Playwright Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm mixes absurdist comedy, farce, and surrealist fantasy sequences to intoxicating effect in the Echo Theater Company Los Angeles Premiere of Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies, a play every bit as provocative as its title.

Meet Marques (Jalen K. Stewart), pronounced Mar-KEES, a 14-year-old student at Achievement Heights Preparatory, arguably the most elite prep school in the posh Baltimore suburb he and his adoptive parents call home.

So why is it that it’s Marquis who finds himself inside a police station holding cell tonight, picked up for trespassing in a local cemetery, and not the classmate besties (Vincent Doud as Hunter and Ezekiel Goodman as Fielder) who were there for the prank as well?

Is it simply that Officer Borzoi (Robert Hart) just happened to run after Marques and not one of the other boys, or is it, as his fellow teen cellmate Tru (Brent Grimes) insists, that Marquis was singled out for “Being While Black,” and that having been raised by two wealthy white parents, the upscale youth is blissfully clueless to the world that street-savvy Tru calls home?

Fortunately for Marques, his mom Debra (Tasha Ames) soon shows up to ensure her son’s quick release, and do-gooder that she is, immediately insists that Tru be released into her custody. It is, after all, not his fault that his own mother works the graveyard shift, is it?

And so Marques finds himself with an overnight guest, not by any means his first sleepover, but as his pleased-as-punch mom puts it, this time it’s with his “first ‘cultural’ friend,” one who quickly determines to give the sheltered Marques a course in “Being Black For Dummies.”

Before long Debra has enrolled Tru at Achievement Prep alongside Marques, Hunter, Fielder, and the Instagram-and-boy-crazed Meadow (Clare Margaret Donovan), Clementine (Betsy Stewart), and Prairie (Ames).

I’ll leave it to you to discover what happens next.

In less adept playwriting hands than Chisholm’s, Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies, could end up hammering in its points on racism in America, and more specifically on the young black men who’ve been among its many victims.

Hooded, however, opts for a stealth comedic approach while asking audiences (and white audience members in particular) to reflect on their preconceived notions surrounding race and privilege, and on what difference (if any) there is between a Marquis and a Tru if one or the other should find himself at the wrong place at the wrong time.

It’s potent stuff, particularly as directed to strikingly daring effect by Ahmed Best and performed by a uniformly sensational cast, most of them new to the L.A. theater scene.

(Jalen) Stewart vanishes so thoroughly into the skin of a privileged prep schooler who’s basically been brought up white, and Grimes into an inner-city tough guy who’s as versed in Tupac as Marques is in Nietzsche, that you’d hardly guess they are both recent USC MFA grads and not the characters they portray so brilliantly and believably.

Ames delights as both Marques’s overeager mom and as bff to Donovan and (Betsy) Stewart, each of whom nail their Instagram-obsessed prep schoolers in scenes both hilarious and touching.

Goodman is nerd perfection as Fielder, doubling as a ripped Dionysus (yes, the Greek god himself) and Hart is frighteningly convincing as racist Officer Borzai (in addition to playing competing Greek god Apollo).

Last but not least, Doud positively dazzles as a boy so lacking in self-esteem, he takes Tru’s guidebook to heart to ultimately devastating effect, a supporting turn that is the very definition of gutsy. (Doud is terrific too as Headmaster Burns.)

Though a running gimmick (a flashing LAUGH sign meant to indicate when audience laughter will not be considered racist) falls flat, designwise the Echo Theater latest is an all-around winner, from Song Yi Park’s ingeniously multi-local set (the hooded stagehands are a nifty Best touch) to Elena Flores’ character-perfect costumes to Matt Richter’s vivid, expressive lighting to Alysha Grace Bermudez’s edgy sound design.

Hooded, or Being Black For Dummies is produced by Kelly Beech, Chris Fields, Charrell Mack, and Rachael Zambias.

Danielle Jaramillo is production stage manager. Hayden Kirschbaum is assistant lighting designer. Tal Fox is casting director. Aleisha Force understudies the roles of Debra/Prairie. Lucy Pollak is publicist.

Following last fall’s Poor Clare, Hooded, or Being Black For Dummies makes it two exhilarating winners in a row for Echo Theater Company. As relevant as tomorrow’s headlines, Echo’s latest is an absolute must-see.

The Echo Theater Company @ Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., Atwater Village.
www.EchoTheaterCompany.com

–Steven Stanley
March 12, 2022
Photos: Cooper Bates

Tags: Echo Theater Company, Los Angeles Theater Review, Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm