The ETA Creative Arts Foundation has a vital mission: to produce plays about the African-American experience. But one of the happy results of this theater’s willingness to develop new works by black authors is an increased awareness of the universality of most modern dilemmas. The artists at ETA may all be African-American, but that does not mean every new play produced on South Chicago sees the world entirely through the prism of race. ETA’s crowd-pleasing comedies often convey the simple truth that most folks spend their time worrying about pretty much the same dumb things.
In Kathryn L. Webster’s comedy, “Winners/Losers,” for example, the central character of Harold (Donn Carl Harper) is a man in his mid-30s who senses a gulf between his potential and his actual lot in life. But in an attempt to overcome some of his disappointments, he spends money he does not have on a mink coat for his wife and then finds himself hooked up with a loan shark with the deceptively genial moniker of Grandpa (Foster Williams Jr.). To extricate himself from this pickle, Harold enlists the help of his best friend, Melvin (Kenneth Johnson) in a hare-brained robbery scheme. To the chagrin of Harold’s loyal wife (Maia) and well-meaning if domineering mother (Cynthia Draper Hill), things do not go as planned.
“Winners/Losers” still needs work. Setting her play at the racially optimistic moment of Tom Bradley’s election as mayor of Los Angeles, Webster crafts vivid, humorous, well-defined characters and a slick plot (complete with a dream sequence). But the resolution is not well handled; thus, the play loses energy and thematic clarity.
Much of that can be fixed. The reason that the ETA regulars responded with such warmth to this seemingly conventional script is that this group of everyday people–from a mom struggling to let go of her boy to a best friend who lets loyalty cloud his judgment–is so likable. And because Terry Cullers’ simply staged production is so well-meaning, it’s easy to forgive contrivances of plot or technical hiccups. Harper, who manages to combine a zany comic sensibility with palpable vulnerability, is particularly entertaining.
Webster may not yet be capable of great lyrical flights, but she can find her way inside the heart of an audience and deliver the message that a sense of self-worth and a genuine love for others are qualities more important than anything you can buy on plastic. Others may have said so with more flash, but “Winners/Losers” seems to understand how hard it is for most of us to put such sentiments into practice.
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“Winners/Losers”
When: Through Feb. 15
Where: ETA Creative Arts Foundation, 7558 S. Chicago Ave.
Phone: 773-752-3955
