Jennifer L. Nelson has a way with characters. They can be silly, then suddenly turn profound; they can be serious, then act totally bizarre. And those characters have a way with words. One of Nelson’s greatest gift is her ability to create entertaining dialogue, as she has in “24, 7, 365” at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. “24, 7, 365” is a multilayered comedy that begins with what seems to be a lighthearted discussion of what happiness is and what life would be like if we could have it all the time.
| On stage |
| “24, 7, 365” |
| Where: Theater of the First Amendment; Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE (thereafter at the Hylton Performing Arts Center, Manassas and the George Mason University Center for the Arts, Fairfax) |
| When: Through Feb. 27 (thereafter March 3 to 5 and March 10 to 13) |
| Info: $12.50 to $30, 202-399-7993, atlasarts.org (hyltoncenter.org; cfa.gmu.edu) |
But as Nelson maneuvers her characters around an unfamiliar setting, she expands the play’s central issue, creating a fascinating study of five people who must adapt to one another and their surroundings to survive. The setting for “24, 7, 365” is a West Virginia campsite.
The main characters are two couples: Johnnie Tyler (Deidra LaWan Starnes), a social worker, and Jan Spandauersen (Michael Kramer), a geologist, who have been married for 15 years; and Johnnie’s brother Beaufort Tyler (Craig Wallace), a businessman, and Shavondra Cheever (Fatima Quander), his latest girlfriend.
They come to the wilderness to celebrate Jan’s birthday but it’s clear the campout is not going to end well. Apart for a taste for vodka, these couples share nothing in common. The utterly superficial Shavondra’s idea of camping out is staying in a Holiday Inn outside the city. Beaufort is a workaholic who never really forgets the office. Jan and Johnnie’s marriage shows signs of emotional wear and tear.
But with the introduction of a fifth character, Kwame Jones (Baye StraightForward Harrell), the plot is pitched in a different direction and the steady downhill trajectory of the camping trip alters radically.
The cast of “24, 7, 365” is superb. Starnes and Kramer clearly delineate the way couples may love but not understand one another. Quander is delightful as the forthright, selfish Shavondra, who always speaks before she thinks. Wallace is convincing as the man who is dopey with love for her. Harrell lights up the play from within with his music and poetry.
Director Juanita Rockwell keeps the action moving swiftly throughout most of “24, 7, 365,” but provides welcome quiet spaces for the idealistic Johnnie to consider her life and her inability to find satisfaction.
“24, 7, 365” is anything but a ponderous, issue-laden play, but it is challenging. It engenders questions not just about happiness but also about the means by which modern Americans measure success and achievement. It addresses race, class, self-perception and relationships. At the end of “24, 7, 365,” Nelson’s characters have altered, some more than others, providing the audience with a provocative exhibition of comedy and conscience under the stars.
