Struggle, Hope -- in Short, Reality

Playwright's 'Resurrection' Offers a Window Into the Lives of a Spectrum of Black Men

Thirteen months ago, Daniel Beaty was in Washington, performing his one-man play, "Emergency," when he picked up a book that set the course for his next theatrical adventure.

It was called "State of Black America 2007: Portrait of the Black Male," published by the National Urban League.

"I've always been interested in questions of fathers and sons, especially in America," Beaty says. "And I knew, because of the urgency of the situation, that that was what I wanted to write about next."

The 32-year-old's first draft came quickly and grew into "Resurrection," an ensemble production that will have its world premiere next week, opening the fall season at Arena Stage.

Questions of fathers and sons came up early in Beaty's life: His father was a heroin addict with a spotty record of attendance in their family's home in Dayton, Ohio. Beaty's older brother got hooked on crack cocaine.

But somehow Beaty got hooked on something different: the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He heard a recording of King's "I Have a Dream" speech and was "deeply inspired," he recalls. "I knew I wanted to use words, like Dr. King, to inspire others."

That was in the third grade. With the help of a devoted teacher and other champions, Beaty was traveling the country by high school, giving speeches with such titles as "The Dream Is Alive."

Those performances led to scholarships to Yale University for undergraduate school and the American Conservatory Theater for a master's degree in acting.

By then he'd seized upon playwriting. "It was a way for me to communicate thoughts in a creative way," he explains.

"Emergency," Beaty's solo show (which used to be called "Emergence-See") won an Obie Award for excellence in off-Broadway theater. Post theater critic Peter Marks wrote last year that Beaty "doesn't really qualify as a one-man band. He's more like a full orchestra."

In "Resurrection," the playwright crafted a collection of characters -- black males across the age spectrum -- struggling internally and with the world around them. Molly Smith, Arena Stage's artistic director, read an early draft of the work and immediately committed to producing it.

"My initial impression was that it's very real," says Oz Scott, an accomplished director brought on to stage "Resurrection." "There's a lot that it was saying and a great need to hear it be said. There's a lot of life and love in this play."

That life includes a young boy and would-be scientist who desperately tries to create a concoction that can cure whatever it is that ails the black men in his life. That character is played by 12 -year-old Thuliso Dingwall of Clinton.

The cast also features Washington native Michael Genet, an actor and writer who co-wrote the screenplay for the 2007 film "Talk to Me," about Washington radio personality Ralph "Petey" Greene.

It's not lost on Beaty that this play is making its debut in the national's capital during the peak of a presidential election in which a black man is the presumptive Democratic nominee. (Barack Obama wrote the foreword to the Urban League book that inspired "Resurrection.")

The playwright's wish is that audiences walk away from the production with an eye toward the future, with a sense that "beyond the problems and concerns and urgent issues facing black men in America, there is hope and possibility," Beaty says. "And the way we arrive at this hope is by understanding the issues in a clear way, with compassion, understanding and commitment to change."

Resurrection Arena Stage, Crystal City, 1800 S. Bell St., Arlington. 202-488-3300.http://www.arenastage.org.$49-$68. Aug. 29-Oct. 5.