RING-S AROUND ROSIE
ETA Creative Arts Foundation
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
George Caldwell is a proud man: the deed to his Pasadena home is displayed prominently in the foyer, and a potted cotton bush sits in the living room–both exhibited as reminders of the family’s progress. His teenage daughter Joyce Marie speaks of black pride (the play is set in the 60s), dresses in dashikis and wears an Afro, and is making plans to attend an all-black college. Only Rosie, the wife and mother, seems content with her status–a talented dressmaker, she objects when her daughter calls her a modiste. She also consistently volunteers for refreshment duty at PTA meetings and humors an eccentric neighbor. But Rosie is not without her dream–she has her heart set on Joyce Marie being crowned queen of the Los Angeles Tournament of Roses. When this hope is shattered, Rosie’s complacency and contentment vanish in a sudden burst of indignation as she realizes how others have mistreated her.
The most puzzling question, however, is why Harrison and Whitfield, who both have extensive experience, didn’t note these flaws long before and correct them. And though Hunt is personable enough, she doesn’t have the emotional range to suggest the passion lurking beneath Rosie’s placid exterior. Pamela Sawyer as Joyce Marie likewise gets mired in enigmatic externalization. That leaves only veteran character actor Allen Edge, who makes George an imperfect but engaging human being, to remind us of the company’s usual quality and professionalism.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Edward Donahue.
