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Theater review by Raven Snook
Two estranged cousins try to reconcile in the wake of their grandmother’s death in Bad Kreyòl, Dominique Morisseau’s witty and perceptive new play. Simone (Kelly McCreary), a first-generation Haitian-American with good intentions and poor communication skills, has traveled to Haiti to see Gigi (the delicious Pascale Armand), an ambitious boutique owner with high-end tasteshe looks fabulous in Haydee Zelideth’s vibrant costumesbut no tact at all. From the get-go, the two are dissing cousins: Gigi criticizes Simone’s weight, hair, aimlessness and crappy grasp of the local language; Simone takes Gigi to task for being judgmental and participating in corrupt class systems.
Plagued by guilt, privilege and unwitting American saviorism, Simone spends her visit attempting to make an impact on her troubled ancestral homeland while ignorant of the country’s customs. While Gigi waits for her American cousin at home, longing to share family stories and their grandmother’s pate recipe, Simone is out encouraging locals to stand up for themselvesparticularly Pita (Jude Tibeau, in a spectacular performance), a former restavèk who came to work for Gigi’s family as a child and now, as a grown gay man, continues his duties.
Bad Kreyòl | Photograph: Courtesy Matthew Murphy
As with her previous plays, which include Skeleton Crew and Confederates, Morisseau parses complex issues like class, colonialism and the American-Haitian culture divide without resorting to agitprop. Director Tiffany Nichole Greene elicits sensitive performances from the entire cast; the characters and their struggles feel achingly real, and their bickering provokes both laughter and thought. Morisseau’s program note says that she was inspired to write the play many years ago, but its world premiere at the Signature (co-produced by Manhattan Theatre Club) coincides with a right-wing smear campaign about Haitian immigrants’ eating habits. Made only more compelling by this regrettable timeliness, Bad Kreyòl serves as an illuminating reminder that Haiti and its people are much more than just bad headlines.
Bad Kreyòl. Signature Theatre. (Off Broadway). By Dominique Morisseau. Directed by Tiffany Nichole Greene. With Kelly McCreary, Pascale Armand, Jude Tibeau, Fedna Jacquet, Andy Lucien. Running time: 2hrs 15mins. One intermission.
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Bad Kreyòl | Photograph: Courtesy Matthew Murphy
