Reviewed by Amalisha HuEck
You can experience an incredible train ride starting from Chambers Street in 1910 through many upcoming centuries all the way to 2010, where through five 'incarnations' the lives of Mr. Abel Green are presented with all the changes and turbulations of each decade. Changes in imagery, changes in character, changes in events, changes in thinking, changes are something no one can avoid. 'Sometimes you make change, but sometimes change changes you.'
The Fountain Theatre presents a west coast premiere of Freight: The Five Incarnations of Abel Green, a well-crafted, researched and developed play, written by Howard L Craft. The production is masterfully delivered by director Joseph Megel and performed to perfection by the true, passionate, fully committed actor J. Alphonse Nicholson (A Soldier's Play). Through five 'incarnations,' the play is severely layered with a heavy amount of an emotional rollercoaster from the beginning until the very end. The racial conflict between black and white is deeply explored at the beginning with scenes of extreme pain, snobbery and injustice. We observe Abel's journeys through American Dream in front of the outstanding video projection of a full-size train window. A gorgeous muse (Sidney Edwards) appears with every scene change and through the graceful movements of light dance the changes into another time is created. The beauty combined with the carefully chosen clothing garments add enormously to the smooth transitions into another time.
An amazingly fantastic job by the Scenic Design (Joel Daavid), Video Design (Eamonn Farrell), Lighting Design (Alison Brummer), Sound Design (Marc Antonio Pritchett), Costume Design (Danyele Thomas), Props Design (Rebecca Carr), Graphic Design (Lloyd Visuals), Technical Director (Scott Tuomey) and Production Stage Manager (Kaitlyn Cramer), gives us a feeling of being on the other side of that train with Abel. Fascinating experience!
A MUST-see production of Freight: The Five Incarnations of Abel Green is produced by Stephen Sachs, Simon Levy and James Bennett with the Executive Producer J. Alphonse Nicholson.
See it during its limited run through December 16 th at the Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave. The performances are on Fridays, Saturdays & Mondays at 8 pm; Sundays at 2 pm. For tickets ($25 - $45), call 323-663-1525 or go to Fountaintheatre.com. Pay-What-You-Want is available on Mondays.
Freight is approximately 90 minutes long, and it is performed with no intermission.
*** 'Every great dream begins with a Dreamer' by wrapping your mind in the peace and moving beyond the struggles, by beating on a drum to the universe to hear and then wait for the answer.