Louis E. Davis as Chance, Jonathan Feuer as Adam and Renee Elizabeth Wilson as Brenda in Mosaic Theater’s production of Monumental Travesties by Psalmayene 24. Photo by Chris Banks.
How do symbols of our past impact our present? Mosaic Theatre Company’s production of “Monumental Travesties,” now playing at its home in The Atlas Performing Arts Center, takes on that question and more in a thoughtful and uproarious world premiere by Helen Hayes Award-winning Psalmayene 24, directed by Mosaic’s Artistic Director Reginald L. Douglas. This production—developed by the playwright (who is also known as Psalm) while serving as the Andrew W. Mellon Playwright in Residence for Mosaic—should not be missed. It tells the story of Chance, a Black performance artist, who has surreptitiously removed Abraham Lincoln’s head from the Emancipation Memorial in Washington, D.C. The head is placed in his White, liberal neighbor Adam’s garden. When Adam brings the head over to the home of Chance and his wife Brenda, extended conversations of all kinds and origins ensue.
…a thoughtful and uproarious world premiere…a wonderful approach to theater as a living art form which can inform creative change and create conversation. It is an extraordinary play…
It is those conversations, deftly orchestrated by Douglas, which are the backbone of this show. When Chance—with a green mohawk and a jacket proclaiming his love for GoGo music—explains his disdain for the statue by quoting the author Ibram X. Kendi, he is connecting with Adam through the accepted social norms conveyed by a New York Times bestselling author. Change, as Adam says, is done through the system and not through Chance’s preferred method of anarchy.
We certainly get moments of what some might perceive as anarchy throughout Psalm’s tight, 90-minute show. When Chance comes out dressed in a police hat and a confederate flag cape, it is Adam who becomes the subject of his disdain in an extraordinary fashion. When it is Brenda’s turn to make a point—whether it is in direct conversation with Adam about her finances or, later, in the embodiment of a formerly enslaved woman—she reminds us “why we have statues.” Each character and the play as a whole remind us that how we engage with others is a type of art—performance art—and even our spouses are sometimes not privy to the actual truth of our lives. That societal acceptance of a monument that still stands today and the social norms of how we live are all perhaps travesties.
The cast—Louis E. Davis as Chance, Jonathan Feuer as Adam, and Renee Elizabeth Wilson as Brenda—shine in their chemistry and passion they each bring to their roles. Davis is ablaze in disbelief about his neighbor and the broader world in which he lives which the still-standing statute represents. Feuer as Adam wears his liberal bona fides so well—both in Costume Designer Moyenda Kulemeka’s revealing choices for him (without giving too much away) and when he expresses incredulity that he could be a racist because he “voted for Obama, twice!” Wilson straddles the line between anarchy and the system as she sashays around stage as perhaps the voice of reason in this passionate trio.
This a play about the statue, a memorial to Lincoln, with a complex history. It originated as a request from former slave, Charlotte Scott; received $18,000 in funding from formerly enslaved Americans; and yet it was designed and sculpted without their input. For many years, it has stood and been the flashpoint for controversy (and the subject legislation from D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton to remove it). It depicts a Black man kneeling before Lincoln, whose hand is extended, as if the former president has bestowed the gift of freedom in an extraordinary act of (critics say) White power.
It is also a play about Washington, D.C.—once known as “The Chocolate City” due to its racial composition—and how it still has this statue standing and, as Chance says, “the message it sends to little White kids and their nannies.” D.C. is a city built on a system of government which does not have the ability to fully govern itself without the consent of Congress. So how do we move forward and make change if the system still keeps this statue in place?
It is also a play about us. Kudos to Mosaic for its deliberate, three-year process, including previewing the initial concepts of the play at a local northeast D.C. library and meeting with Congresswoman Holmes Norton, which informed the development of this play. That work continues today with events in Mosaic’s Reflection Series which include community partners such as the Hill Center, the Capitol Jewish Museum, and the D.C. History Center. (Click here for more information.)
“Monumental Travesties” is a wonderful approach to theater as a living art form, which can inform creative change and create conversation. It is an extraordinary play, for the performances on and behind the stage and how it resonates with each of us.
Running Time: One hour and 30 minutes with no intermission.
Advisory: Ages 13+ only for coarse language, violence, and use of weapons.
“Monumental Travesties” runs through October 1, 2023 at the Atlas Theatre, 1333 H Street NE, Washington DC 20002. For more information and to purchase tickets, go online or call the Box Office at 202-399-7993, x501, Tuesday through Sunday, 12 pm – 6 pm and one hour before each performance.
