‘Home’: Where the heart & hurt is

‘HOME’: Brittany Inge, Tory Kittles & Stori Ayers. Photo: Joan Marcus.

HOME
By Samm-Art Williams
Directed by Kenny Leon
Through July 21, 2024
Roundabout Theatre Company
Todd Haimes Theatre
229 West 42^nd Street
(212-719-1300), www.roundabouttheater.org

By Scott Harrah

Home by the late Samm-Art Williams was first produced on Broadway back in 1980. Director Kenny Leon has brought the African-American classic drama back to Broadway for a brief summer run at the Roundabout Theatre Company at the Todd Haimes Theatre. On a sad note, Mr. Williams died just a few days before the first preview of this Home revival.

This simplistic one act focuses on the life of young Cephus Miles (Tory Kittles), a Black man working on the small Cross Roads, North Carolina farm he inherited from his family, struggling to survive in the segregated South. When his childhood crush Patti Mae Wells (Brittany Inge) rejects him and leaves for college, Cephus’s world is shattered. He refuses to serve in the Vietnam War and gets thrown in prison as a draft dodger.

Fast-forward to a few years later. Cephus is out of prison but he has unpaid taxes on his land and the farm has been seized. He flees up North to a big city and finds a brand-new life. Although he finds a good-paying job and a new girlfriend, his luck soon runs out. He loses his job and gets mired in a downward spiral of drugs and hookers. Fortunately, he manages to clean himself up and moves back down to North Carolina where Patti Mae is waiting for him.

Home captures a place and time, chronicling the life of an African-American man who is forced to face adversity and struggle. Not everything has aged well in the 44 years since the show was on Broadway, particularly the references to him jokingly saying he can “speak Indian,” referring to Native Americans. However, overall Mr. Williams’ story has profound things to say about the Black experience and how home is where both the heart and hurt is for many people.

The production is utilitarian and sparse, and Arnulfo Maldonado’s sets are minimalistic but still manage to depict different decades, from the 1950s to the 1970s. Director Kenny Leon gets fine performances from Tory Kittles, who is consistently riveting as Cephus, a man who never loses his sense of goodwill. Brittany Inge as Woman One/Patti Mae Wells and Stori Ayers as Woman Two both do an outstanding job playing multiple characters—everything from a bus driver to an alcoholic in the street. Home is, more than anything, a story of hope that is anchored by a talented ensemble cast that really make this 90-minute story shine and come to vivid life.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published June 19, 2024
Reviewed at June 13, 2024 press performance

‘HOME’: Stori Ayers, Tory Kittles & Brittany Inge. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘HOME’: Stori Ayers, Tory Kittles & Brittany Inge. Photo: Joan Marcus.