‘Ohio State Murders’: A haunting confessional

‘OHIO STATE MURDERS’: Audra McDonald & Bryce Pinkham. Photo: Richard Termine.

OHIO STATE MURDERS
By Adrienne Kennedy
Directed by Kenny Leon
James Earl Jones Theatre
138 West 48^th Street
212-239-6200, https://ohiostatemurdersbroadway.com/

By Scott Harrah

Six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald brings Ohio State Murders—playwright Adrienne Kennedy’s 1992 one-act confessional play recalling a harrowing time in her college days at Ohio State University—to vivid life on Broadway. The show is a 75-minute monologue, with a few other characters added with minimal lines of dialogue popping in and out of Ms. Kennedy’s narrative, as if she’s reliving a nightmare—and indeed she is. Ms. McDonald keeps us spellbound with her consistently engaging performance in this haunting tale of a Black woman’s misfortune and heartbreak in the racially segregated, white world of a mid-20^th century Midwestern college town.

Ms. McDonald portrays Suzanne Alexander (based on playwright Adrienne Kennedy) in a book-filled library back at her alma mater, giving a lecture about her work and its “violent imagery,” with projections of African Americans being lynched and other disturbing scenes. She is telling the semi-autobiographical story of how the author, now 91, entered Ohio State University in 1949 as an undeclared freshman, hoping to major in English. Back then, Black students were not allowed to major in English without taking two prerequisite English courses as a trial to see if they could handle the curriculum. Later, they could apply to be accepted as an English major.

Suzanne took an English class and enjoyed reading Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles. She was intrigued by the mysterious professor of the course, Robert Hampshire (Bryce Pinkham), a young British man who did not engage with his students and immediately came to each class, opened the book and started discussing the work. One day, after turning in a term paper about Hardy’s book, Suzanne receives a note from the professor, asking her to meet him in his office. He has little to say when they meet, other than asking her if she actually wrote the assigned essay about Hardy and if she used any reference materials. He is a true academic enigma, an intellectual who wears tweed suits and, as portrayed by Mr. Pinkham, is a taciturn guy and displays almost no emotion when he speaks.

Ohio State Murders is a story that one needs to follow closely while watching because the narrative isn’t always fully explained. We soon learn that Suzanne is pregnant. Suzanne is shunned by her family and forced to go live in New York with her understanding Aunt Louise (Lizan Mitchell).  She gives birth to twin girls and longs to return to Ohio to go back to her university. She becomes an elementary education major but yearns to be studying in the English department.

Instead of being a standard “whodunit”-style mystery, Ohio State Murders is mostly a collection of the character’s grim remembrances of a painful past filled with racism, broken dreams, gut-wrenching loss and misfortune.  Her memories are literally fleshed out by appearances of secondary characters, such as friend Iris Ann (Abigail Stephenson), boyfriend David Alexander (Mister Fitzgerald), and Lizan Mitchell portraying multiple roles such as landlady Mrs. Tyler and college administrative official/spinster Miss Dawson.

Ohio State Murders is a powerful yet flawed story. As directed by Kenny Leon, the narrative sometimes lacks dramatic tension and moves slow, but two aspects help the show transcend its shortcomings. First is Ms. Kennedy’s searing firsthand account of racism back in the days before conspiracy theorists and populist politicians muddied the waters of human rights. Her story will remind audiences of an era, just a few decades ago, when our nation was literally divided by race, before civil rights laws and legislation. The story also shows how, despite some progress, we have sadly made few real advances in modern-day America, with rampant racism, antisemitism and homophobia as everyday fodder for social media and 21^st century politics. Last but certainly not least is the incredible Audra McDonald. She brings this tale (last produced Off Broadway in 2007) to Broadway with verve, reverence for the material and the on-stage dynamics and electric stage presence for which she is known. For her many fans, it’s impossible to take one’s eyes off her as she reflects on Suzanne’s many years of pain and suffering. Ms. McDonald shines with conviction even when the material rambles and lacks focus. Audra McDonald, in her own way, brings a bit of justice and nuance to Adrienne Kennedy’s tragic past.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published December 8, 2022
Reviewed at December 7, 2022  press preview performance.

‘OHIO STATE MURDERS’: Audra McDonald & Abigail Stephenson. Photo: Richard Termine.

‘OHIO STATE MURDERS’: Audra McDonald, Lizan Mitchell & Mister Fitzgerald. Photo: Richard Termine.

‘OHIO STATE MURDERS’: Audra McDonald. Photo: Richard Termine.

‘OHIO STATE MURDERS’: Audra McDonald. Photo: Richard Termine.