INSIDIOUS, by Ibn Shabazz, is a powerful cautionary tale woven deeply into the fabric of the modern urban arena of substance abuse and the “Down Low”, the secretive world of African American gay sex. Road Less Traveled describes INSIDIOUS as the story of ” a man (who) struggles against his darkest demons… as personified by a charismatic street hustler who will not take “no” for an answer. An unflinchingly potent tour through the inner hell of addiction.” And so it is.
Mr. Shabazz’s story is not a pretty one, but it is a compelling one, a tragedy which shines a blazing light on the destruction which flows from this deliberately furtive lifestyle. No doubt INSIDIOUS, which contains adult themes, foul language and explicit sexual content will not appeal to all theatergoers, which is a shame, because this play also makes for very good theatre.
What might have been a flat public health service announcement wrapped in a rap song, is instead a multi-dimensional examination of a contemporary African American couple, who struggle and apparently succeed, playing a good hand from a deck stacked heavily against them, economically, politically, and socially.
Dawud and Kara are an attractive, smart, up and coming team, played by Greg Howze and Adrienne Lewis, (Ms. Lewis is fast becoming one of Buffalo’s busiest and most appealing actresses) the young lovers are engaged to be married. They deal with the multiple details of wedding planning, while holding down their jobs and, both now clean of drugs for several years, they also hold their personal addiction diseases at bay on a daily basis.
From the very first scene, Mr. Howze and Ms. Lewis establish credible, real characters. There’s that certain, “fly on the wall” quality that lets the audience know these actors know their stuff: a natural cadence, an easy familiarity, and a lack of pretense which allows the characters to set the stage for all that is to come. Snug in their lovely and well-appointed apartment (another great set by David Butler) the couple has created a mutual bulwark against the cruel world outside, a world which we actually see when the door to their pristine apartment opens and we glimpse the graffiti filled walls and whiff the disorder that inhabits the halls.
Out the door goes Kara, her daily work routine awaiting her. Dawud, meanwhile holds down the fort, and prepares for a long nap in anticipation of his night shift. If only, if only.
Instead, an itch overcomes Dawud, and soon he’s out the door too, but in the park, seeking a man to scratch that itch and fulfill his secret desire for homosexual companionship, the “down low”.
Enter Insidious, so he calls himself. He’s an appealing street hustler with a dangerous bent (and it turns out, a sociopathic one too.) Actor Xavier Harris walks a high wire with this one. Carefully balancing the character’s innate appeal and charisma with the street poet’s edgy danger, the success of the play demands that the mix be combustible, but the explosion controlled. Mr. Harris succeeds.
Insidious is planted like viper, nothing will dislodge him and nothing in Dawud’s (or Kara’s) world will remain the same. Insidious and Dawud get it on. But the downward spiral begins when Kara comes home earlier than expected for a quick change of clothes, before she heads right out again. Dawud, still in the throes of his afternoon quickie, just narrowly escapes Kara’s detection, by playing a video race car game with his new friend, as a cover.
One wonders at Kara’s suspension of good sense, what is this hip-hop stranger doing in their home? Where’d he come from, and what does he want? As a woman who knows the trails of addiction and recovery like the back of her hand, one would think she’d be all over that one. But stranger things have happened, after all, she’s in love, together she and Dawud have been on the right trajectory for two years with an even brighter future ahead. So what’s wrong with a little NASCAR video gaming between buddies ?
A great deal, it turns out. As soon as Kara leaves, the demon in Insidious is loosed. A brief visit from Tajuan, mutual friend of Kara and Dawud, only heightens the suspicion. Tajuan, who works at a local Aids clinic, clearly recognizes Insidious, but confidentiality rules constrain his ability to warn Dawud. (John Vines gives a wise and wonderful performance as Tajuan.)
Tajuan departs. Insidious, spouting rap phrases like a DJ possessed, wanders all over the emotional landscape, but settles on a course somewhere between blackmail and crazy.
