Jon Bastian, a stage, television and film denizen who also has a flair for acting. The Renegade production of the Bay Area premiere is directed by Jenn BeVard.

"Noah" is set in the American Civil War. Noah Johnson is the slave/son of profiteering undertaker Jeremiah Bentonville, whose constant underhanded and fraudulent schemes keep Noah, a man of some integrity, in continuous personal turmoil. A locket with a risquŽ photo is found among the dead and the object of the lens comes to retrieve it at any cost. Bentonville knows there's profit to be made and Noah has a penchant for feminine company. Wheeling and dealing is about to take place.

Bentonville (John Baldwin) offers his earthy services to the Grey and Blue and manages to garner huge profits from both sides of the civil conflict. His mathematics and accounting practices would make any craven purveyor of crime blush. He has bodies and body parts to bury and is quite indiscriminate in placing them in their final locations, as long as they add up to a profit. Into that mix come his son and slave helper, Noah (Manfred B. Hayes) and the object of his lust, Lydia (Arcadia Conrad), the lady of the locket. Engaged in a battle of wits and numbers with Bentonville is Major Frost for the Union and Col. Grass of the South, both played by Howard Miller.

While not really a comedy, dark or otherwise, Noah Johnson was refreshingly free of war/anti-war political rhetoric. The Civil War is used only as a vehicle to make the story work. War is a gruesome business, and sitting center stage is a pile of pretend body parts; the grossness remains in the mind not on stage.

The play is not really about race. While there are references to Noah's parentage; Bentonville being his master and father, that situation only adds texture to the story. The tale is about a profiteer engaged in the gruesome business of undertaking, with a side story about the value of a lady's virtue.

Hayes offers a valuable view into the life of an educated slave wanting freedom and wanting to hold to integrity. In contrast, Baldwin offers his master/father personae completely without morals, except for his desire for dollars. Conrad trumps the two with Lydia, a gal of complexity and intent, free of virtue and determined to take more than she'll ever give up. Miller's dual roles were an agreeable assignation of North and South and helped to meld the story together.

Don't plan to bond with any of the characters, not in a play where evil triumphs over bad. However, Bastian's light and breezy writing surrounds the grisly conditions with deplorable conduct but without dishonoring those who actually gave the ultimate sacrifice for their ideals.

Renegade Theatre Experiment's "Noah Johnson" runs through July 28, and is being staged at the Hoover Theater, 1635 Park Ave., San Jose. Call the box office at 351-4440 for ticket information.

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W. Fred Crow is a local music director and frequent attendee of the arts. Contact him at wfredcrow@yahoo.com.