Detroit ’67: A frightening story with equally frightening issues still with us today

Executive Director of PhillyGayCalendar


Princeton’s McCarter Theatre Centre in association with Hartford Stage is presenting Detroit ’67 now until October 28. It is a timely play well worth seeing.

 

Detroit ’67 is a drama written by Dominique Morisseau and directed by Jade King Carroll at Matthews Theatre. Detroit ’67 is the story of a family and their friends caught in the Detroit riots of 1967 which began as a result of police invading an after-hours black club. Readers of Philliegaycalendar.com will immediately see that this July 1967 event presaged the Stonewall riots by less than two years. Under similar circumstances, police harassment of club-goers provoked a backlash which was unprecedented for its time.  In this case, Detroit was shaken by days of rioting which prompted the calling in of both the National Guard and the Army to stop the civil unrest.

 

Detroit ’67 begins in a basement of a modest home which will provide the one set for the entire play. This is the home of two siblings, Chelle, played with distinction by Myxolydia Tyler, and her brother Lank (short for Langston) played by the incredibly gifted Johnny Ramey. It is July 1967, and we are privy to the fact that the two young people are trying to cash in on the lucrative private-home, after-hours social scene in the city. The plan is to host a bar night with music and drinks in the basement to earn a few extra dollars. Since both of their parents are now dead, they are giving it a try.




Both brother and sister have an inheritance left by their parents, which is one matter of contention between them. Chelle wants to continue to pay for her son’s college education. He was able to get into college, and he will be staying the summer to work, but as Chelle points out, he’s probably also found a girlfriend, so that is why he’s staying. Chelle also likes the security of having money in the bank in case they may need it for an emergency or to improve their home. Lank, on the other hand, has ambitions. Lank and his friend Sly (played with an easy-going grace by Will Cobbs) are planning to buy a bar in town with the $15,000 inheritance. This is only one plot simmering in Detroit ’67 before the riots begin.

 

Nyahale Allie is Bunny, Chelle’s friend and neighborhood bombshell, who has many, if not all, of the best lines in the play. Bunny is often the third party in the room when arguments break out, and it is a testament to her skills as an actress that we pay attention to her every move even while heated arguments swell about her. Ginna Le Vine is Caroline, the mysterious stranger who is saved by Lank and Sly after being savagely beaten and brought back to the Poindexter home to recover. Caroline is a young, beautiful white woman who Chelle sees as nothing but trouble in the racially segregated powder keg of Detroit. Caroline in many respects remains an enigma. She remains an enigma, not a fully-developed character, possibly because she serves as a device for several different plots.

 

There are many arguments, as well as violent confrontations in Detroit ’67. Not to have them would be impossible considering the situations. Sadly, police violence remains an issue today in 2018, much as it was in 1967, as does the marginalizing of minorities who become society’s scapegoats.

Many African-Americans were in the audience. Some people of color of a certain age who shared their opinions during the interval regretted the prevalence of the “N” word in the drama. They said that they viewed it as a painful reminder of the past. Much could be said of LGBT people of a certain age who recall being called fag and queer usually before they needed to run for their lives from people throwing rocks or carrying metal pipes in their hands. There is truth to the words by George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Detroit ’67 helps us all to remember.

 

For more information about seeing Detroit ’67, and the Pride Nights associated with each play, visit www.mccarter.org .

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