Truth Be Told at 35below
The show Truth Be Told, now running at Asheville Community Theatre’s 35below space, is essentially a workshop production, giving playwright Monica McDaniel a chance to work out some unusual dramatic approaches to difficult material: molestation and rape. That’s not a spoiler, since the program announces the subject matter, perhaps as a trigger warning.
The two one-act plays are short and focused; the entire evening, with intermission, is just an hour. But audiences may spend another hour discussing what they’ve seen — who’s to blame, what’s real and what’s fantasy, and what constitutes justice after these most soul-splitting of crimes.
Indeed, the two mini plays seem as much provocation as drama, shorn of detail for the purpose of keeping the focus on the nexus of humanity and victimhood. Neither concerns spontaneous sexual assault on a stranger, but rather abuse that results when men take advantage of women or girls who are at risk because of the power dynamics of institutions and families. To say more about the story lines would give away too much, since the narratives are so compact.
Audiences should be aware in advance that these are rough-hewn dramas, performed by committed but not slickly practiced casts with minimal props and furniture, no sets, and just enough costuming to fit the characters. The purpose isn’t glossy entertainment but discomforting scrutiny.
The charismatic Ki’era Gash, who takes a lead role in both plays, is movingly somber in the first and both lively and a little creepy in the second. In both instances she is well supported by the solid Tifphanie Darity in the story’s secondary role. Kim Akbar and Naeem Akbar appear in more functional parts in both plays — the misguided authority figures or helpless parent.
Playwright and director McDaniel has published two books of poetry and prose, and the program identifies this diptych as her fourth play. This is my first encounter with her work, but I readily concur with two lines from her bio, one that asserts that she is “divinely inspired to create dialog that other writers shy away from” and the promise that the “best is yet to come!” McDaniel is a local talent to watch.
Truth Be Told runs through September 21 at 35below. For details and tickets, visit the Asheville Community Theatre website.
(Photo courtesy of Asheville Community Theatre)
