Family dynamics in the American South and a decaying once beautiful plantation set the stage for the two act drama “Appropriate”, running now through February 23 at GableStage in Coral Gables.
The two act, three hour plus play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins ran on Broadway from December, 2023 through June, 2024, winning 10 Tony Awards. Jacobs-Jenkins, a Black playwright, focuses the story on the fictional white Lafayette family in Arkansas, who are salvaging the remains of their late father’s estate after he passed away.
The family squabbles over what is valuable in the once elegant home and which sibling is entitled to a wide variety of possessions. The family unit involves two brothers, one sister and three children who try to evaluate the patriarch’s possessions as they learn more about who they really are to each other and whether they can resolve any family issues at all during their weekend together.
Central to the Lafayette family is Toni (actress Rachel Burttram), who had a failed marriage that produced a teenage son Rhys (Brando Lafleur) who loves his mother but is also troubled to learn about the past of his grandfather. Young brother Franz (Tony Larkin) is the troubled young brother, who brings his girlfriend River (Natalie Donahue McMahon) to the plantation and is viewed with suspicion primarily by Toni, but by other family members as well.
Elder brother Bo (Mark H. Gold) is the sibling who is considered the most emotional, stable member of the Lafayettes. However, Bo married a Jewish woman named Rachel (Suzanne Ankrum), who becomes a source of discomfort to Toni and her late father-in-law. Rounding out the cast are the two young children Cassidy (Cecile English) and Aimsley (Lorenzo Garcia).
After all the family members initially are cordial, the squabbles and resentment of who is the favored sibling by the late father and who is not and what the motivations of the family outsiders (River and also Rachel, as a Jewish wife is considered as an outsider) are issues at heart are discussed and argued about by the siblings.
Toni is wedded to positive memories of her late father, which as the play unfolds, may not be perceived the same way by the other siblings and “the outsiders.”
What leads to a dramatic climax is learning about the patriarch’s one sacred possession, one that is never revealed to the audience, but is strongly hinted at by the siblings, their children, Rachel and River.
Rachel was called “Jew girl” by her late father-in-law, and both Bo and Rachel suspect there were deep traces of anti-Semitism by the patriarch as well as overt racism, possibly because Daddy may have owned slaves, although nobody in the family really knew.
The decaying plantation home of the Lafayette Family as designed by Frank J. Olivia and lighting by Tony Galaska in a scene in “Appropriate”, running now through Feb. 23 at GableStage in Coral Gables.
Confronted by the issues of the past and some foul misunderstandings by young Franz, the so-called happy family reunion was starting to get ugly as the actual plantation home was starting to crumble.
Rachel Buttram as the mentally wounded but controlling Toni was superb in her portrayal of the one sibling trying to hold the family together as the rest of the Lafayetter family learning about their late father’s sins. The rest of the cast were engaging and scenes involving disputes among the siblings and their choice of mates were riveting to watch.
Although only a prop, the set of the now decaying plantation home by scenic designer Frank J. Olivia and the lighting by Tony Galaska was so vivid that the audience may have thought they were in the real living room of the old home.
There were many surprises in act two that involved all the cast as well as the decaying home. Director Bari Newport, also the Artistic Director of GableStage, showed her creative flair in having the actors express their emotions freely regarding the ongoing crisis of settling the family estate.
However, the one major flaw in the production was the very lengthy time of over three hours for the play to end. By act two, some of the dialogue was becoming tedious and repetitious. Despite the superlative performances by the cast and the director’s guidance, act two was starting to drag. The fault does not lie with either the director or the cast. Rather, playwright Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins should have considered revising the play, cutting away the excessive dialogue in act two..
A playwright does not have to have a very lengthy play to express a viewpoint or for the audience to understand the family dynamics.
“Appropriate”, a two act drama by playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, is running now through February 23 at GableStage, 1200 Anastasia Ave. in Coral Gables. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. with matinees on Wednesday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets range from $40-$ 50. For tickets, go to gablestage.org or call 305-445-1119.
