Powerful Performances in The Road Weeps Don’t Save a Confusing Script

The Road Weeps, The Well Runs Dry, being presented at Brown University’s Stuart Theatre, is one of the most seriously confused plays I have ever seen.

Set in the 1800s, the story is a fictional account of the lives of the Seminole Indians and the Seminole Freedman, which was a band of the Seminole Nation. They were originally runaway slaves who established maroon communities near Seminole villages in Spanish Florida. After the Second Seminole War, they were forced to relocate to Oklahoma, where they were made to live under Creek Indian rule and the Freedman faced constant threats of re-enslavement.

That would have been a fascinating story, but instead The Road Weeps… comes across more like a daytime soap opera. There is a murder, a pregnancy, gay love, religious fundamentalism and rampant misogyny. It’s like “Days of Our Lives” on steroids.

Playwright Marcus Gardley seems to have the literary equivalent of attention deficit disorder, with one subplot after another being introduced, then dropped without warning.

Late in Act Two, an Army scout arrives in the village of Wewoka to warn Number Two (Javon Stephenson) that the government intends to throw the Freedman off their land. It is a compelling moment in the story, but then the action focuses on one of the other dozen subplots.

It doesn’t help that the timeline jumps from 1850 to 1866 then to 1833, then back to 1850, then back to 1833, and so on and on …

The tone is also inconsistent, veering from broad comedy to the macabre. We hear Colorado (Eric Baffour-Addo) boast about his sexual exploits, then see a bloodied body being pulled from a well a few minutes later.

The performers do their best with the material they have been given. Oyindamola Akingbile plays the witch Half George, black and Seminole. She gives a powerful performance, as does Jewel C. Brown as Wonderful, the child of Sweet Tea (Miranda Friel).

“I was drawn to the project by the poetic nature of the writing,” says Director Kym Moore. “The writing really inspired me, and it’s a chance to look at American history — our history — through a whole different lens. A little like the Broadway musical Hamilton. There are events in this story I had no idea had happened,” Moore adds, explaining that she cast the play without regard to race, age or gender, and often with different actors playing the same role in different scenes, because, “Realism is not the point. It’s a poem. The characters are often archetypes or representations. One of the themes is to explore how we can all come together despite apparent differences.”

With the potential for a powerful story based on real events, Gardley’s chaotic hodgepodge is frustrating and disappointing. There are too many ideas thrown in here and not enough focus on these characters’ collective plight for any of it to gel.

Applaud the writer and director for their intentions — their passion for the work comes through, and some powerful moments of performance are created. But the unfocused execution didn’t meet the high expectations I brought to this show.

The Road Weeps, The Well Runs Dry runs through November 15. Stuart Theatre, Brown University. For tickets, contact the box office at 401-863-2838 or by e-mail: boxoffice@brown.edu.
Online: brown.edu/tickets.

– by Joe Siegel and Mike Ryan