Wayward Sibling

Whiteness is destructive, repressive and womanish; blackness is vital and masculine: this is the overriding theme of Ray Aranha's My Sister, My Sister. The play develops this theme, an insidious cliche to begin with, at excessive, repetitive length, finally vitiating the considerable talents of the cast.

The villain in the show is the Mama who, by devoting herself to Christianity, has sold out to the White Man. She attempts, through occasional beatings and one painfully long evangelical scene, to indoctrinate her daughters with her anti-Black attitudes. Despite the banality of Mama's lines, Cheryl Wright gives the character convincing force by her energetic portrayal. Her features contorted with evangelical fervor, she propels the play through some of its shakiest moments.

The good guy in the show is the Daddy/Boyfriend, played by Tony Chase. Although alcoholic and finally impotent against Mama's ascetic whiteness, this character elicits sympathy by his simply-felt expression of pride and physical desires. Like Wright, Chase battles his way through a dense forest of triteness to create a sense of powerful emotions held barely in check.

Caught between these two forces is the daughter, Sue Belle. Aranha uses the Kurt Vonnegut old unglued-in-time technique to present the girl who is sometimes six years old and sometimes twelve or sixteen. Sometimes she is someone else entirely.

The role calls for great versatility and endurance since Sue Belle is on stage for all of the show's long three hours. Pepper Postell is superb in the role, alternating childish whimpering with mature seductiveness in the most convincing manner possible. Jackie Kearney is equally effective as the brooding resentful Evelina, Sue Belle's older sister.

But all of the fine acting, together with the careful direction by Angela Leonard, gets almost lost in the cavernous script, with its protracted, soap-operatic dialogue. Even this cast, with its high level of energy and commitment, cannot salvage such a wreck.