A Jewish Confederate officer goes home to Richmond, Va., a few days after the end of the Civil War in April 1865, during the celebration of Passover. He's badly wounded and discovers that his family is missing and the only residents of their once-grand, badly damaged townhouse are two former slaves, Simon and John.
That's the setup for Matthew Lopez' award-winning The Whipping Man, opening Friday and running through Feb. 8 at Little Rock's Arkansas Repertory Theatre.
The Whipping Man
7 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday through Feb. 8, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Sixth and Main streets, Little Rock. Preview performance at 7 p.m. today with a pre-show talk by director Gilbert McCauley at 6:15. Opening night champagne reception and post-show cast meet-and-greet in the theater lobby.
Tickets: $30 and $40, $20 for students
(501) 378-0405
The play, which won the 2011 John Gassner New Play Award from the New York Outer Critics Circle, examines, among other issues, how slavery and war can warp even the souls of good men. The three characters wrestle with their shared past as master and slave, which among other issues involves digging up some long-buried family secrets.
"The big question in the days after the end of the Civil War," says Ryan Barry, who plays Confederate officer Caleb DeLeon, "is, 'How do we move forward? And in what capacity do we now try to live together?'"
"We're all on the same page," echoes Michael A. Shepperd, who plays Simon. "John and I have never known anything but this life. We each have harder, different journeys; we have different struggles during the course of the play. Something that seems so simple becomes enormously complicated."
The play doesn't, however, answer all the questions it raises, says Damian Thompson, who plays John. "It's not a cookie-cutter ending, though there is somewhat of a resolution. It leaves you a window to think."
Shepperd adds, "You walk out at the end not so much with a neatly wrapped package, but a conversation with the people you saw it with. It allows you to talk about it with the cousin who saw it in Philadelphia or Atlanta."
Nevertheless, "The audience should expect to be entertained," Thompson says. "This is not a tragedy, or a comedy, or a historical drama. But it has some humorous moments."
Barry is making a return visit to the Rep, where he appeared in last season's Clybourne Park. Shepperd and Thompson are making their Rep debuts.
The three voiced praise for the Rep's production team, especially costumer Yslan Hicks.
"The costumes are so carefully thought out," says Shepperd, and remarkably authentic -- Caleb's uniform, for example, which she built out of the same wool from the same factory that made Confederate uniforms 150 years ago, and with Richmond regimental buttons.
The Whipping Man is sponsored by the Design Group, Insalaco Tenenbaum Enterprises, Jewish Federation of Arkansas and Tenenbaum Foundation. It is produced by Catherine and Ron Hughes.
Gilbert McCauley, who is directing, is no stranger to the Rep -- he has now helmed seven plays there, most recently Gee's Bend in 2013. His other Rep credits: The Piano Lesson, A Soldier's Play, Fences, Frost/Nixon, and Looking Over the President's Shoulder.
He'll give a talk at 6:15 p.m. today in advance of a 7 p.m. preview performance.
Bob Hupp, the Rep's producing artistic director, will host a panel discussion on the play at noon today in Sturgis Hall of the Clinton School of Public Service, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock. Admission is free; reserve a seat by calling (501) 683-5239 or emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu.
Weekend on 01/22/2015