Michael Bradford's Fathers and Sons @ ACT Theatre

Michael Bradford's Fathers and Sons plays at ACT through May 25; tix available online here.

There's something amazing on stage this month at ACT Theatre that everyone should see: black people, on the stage, in a play, that isn't a tepid exploration of race in America. It's a holy frickin' miracle!

Don't take that to mean we buy into this idea of a "post-racial" America any more than we buy into a "post-class" America, but usually plays about race have more to do with liberal white pieties about the past than the complex problems of the present. That's part of what makes Fathers and Sons a must-see: It's a play about African-American lives that lets the actors explore something besides the legacy of the Civil Rights movement and Jim Crow. Usually, theatres only trot out black actors for shows like Birdie Blue, an insufferable play we saw last fall at the Rep that left us griping that "Birdie Blue is a deeply confused and fundamentally flawed play, the current production of which wastes much of the talent of some truly fantastic actors. A note to Seattle theatre directors: Feel free to cast William Hall Jr. as often as you like—we'll come to see him any day."

And lo and behold, here's William Hall Jr. back in a play far more suited to his considerable talents. He plays Leon Goodwater, an aging womanizer with a history of drug abuse who, haunted by the ghost of his own absent jazz musician father Benard (Wilbur Penn), flies to NYC to try to help his own son Marcus (the astounding Reginald ANdre Jackson), a successful young writer whose life is collapsing around him following the kidnapping of his young son.

Non-linear in structure, full of flashbacks and dream sequences, Michael Bradford's world-premier play occasionally feels rough (it's apparently under constant revision) in this or that scene. The same cannot be said for the extremely talented cast, who present their characters in unusually strong performances that are hard to find any fault with. There's enough humor to carry the audience through the plays dark subject matter, and which is at the same time disarming enough to make the end hurt even more. We question the play's ultimate faith in the power of redemption, but its a matter of degree rather than substance: the story strikes nary a false note.

Pic: William Hall Jr. as Leon Goodwater, Wilbur Penn as Benard Goodwater, and Reginald Andre Jackson as Marcus Goodwater in the World Premiere of Fathers and Sons by Michael Bradford at ACT – A Contemporary Theatre, presented by The Hansberry Project at ACT. By Chris Bennion.