Insidious confronts Dawud with a Pandora’s Box of social disease, Aids and unprotected sex — which Dawud has engaged in all too often while living with the unsuspecting Kara.
Insidious also carries the plague of crack cocaine, threatening Dawud’s hard won sobriety as well.
As the situation spins out of control, Insidious haunts Dawud’s very existence, wrecking havoc while stealing in and out of the apartment with stolen keys. Dawud, now desperately seeking a way out of the situation he has created, calls upon his mentor and friend Chris, a twelve-step veteran who, try as he might, is powerless to exorcise the evil which Insidious has visited upon the house. (Carlton Franklin creates a totally believable and appealing character in Chris.)
Kara returns with friend Tajuan. Her once happy home has, in a matter of hours, become an empty nest and a disheveled mess. Dawud returns and offers a series of excuses, pinning his hopes of deceiving (and keeping) Kara with a story of a relapse, which caused his ensuing bizarre behavior. Insidious returns, to goad Dawud. Chris returns to help get his friend back to rehab. A handgun appears, adding to the tension and danger.
One can only hope that Dawud will salvage things, acknowledge his secret life on the DL and the expose the game of STD Russian Roulette he brought into Kara’s bedroom. This is gripping theatre, I assure you no one even considered leaving his seat in the last twenty minutes.
Even as Dawud’s deception unravels, Mr. Shabazz’s story holds together, he keeps it real. By now the audience is deeply invested in the characters, and their fates, tragic and unexpected, matter. Director Doug Zschiegner keeps the screws down tight, the melodrama minimal and the pace red hot, a terrific job here which skillfully matches the quality of the written word.
It is this element of realism which keeps INSIDIOUS from becoming a preachy tale of “Just Say No.” Mr. Shabazz is not judgmental, the story of Kara and Dawud is what it is. Outside Dawud’s neighborhood, few people could ever truly appreciate the circumstances which this couple face. In a world where black unemployment rates runs consistently over 15 %, (35% in Detroit) where crack is as available as chewing gum, and where black-on-black violence is buried somewhere in the news between the obituaries and the sports page, concerns about unprotected sex may seem frivolous, and yet it is a killer of massive proportions in the African American community. Why ? INSIDIOUS asks, but wisely does not answer. Seek your own answers.
As actor/comedian Tracy Morgan tries to out-apologize Congressman Anthony Weiner, and save his sorry “30 Rock” career from his most recent outrageous anti-gay slurs, (Morgan, in a supposedly comic moment, said he would stab his own child if he “came home gay”) one wonders what the effect must be of those hateful comments upon the GBLT community at large and specifically upon gay (or bi-sexual) African Americans. This is hardly Mr. Morgan’s first foray into the anti-gay rodeo, he has a history of such gross and malicious words (followed by the same old familiar, contrived apology.) Morgan’s prejudice is, if nothing else, instructive as it applies to INSIDIOUS.
The fear of discovery, the self-loathing, denial and the deception which flows fro
m that kind of visceral hatred, compounded by the fact that the prejudice is extolled from within one’s own racial profile, can only confound the effort to stem the tide of HIV infection. Some 4,000 people in Western New York have HIV and are unaware of their infection. (There’s a very well done program insert with enlightening statistics.)
Awareness is the key, and in yet another case of why theatre matters, INSIDIOUS makes us all that much more aware. INSIDIOUS matters.
SPECIAL NOTE : INSIDIOUS will be produced as part of the prestigious BLACK REPERTORY THEATRE’s 2011-2012 Season. The nation’s largest African American theatre company will present the play in the Spring of 2012 on its St. Louis , MO stage. This is the first major national production of a Western New York playwright’s work which had been premiered at Road Less Traveled and the selection of INSIDIOUS validates the play’s national potential. It also highlights RLTP’ success in helping local playwrights develop their works for the stage both in Buffalo and nationally.
INSIDIOUS by Ibn Shabazz, Directed by Doug Zschiegner for ROAD LESS TRAVELED PRODUCTIONS, through July 10, 2011.