Officer Ricketts (Sheffield Chastain) stops McAlester Daly (Brian Dykstra) for wandering in what he deems a “bad” neighborhood.
Not Nobody, written by Brian Dykstra, is a play about ethics and the legal system. Under the direction of Margarett Perry, the work centers on McAlester Daly (Dykstra himself), a former ethics professor. One evening, he is out walking when a couple of cops—Officer Ricketts (Sheffield Chastain, who deftly plays a wide range of characters) and Officer Chavana (Kathiamarice Lopez, who brings a crispness to every role she plays)—stop him. He’s in a neighborhood where a middle-aged white guy typically wouldn’t be, and the cops find that odd.
Being stopped by the two officers triggers a nervous, tangential, word salad from Daly in which he attempts to explain that walking in this area has nothing to do with the neighborhood, but that he likes walking. He goes on:
Daly (Dykstra) considers CCTV footage that Detective Dixon (Kate Siahaan-Rigg) presents during a debriefing. Photographs by Carol Rosegg.
Well. It’s just that, sometimes, or—Okay, let me begin with ... Let me just take a, a, just a, yeah—Let me take a breath, here. … Okay, um. Sometimes. There are people. That didn’t work. By the way. That breath. Uh-uh, no, Maybe a little. But. There are people, in my life—this is not always the best idea, me talking, getting started, started talking. It’s, it’s hard for me to stop. Sometimes.
The scene is interrupted when two officers hear a commotion and run offstage. Suddenly gunfire erupts, and Daly rushes toward the conflict. When he emerges, he is covered in blood. Officer Ricketts was shot and Daly applied pressure to the wound until paramedics arrived. Initially, Daly is hailed as a hero for saving the policeman’s life. However, this celebration is short-lived. CCTV footage without audio captured Daly’s stuttered response to a shooter’s question. While Daly said, “I’m not … Nobody,” a lip reader interprets it as “I don’t know, buddy,” suggesting he is an accomplice rather than a bystander.
Daly is characterized by a deep, almost naive commitment to his ethical compass. Dykstra’s fidgety body language—Daly curls his arms toward his armpits—and the character’s indirect communication style draw suspicion from two other detectives, Dixon (Kate Siahaan-Rigg) and Christie (Chastain). They wonder if Daly is drawing a line to purposely impede the investigation. When Christie asks if Daly will “help us catch a killer,” Daly balks.
Daly: I have nothing for you.
Detective Christie: “Honor among thieves?”
Daly: Hardly.
Christie: But “having nothing for us,” is that ethical?
Daly: I can only assure you it is, as I can’t prove it. Just as you can’t prove that it’s not.
Christie: Yet.
Detective Dixon: See, this is a problem.
Officer Ricketts hugs Daly in gratitude for saving his life.
Trying to make sense of his behavior, Officer Ricketts asks if Daly is on the autism spectrum. Daly deflects with: “If there’s a spectrum, aren’t we all on it?” Unfortunately, this line of inquiry is dropped as quickly as its raised in the play—serving only as a punch line—and missing an opportunity to spotlight a more difficult and less talked-about aspect of the legal system’s treatment of people with developmental disabilities.
The play is broken into several segments, and Perry’s direction keeps the whole moving fluidly, stitching the story together even when the script gets baggy. Tyler M. Perry’s scenic design is simple and allows the actors to easily move props around to make transitions and indicate a change of location for each scene. Jen Leno’s lighting design and Ariana Cardoza’s sound design add dimension to each scene to accentuate their differences.
Not Nobody features an excellent cast, with Siahaan-Rigg in a role as Judge Andrea Booth who is exhausted by the “teeter-totter of justice.” Siahaan-Rigg plays Booth with perfect comic timing and provides much of the play's humor. In a standout moment, when Daly’s attorney, Karma Prentice (Lopez), claims Daly “prefers not” to undergo hypnosis to unearth the repressed memories of the shooting, Booth snaps: “What is he, Bartleby the Scrivener?”
The blank stares from the attorneys lead to a comedic beat where the Judge must educate them on Herman Melville’s tale of a disaffected clerk. This highlights the intellectual gap between Daly’s ethical world and the procedural rigidity of the court.
Ultimately, Daly’s refusal to cooperate—partially fueled by a lingering grudge over an old parking ticket—feels more provocative than noble. While the play handles the shooting of an officer with sensitivity, it occasionally functions as a Trojan horse for a specific ideological argument against law enforcement. The result is a production that, while expertly acted and designed, tends to preach to the choir rather than offer new insight or discussion.
Twilight Theater Company’s Not Nobody runs through March 1 at 59E59 Theaters (59 E. 59th St.). Evening performances are at 7:15 Tuesday through Saturday; matinees are at 2:15 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. For tickets and more information, click here.
Playwright: Brian Dykstra
Director: Margaret Perry
Scenic Design: Tyler M. Perry
Costumes: Daniel Lawson
Lighting: Jen Leno
Sound Design: Ariana Cardoza
