A revenge dish. Served hot, with a hint of Tarantino, a dash of Afropunk and a side of Spaghetti Western.
Sounds like a perfect recipe for barebones productions.
The Braddock company’s first show of the year, and first since doing the much-raved-about “Misery” last spring, is Aleshea Harris’ “Is God Is,” which premiered off-Broadway at the Soho Rep in early 2018.
“I read the reviews and I was like, ‘Oh, this is fascinating,’” says barebones artistic director Patrick Jordan. “So, when the show was finally published, I got a copy of it right away and read it and applied for the rights, like, right on the spot.”
The plan was to stage it in 2020, but the pandemic got in the way. Now, it comes to the barebones Black Box Theater in Braddock, opening Friday and running through March 12.
“Is God Is” tells a twisted tale of 21-year-old twin sisters, raised in foster care since the age of 4, who receive a letter from their long-lost mother summoning them to her death bed. There, she explains the burn marks that scar all three of them, the result of a blaze set by their father. Their mission: “Make your dad dead … Make him real dead … all the way dead.”
They have one clue to follow on this patricidal hellride from The Dirty South to a California desert.
“I've never read a play like it because it's very much a play — it's not a movie — even though it draws a little bit from the film genre, like Spaghetti Westerns, revenge tragedies,” Jordan says. “Somehow, Aleshea Harris found a way to encompass the ancient, the modern, Spaghetti Western and Afropunk all in one story.”
A review in The Guardian declared that the sisters “alternately conjure Uma Thurman’s avenging fury from ‘Kill Bill’ and the amicable hitmen from ‘Pulp Fiction.’”
In lieu of actual flames, barebones will use “smoke and mirrors,” Jordan says, to create the illusion.
“The old me would have been like, ‘Let's figure out a way to get some flames in there. Let's just have a bonfire in the middle of the theater,’ but that wasn't gonna happen,” Jordan says. “So we're getting creative with lighting and maybe some other magical little things.”
That falls into the hands of director Javon Johnson, who also plays a small pivotal role, and technical director Doug McDermott.
The twins are played by Pittsburgh actress Shannon Williams and the New York-based Sarai Quinice, who was cast via zoom.
“They're not identical but they're about the same height and they have a lot of similar mannerisms,” Jordan says. “It was kind of magical how it all worked out, just watching them in rehearsal every day. We kinda caught lightning in a jar with these two.”
Topping it off is a score written and recorded by Pittsburgh guitar hero Byron Nash, who became a regular guest on “Alone Together,” the web talk show that Jordan launched shortly after the pandemic began.
“As soon as he asked me, I immediately started producing a piece of music a day for three weeks,” Nash says.
The guitarist, who fronts the Byron Nash Trio and Nash.V.ILL, has been producing music for commercial and video projects, including some for The Andy Warhol Museum’s Pop District.
“But to create original music for a play is a totally different ballgame,” Nash says. “I had to really dig into the script and characters before I was able to experience and capture the feeling from the actors at the rehearsals.
“There's sort of a dark theme to the story,” he says, “so I created pieces that I felt fit the emotion and energy they were going for. It's a wide range of upbeat aggressive rock jams, heavy head-bobbing hip-hop grooves, ethereal and spacey vibes, and guitar-driven Afropunk-styled stuff.… It expanded my musical palette far beyond my expectations.”
“Is God Is” runs Feb. 24 through March 12 at the barebones Black Box Theater, 1211 Braddock Ave., Braddock, Times are 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Saturdays. Tickets are $40; barebonesproductions.com.
First Published: February 20, 2023, 11:00 a.m.
Updated: February 20, 2023, 2:07 p.m.