"Buzz the Right One In"
The title of BUZZER, Tracey Scott Wilson’s absorbing but
not thoroughly convincing new tragicomedy at the Public, comes from an apartment
buzzer whose intercom is on the fritz, forcing an occupant to visit the lobby
to let someone in. Perhaps this is intended to suggest a breakdown in
communication, which certainly happens among the play’s three main characters.
Or maybe it’s meant to reflect the danger of living in a gentrifying but still
edgy neighborhood, where the buzzer’s intended to protect you from unwanted
intruders.
The apartment’s occupants, all in their 20s, are Jackson (Grantham Coleman),
a highly educated (Exeter, Harvard, and Harvard Law), well-paid, black attorney,
unhappy at work and preoccupied with the texts on his IPhone; Suzy (Tessa Ferrer), his white
girlfriend, a tough-mouthed, inner city high school teacher, struggling not to
smoke; and Don (Michael Stahl-David), Jackson’s close friend from Exeter, a rich white guy from
Westchester who’s been in and out of rehab for drug and alcohol abuse eight
times (seven, actually, since he never went to one).
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| Tessa Ferrer, Grantham Coleman. Photo: Joan Marcus. |
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| Tessa Ferrer, Grantham Coleman. Photo: Joan Marcus. |
The apartment is in a busy urban neighborhood—presumably Brooklyn, but how can Randolph and Sutter be in the same neighborhood?—recently known as a
hotbed for dope; Jackson, who got into Exeter on a scholarship, grew up here poor,
although he’s acquired the veneer associated with a successful white life style.
Despite its seedy vestiges, like the “crack ho on the corner,” the hood’s
upscale changes have convinced him to buy a spacious, renovated apartment to
live in with Suzy, to whom he presents the purchase as a fait accompli. She’s reluctant
at first, but things calm down until Jackson informs her—again without
consultation—that he’s agreed to let the unemployed and recently evicted Don (who
considers Jackson his “soul mate”) crash there for at least six months. Jackson loves the guy because he always treated him non-judgmentally. He does, though, lay down the caveat that if Don starts using again, he’s out.
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| From left: Michael Stahl-David, Tessa Ferrer, Grantham Coleman. Photo: Joan Marcus. |
Ironically, Don, the son of white (possibly racist) privilege,
shares the street creds of the neighborhood youth, something that will affect
Jackson’s perception of himself—he rejects the notion of a problem-solving
Magic Negro—and lead to certain dramatic events. Don had lived for two summers with
Jackson and his mother—who hated Don—when his own mom kicked him out. Suzy and
Don have a bit of a private history, and, for all Jackson’s efforts to assure
her Don’s changed, she’s very disturbed to have him here. As well she should
be, though for reasons other than she first suspects.
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| Tessa Ferrer, Grantham Coleman. Photo: Joan Marcus. |
Early on, Don declares that there should be no secrets
among the trio; indeed, he says they should hold weekly “family meetings” to
share everything with one another. Suzy’s reluctant, insisting that everybody
needs to keep some things secret. Secrets and lies eventually become a
significant thread in the group dynamic, and Don will have good reason to keep
things close to the vest as the plot unwinds.
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| Michael David-Stahl, Tessa Ferrer, Grantham Coleman. Photo: Joan Marcus. |
Once the undercurrents of the threesome living
together come into play, there’s a slow increase in dramatic incident; true and
false reminiscences arise (it’s one of those plays where people keep reciting youthful
anecdotes, not always remembering them the same way), and interpersonal
conflict bubbles. Some of this is riveting but credibility is occasionally
stretched, especially with regard to something that transpires between Don and Suzy; also problematic is Jackson's increasing hostility, which seems more contrived than organic. The most intense events—connected to gentrification’s
effect on turning insiders into outsiders—lead to a serious crisis after Suzy
is harassed by some young black men hanging out across the street.
Anne Kaufman has directed BUZZER, which runs an
intermissionless 90 minutes, with intelligence and a fine sense of style,
making especially effective use of the way Ms. Wilson elides scenes so that
they cinematically blend to move the action forward, or to create counterpoint
effects in the dialogue. Her cast is solid down the line, with Tessa Ferrer
bringing a perfect blend of toughness and vulnerability to the young
schoolteacher, Michael Stahl-David capturing the jittery nervousness and
emotional neediness of the recovering addict, and Grantham Coleman making the
most of the young lawyer’s insecurity, affection, and anger.
Laura Jellinek’s unusual set—brilliantly lit by Matt
Frey—is little more than a grouping of thick, white, but partial walls,
standing like Greek columns at stage right, with just enough detail
(supplemented by a realistic kitchen barely visible upstage through the walls) to suggest what one might find in a renovated old apartment. The
remaining space is occupied by a wood-floored expanse dominated by a leather
couch, with no other descriptive markers, like windows, thus leaving everything
outside to the imagination. Walt Spangler’s design for last year’s production
at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre brought indications of the outside world into the
picture, which might have been useful here, given the play’s concern with the interaction
between the occupants of the apartment and the neighborhood. A surprise element
outside the apartment does appear midway through when a section of the upstage
black wall slides away to reveal the lobby and its glass-enclosed entryway.
Clint Ramos’s costumes look just right, Bray Poor’s sound
design perfectly enhances the mood (especially the well-timed clink of small bells
used late in the play), and J. David Brimmer adds yet another brief but high-quality
fight component to the New York stage.
BUZZER struggles with plausibility and may not deserve all the buzz its
Chicago production generated, but it reveals Ms. Wilson's gift for crisp, juicy dialogue, and dramatic interaction. It also displays thematic heft in its concern with racism,
communication, dependency, friendship, gentrification, and the balance required between truth
and secrecy.
Public
Theater (Martinson Hall)
425 Lafayette
Street, NYC
Through April 26