Courtesy Hattiloo Theatre
Sameka Johnson as Pecola Breedlove in "The Bluest Eye" at Hattiloo Theatre.
In her 1970 debut novel "The Bluest Eye," Toni Morrison introduced the world to her first batch of embattled, damaged, off-beat or otherwise unusual characters.
No one in her Faulkner-sized assortment carries a heavier burden than Pecola Breedlove, a quiet, hunched-over girl who is, in some people's eyes, terribly ugly.
Anyone with a sense of pity will think differently in Hattiloo Theatre's new production of "The Bluest Eye," first adapted for the stage in 2005 by Lydia R. Diamon for Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre.
Sameka Johnson is anything but ugly (to us) as the pig-tailed Pecola. From the utterance of her first line -- "Dear God, make me disappear" -- Johnson embodies the self-abnegation of a girl on the verge of womanhood who has never experienced any kind of love or affection.
Ideals of beauty are one of the themes in this play, and also the novel, which is set in the 1940s but was born amidst the Black is Beautiful Movement of the 1960s and '70s.
For Pecola, nothing is lovelier than Caucasian features. She yearns for creamy skin and cobalt blue eyes. Even more, she takes comfort in the perfect (white) world of her school books. Unlike Pecola, Dick, Jane and Spot don't have parents who beat each other up. Nor does the white family have to worry about going hungry, or being "put outdoors" as paupers.
Her desires contrast with those of another child in the play, Claudi, who tears up a white baby doll, wondering angrily, "What made people look at white girls and make them say 'Awww"? Why was I invisible next to white girls?"
As the feisty Claudi, Detra Payne shows her dexterity as an actress, shifting between being the narrator of the action to being a willful child who can't help but envy a pretty, "high yellow" classmate. Not quite mature enough to make sense of her own feelings, Claudi hurls abuses at both the uppity Maureen (Bronzjuan Worthy) and the lamb-like Pecola.
The script uses narrative theater techniques to tell the story from multiple perspectives. Some characters speak directly to the audience, others leap in and out of the action. They include a mother with a broken leg and a missing tooth, an abusive father, and a pedophile prophet. A trio of gossips, appearing occasionally, give the sense that while the community is tight-knit, it's also not particularly compassionate.
Ekundayo Bandele's expressionistic direction and colorful lighting design evoke the style of a classic memory play. Projected images amplify thoughts that arise in the characters' minds. Pianist Robert Thornton links the scenes together with dusky, haunting melodies.
Opening night wasn't without technical difficulties and awkward scene changes, but as a whole, "The Bluest Eye" moves rapidly from its humor-tinged first act to the gut-wrenching conclusion in which Morrison invites viewers to see how internalized self-loathing can lead to violence so cruel that it affects the next generation of children even as they are being conceived.
"The Bluest Eye" is definitely not for children, but uses a child's voice -- a child's perspective -- to remind us to look for the beauty inside ourselves.
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"The Bluest Eye"
Performances continue 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through Sept. 25 at Hattiloo Theatre, 656 Marshall. Tickets are $18-$22. Call (901) 525-0009.
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