Headline-making real-life events propel Dominique Morisseau’s hot-button Blood At The Root, an Open Fist Theatre Company Los Angeles Premiere given electrifying theatricality by director Michael A. Shepperd, choreographer Yusuf Nasir, and a cast of gifted young up-and-comers.

On December 4, 2006, nationwide news anchors announced the conviction of the six black teenagers who had been charged with beating a white student at their local high school in the small town of Jena, Louisiana.

Blood At The Root is acclaimed playwright Morisseau’s attempt to probe the causes of the events in question.

To do so, she focuses on six students at a fictionalized “Cedar High,” each with his or her own unique story to tell, both in scenes with fellow students and in fourth-wall-breaking monologs.

They are:

Raylynn (the absolutely captivating Nychelle Hawk), a rule-breaking go-getter aiming to become the first black president of her school’s senior class.

DeAndre (a sinewed, on-fire Nicholas Heard), Raylynn’s brother, whose football star status is no shield against those unable to see beyond racial stereotypes that make him both feared and suspect.

Asha (the feisty, fabulous Caroline Rose), Raylynn’s best friend, a petite blonde whose whose sense of belonging (and salty vernacular) comes from hanging with an African-American crowd.

Justin (Azeem Vecchio, as charismatic as he is compelling), the mixed-race editor of the school newspaper, whose loner status stems from having to straddle the fence between black and white.

Toria (the spunky, passionate Grace Soens), a student reporter ever at odds with Justin over his insistence that she leave editorializing about social injustices on the cutting room floor.

Colin (Jeremy Reiter II, radiating a shy, sweet charm), the just-transferred-in quarterback who’s likely the first white boy to catch Raylynn’s eye, but one with a secret that could provide a roadblock to romance.

The six-against-one beating in question might never have taken place had a ballsy Raylynn not decided that she had every bit as much right to sit under the ancient tree known to all “Ol’ Devoted” as the white students who had heretofore considered its shade their personal property, a defiant stand that provokes life-altering consequences.

Morisseau’s 2014 play is a powerful one, even on paper, her characters richly developed and diverse, and her dialog ripe with local color as it alternates between the conversational and the poetic.

Still, even the playwright herself is aware that her script is merely a point of departure, writing in her author’s notes that “the work on the page is really only half, and the ensemble is intended, along with the director, to put their own signature on the work in a more defined and pronounced way.”

And this is where director extraordinaire Shepperd comes in, staging Morisseau’s play with vibrant vitality and abundant visual flair, aided enormously in these tasks by Gavan Wyrick’s stunning lighting design choices and Marc Antonio Pritchett’s magnetic sound design.

Not only that, but this may be the Blood At The Root production to feature extensive choreography from start to finish, Nasir upping the excitement throughout the production with sizzling, pulsating, synchronized moves executed by the show’s six leading players and an equally talented, multitasking “Chorus” made up of Malik Bailey, Deandra Bernardo, Emma Bruno, Jack David Sharp, and Amber Tiara.

Joel Daavid’s stylized set, dominated by an imposing “Ol’ Devoted,” features a number of shocking surprises (and a lot of ingeniously utilized chairs), Mylette Nora’s costumes are her accustomed, just-right design choices, and Bruce Dickinson and Ina Shumaker have assembled yet another bunch of pitch-perfect props.

Blood At The Root is produced by Amanda Weier, Martha Demson, James Fowler, and The Open Fist Theatre Company. Debba Rofheart is assistant director.

Daavid is technical director. Grace Berry is assistant lighting designer. Marine Walton is charge scenic artist. Maya Gonzalez is scenic assistant. Jan Munroe is lead carpenter.

John Dimitri is production stage manager. Lucy Pollak is publicist.

Following the gritty realism of Sweat, Skeleton Crew, and Pipeline, and the biomusical-propelling book of Ain’t Too Proud, Blood At The Root is not only Dominique Morisseau at her edgy, exciting best, it’s hard to imagine another production doing it as proud as Open Fist Theatre Company’s electrifying stunner of an L.A. Premiere.

Open Fist Theatre Company @ Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., Atwater Village.
www.openfist.org

–Steven Stanley
September 9, 2023
Photos: Jenny Graham

Tags: Atwater Village Theatre, Dominique Morisseau, Los Angeles Theater Review, Open Fist Theatre Company