Black Ensemble Theater Presents IT’S JUST LIKE COMING TO CHURCH Review — Gospel of Resilience

We are in a church—the church of YOU, we later learn. The minister (Dawn Bless), called Preach, has set the tone with similarly transporting vocal power by summoning the ensemble to sing along with her Hold On Change is Coming. The keywords are HOLD ON!  One by one, the ensemble shares a personal vignette and Gospel-styled song about their journey of faith. A trans woman, a light-skinned Black woman rejected by her own family, a woman on the other side of a long depression, and The Deacon’s backstory of gangs and being spared a bullet (Worth Saving) all speak to endurance found through The Grace of God. The enemy is anxiety and depression. Have faith and endurance! is the preach by Preach. A young man’s optimism and unwillingness to accept a wrong as right is pointed as a way to be. The capstone wisdom is refrained—this too shall pass.

Black Ensemble Theater Preaches to Its Family

Like The Healing, Playwright and Artistic Director Jackie Taylor makes it clear that in this theater – rightfully called her theater – what matters most is seizing the stage for teaching moments.   This writer imagines that the message of resilience through faith might have made many in the audience – African American seniors hit hardest by the pandemic – feel like shouting Hallelujah just as much as clapping by show’s end. 

As a white reviewer born outside the Black Church tradition but having the life luck of experiencing Sunday services many times through the years, it strikes that the play is so accurately named It’s Just Like Coming to Church.

Unlike the space now commonly carved out for non-believers in other corners of the public square, there is no mention of that here and that might be a turn-off to some. For lovers of Gospel Music and powerful voices, there are sixteen treasures in this play to savor. Perhaps church-appropriate, you won’t see much dance and choreography typical of most other Black Ensemble Theater performances. The band is there—this time way up in the rafters—and their groove during a costume-change interlude keeps the musical magic in the air.

Praise be—Black Ensemble Theater is back!

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Note: Picture This Post reviews are excerpted by Theatre in Chicago.

WHEN: 

Thru April 24 2022

WHERE:

Black Ensemble Theater
4450 N. Clark Street
Chicago

TICKETS:

$55

Tickets are available at the Black Ensemble Theater website.

CAST:

Dawn Bless, Vincent Jordan, MJ Rawls, Ciarra Stroud, Noelle Klyce, Deshaun Peters

CREATIVE TEAM :

Written and directed by Jackie Taylor

Photos: Alan Davis