Like Henrik Ibsen, contemporary playwright Kia Corthron addresses social issues with precision, compassion and boldness. In previous plays she has taken on police violence (Force Continuum), the cycle of poverty and prison (Breath, Boom; Cage Rhythm), industrial pollution (Safe Box), environmental issues (Splash Hatch on the E Going Down), and the overmedication of children and teens (Seeking the Genesis). In her latest work, Fish, co-produced by Keen Company and the Working Theater at Theater Four, Corthron tackles the broken public education system and how it impacts the African-American community.
Corthron takes on numerous aspects of schools in America as she follows the torturous senior year of Latricia, nicknamed Tree (luminous Toree Alexandre), whose mother is in prison, so she must care for her younger brother Zay (mischievous Josiah Gaffney). We also follow the story of Tree’s new English teacher Ms. Harris (powerful Rachel Leslie), surviving a testing scandal and making do with little support or supplies. Through these two protagonists, Corthron explores charter versus public schools, gun violence, teacher burnout, standardized testing, the lack of arts programs, and numerous other issues.
The title is taken from the proverb about giving a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, but teach him how to fish and he’ll survive for a lifetime. It’s a searing indictment of incompetence and underfunding. There are moments when Corthron hurls statistics at us and the human drama is lost, but Fish is a strong play, deeply felt and performed. Adrienne D. Williams’s staging is well-paced and keeps the action moving. The cast goes way beyond stereotypes and facts to create believable people caught in a system beyond their control. In addition to those already mentioned, Mikayla LaShae Bartholomew is strikingly sympathetic as Tree’s best friend LaRonda, especially when she tries to explain to Ms. Harris she has troubles of her own. Jason Simms designed the versatile set which suggests classroom and apartments. Like the current Broadway revival of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, Fish bracingly challenges theatergoers to confront flaws in our current world, something all important plays should do.
