Playwright Kalleres satirizes racial politics and attitudes in Honky, his jaunty, fast-moving, and irreverent comedy now in its Los Angeles premiere run at Rogue Machine. Slickly and snappily directed by Gregg T. Daniel, and masterfully performed by its eight-person cast, Honky zeroes in on a Manhattan ad agency headed by Davis Tallison (Bruce Nozick) whose main client makes gaudy, overpriced sneakers — “Sky Ballers” — which are treasured by black kids in the ‘hood. Tallison and most of the other ad execs are white, a fact which disturbs the African-American designer of the sneakers, Thomas Hodge (Burl Moseley), especially when Davis announces a new ad campaign aimed at persuading white kids to buy the Ballers. Thomas sees this as exploitation of his people — even though he is a well-educated. middle-class black who has never set foot in the ‘hood. He also has a sister, Emilia (Inger Tudor), who is a psychotherapist dealing with mostly white patients, one of whom is Peter Trammel (James Liebman), the composer of the ad jingle featured in the TV ads for the Ballers. Poor Peter is not only fiercely neurotic but stricken with anxiety and guilt when he learns that a black kid has been murdered for his shoes. He breaks down while attempting to make love to his fiancé, Andie (Rebecca Larsen), a sexy and scatty girl who can’t understand why he’s so uptight about racial matters. She suggests that he go see a shrink — Emilia, of course. Peter is thrown for an even greater loop when he discovers that Emilia is African-American. On the couch, he can’t help but make profuse apologies for his whiteness. While this is going on, Thomas and Andie meet, fall into bed, and have a passionate love affair shot through with worries about their racial differences. Political correctness comes into play, the failure of language as well when it comes to sensitive racial issues. Ron Bottitta, as an agency exec pushing a new product called Driscotol (guaranteed to rid the human race of troublesome prejudicial feelings), and Christian Henley and Matthew Hancock as a pair of fast-talking, super-hip ghetto kids, serve as a kind of Greek chorus to the drama, which unfolds on Stephanie Kerley Schwartz’s ingenious set (sliding screens and platforms). Honky digs deep into uncomfortable truths about the way we deal, or don’t allow ourselves to deal, with racial issues at this time in our history. But it does it with tongue in cheek, poking fun whenever it can, drawing laughs instead of blood.
