Here's the concept: the black guy that South Carolina mom Susan Smith conjured up as a scapegoat when she drove her two kids into a lake takes on a life of his own and becomes various metaphorical representations of how America treated black people in the past century. Apart from an impressive lighting design and a host of familiar agit-prop gimmicks, that's the most imaginative idea to be found in Cornelius Eady, Diedre Murray and Diane Paulus's poetic satire. There's no drama here, only lots of narration, free-verse blather, emoting and oh-so-familiar liberal guilt.
Joe Morton registers strongly, especially with an amusing turn as Steppin Fetchit, but the Smith character (Sally Murphy) has minimal backstory and inner life, and the play's a brutal bore from first minute to last.
