Jasmine Harris (Rachel Leslie) tries to convince Tree (Toreé Alexandre) to commit to school in spite of her challenges.
The broken pieces of public education are laid bare in Fish, a world premiere drama by Kia Corthron coproduced by the Keen Company and the Working Theater. Set in an unnamed high school, the play captures the ails of urban education, the poverty-stricken neighborhoods in which they sit, and the resulting challenges students experience as they try to keep their heads above water.
Tree and her adorable brother Zay (Josiah Gaffney) share a loving moment.
For Latricia, aka Tree (Toreé Alexandre), school is just one more overwhelming piece of the puzzle called her life. Typically late to school because she takes her younger brother to his school (their mother is in prison for selling weed to make ends meet), she rides the elevator with a group of girls she knows from the neighborhood, including LaRonda (Mikayla LaShae Bartholemew), who used to be her best friend but is now attending the charter school which has taken over the top floor of the building. LaRonda says she can’t hang out because she has too much homework, but there’s a feeling that the charter school has created a division of “haves” and “have nots.” At least that’s the argument for charter schools that the play skims around.
Tree finally makes it to homeroom, but there she’s greeted by a substitute teacher, Jasmine Harris (Rachel Leslie). Tree, mistrusting her, accuses her of being just another teacher in the revolving door of their education. Tree has a lot of pent-up anger and takes it out on a window. When she gets into trouble, Harris gives her a choice: complete a book report on The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and a research paper on a person from black history, or detention.
Detention is not an option: Tree cannot stay after school because she needs to pick up her brother. She also doesn’t have a computer at home, and someone stole her phone. She has a lot of responsibility for her teenage brother, the adorable Zay (played with glee by Josiah Gaffney). Zay has asthma, and the precariousness of his care is reflected in Tree’s lament:
If he have some attack in school ain’t no one there to help him but hisself since the school nurse ain’t every day no more, they cut the bitch’s hours to Tuesday Thursday so guess the kids better know to stay healthy Monday Wednesday Friday.
Harris’s empathy extends far and wide; she is a former teacher at the school and has had her own troubles as a career educator. Returning to the school is both a penance and a saving grace. More determined than ever to reach these kids, she wants to do what the proverb—“Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime”—suggests. She wants to help the kids survive more than a day.
Harris speaks with Nabila Muhammad (Morgan Siobhan Green) in the teachers’ lounge. Photographs by Valerie Terranova.
Director Adrienne D. Williams artfully maximizes the minimalist set (brilliantly designed by Jason Simms with lighting by Nic Vincent). The flicker of light and water stains on the walls showcase the conditions of Tree’s school and living environment. Mika Eubanks’ costumes effectively capture the everyday attire of teens as well as a dream sequence with students in antebellum costumes to depict a moment in black history. The wonderful soundscape by Michael Keck utilizes hip-hop and rap to punctuate the transitions from class to class, and other sound effects, such as a murmur of voices and clanking to indicate Tree’s work in a fast-food restaurant, helps situate the characters.
“For Tree, school is just one more overwhelming piece of the puzzle called her life.”
LaRonda has dropped out of school to have a baby, and the two young women have gotten closer again, since Tree also has dropped out. But there is an awkwardness to their friendship—is it because of the baby, or the family hardships they endure, or because teens are learning about themselves and don’t have the words to support each other?
When Harris crosses path with Tree at a later point, she convinces her to return with the promise that she can leave anytime. She gives Tree school on her own conditions. Harris is intrepid, even though her high expectations fall on deaf ears, until they catch. It’s the little catch that can lead to something bigger. Perhaps finishing school and reading Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye are not so far out of reach after all. As Tree admits: “I liked school. All that possibility.”
The Keen Company and Working Theater’s co-production of Kia Corthron’s Fish runs through April 27 at Theatre Row (410 W 42nd St.). Evening performances are at 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturdays; matinees are at 2 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are available at theworkingtheater.org and keencompany.org.
Playwright: Kia Corthron
Director: Adrienne D. Williams
Scenic Design: Jason Simms
Lighting: Nic Vincent
Costumes: Mika Eubanks
Sound: Michael Keck
