Knock Me a Kiss at the Ensemble Theatre

There is a danger in writing plays (or any fiction) with historical figures, especially when said figure looms large with accomplishment and influence. The temptation toward hagiography---or else defamation---is strong, and more than one writer has perished walking the narrow corridor between the two.

Playwright Charles Smith entered this territory by writing a play that looks at incidens in the family of W.E.B Du Bois, the prominent Black leader of the early 20th Century, perhaps best known for the book, The Souls of Black Folk. Smith skirts the danger somewhat by focusing on Du Bois' daughter, Yolande.

That play, Knock Me a Kiss (now playing at Houston's Ensemble Theatre through February 24), focuses on Yolande's relationships with two men, band leader Jimmy Lunceford and poet Countee Cullen. Since it is a matter of historical record, I'll consider it no spoiler to say she marries Cullen.

The marriage does not go well. If you know the story, I won't repeat it here and if you don't, you'll see where it's going by the end of the first act. Let me tell you, instead about the surprises of the show.

The big surprise, given the historical figures, the subject matter, and the fact athat the Ensemble is marketing the play as a drama is how very funny the show is. The were moments when the audience was howling like a sitcom audience. Between the skill of the cast and the words given them by the playwright, the Du Bois family is a very funny group of people. Much of the humor, actually, comes from one of Yolande's suitors. Jason E. Carmichael's Lunceford is a smooth talker and even as we watch Yolande fall for it, we also can't help but laugh at his audacity. The audience is onto his lines and can't help but laugh at his shameless advances.

Except that's not all there is to Lunceford. As the play progresses, we see the swagger is his expression of something more real than we might first suspect.

The whole cast gives us these layers and while the it's patently unfair to single out individiual actors in such a strong cast, I have to mention Detria Ward, who plays Nina Du Bois, the matriarch of the family. She first presents onstage as wide-eyed, slightly addled, over-protective mother. The amazing thing to watch is how Ward keeps those traits intact even as she eventually delivers some of the most emotionally devastating scenes of the play.

Michelle Elaine holds the cast together with a fairly subdued portrait of Yolande Du Bois, alternately daddy's girl, jazz age party girl, and activist in her own right. Countee Cullen as played by Mirron Willis gives us a nuanced portrait of a man who did what men like him did in that age---I found I could neither cheer him nor condemn him. Adding to the comedy while also delivering some dramatic moments was An'tick Von Morphxing skillfully lending support as Yolande's friend Lenora.

It's a credit to the entire cast, really, that each is able to deliver both the laughs and the emotional punch. Too often, I've seen actors change acting styles according to the scene being played, basically changing characters as they do so. Not this cast. They are remarkably the same people whether we're laughing with them or crying with them---very much like real life.

And as for W.E.B. Du Bois---as played by Wayne DeHart, he is both doting father (and whatever foibles that might entail) and focused, disciplined leader of a cause. What we see in this play, however, is what we are too quick to forget: great men of the past were still men of their times. Charles Smith gives us  Du Bois who is to be admired for his accomplishments, even as we're disappointed that he couldn't see beyond his cultural norms where the roles of women were concerned. It's a complicate portrait that neither tears the man down, nor puts him too high on a pedastal.

Director Chuck Smith handles this cast of strong performers with wonderful grace. The action is clear, the staging clean and economical. The set design by Jason Lorst, costumes by Macy Perrone, and lighting by Kris Phelps all collaborated to take us back to the days of the Harlem Renaissance with style.

All in all, it is a beautiful show, not nearly as serious as the poster may lead you to believe---but have a tissue at hand. If you have a heart, you'll need it.