KYLE WATKINS PHOTOGRAPHY
Ja’Quan Spann, right, and Jamal Guye co-star in “Pipeline” at The Vanguard Theater in Montclair.
Nobody knows, better than Nya, what the Pipeline is all about. A longtime English teacher at an inner city school, Nya has seen the Pipeline — a term used for the forces that pull African-American youths from underfunded public schools into lives of crime — firsthand. She wants to keep her son Omari away from it. And it is not going well.
“He’s being sucked into this void and I’m trying to hold on, but the force just too strong, too magnificent, that I’ve to hold on firm, or I’ll lose my grip,” she says at one point in Dominique Morisseau’s 2017 play, which is currently running at The Vanguard Theater in Montclair, with direction by Marshall Jones III.
Omari’s struggles — and Nya’s efforts to keep him safe — are at the core of this play, which manages to be both gritty and poetic, and creates three-dimensional portraits of each of its six characters. Morisseau doesn’t offer any easy answers, but does conclude on a hopeful note.
The Vanguard Theater recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. I have often been impressed with what founding producing artistic director Janeece Freeman Clark and her associates have been able to present in this intimate space, and “Pipeline” is one of the best things I have seen them do.
KYLE WATKINS PHOTOGRAPHY
From left, Rebecca Hart, Doreen Oliver and Jamal Guye in “Pipeline.”
Nya (Doreen Oliver), with the help of her financially secure ex-husband Xavier (Lazarus Simmons), is trying to keep her only son Omari (Ja’Quan Spann) safe by sending him to an elite private school rather than the problem-plagued public school at which she teaches. But Omari has gotten into a physical altercation with a teacher there; he may be expelled, or may even face legal charges.
We first meet Nya when she is leaving a phone message for Xavier, telling him what has happened and struggling to get the words right. And we first meet Omari when he is explaining himself to his girlfriend Jasmine (Keivana Wallace), one of his few classmates who comes from a similar background. He is not sure if he should stay at school, or run away, or go to live with his mother, or with his father (with whom he has a strained relationship). He is an angry young man from a broken home, and just beginning to understand himself.
“All your back-and-forthness is gonna make my heart explode,” says Jasmine, who genuinely loves him, and who is portrayed by Wallace with a fascinating mix of girlish vulnerability and tough posturing.
We also meet two co-workers of Nya’s.
Laurie (Rebecca Hart) is a fellow teacher who approaches her job with a fighting spirit, genuinely cares for her students, and shrugs off a recent classroom incident in which her face was slashed. “A little reconstructive surgery and I’m back in the game,” she says, her scars still visible.
Dun (Jamal Guye) is a strong-and-silent-type security guard who does his best to help keep the school from descending into chaos, and gives a memorable speech when accused of not doing enough. “I do what I fucking can,” he says. “I’m the last of the good guys, wearing a uniform and greeting kids with a smile when they enter the building. I try to make a sunny day out of shit.”
KYLE WATKINS PHOTOGRAPHY
Keivana Wallace and Ja’Quan Spann in “Pipeline.”
Nya, meanwhile, feels that her world is falling apart. She talks things over with Omari and Xavier (separately), but nothing is resolved. She has a panic attack.
We never see the classroom incident that caused Omari to explode. But he does, eventually, explain it from his point of view. Though Morisseau clearly does not condone his behavior, she does make it understandable.
Nya uses literature to try to fight the Pipeline. So it is fitting that the play includes references to Richard Wright’s classic novel “Native Son” and its central character Bigger Thomas, whose struggles mirror Omari’s, in some ways. And Gwendolyn Brooks’ devastating short poem “We Real Cool,” which Nya teaches to her students, becomes a recurring theme.
But will Brooks’ depiction of doomed juvenile delinquents serve as a warning that can help Omari navigate dangerous straits, or a prophecy that will ultimately be fulfilled? Nya desperately hopes for the former, and dreads the latter.
The Vanguard Theater Company will present “Pipeline” at its Vanguard Theater in Montclair through Oct. 25. Visit vanguardtheatercompany.org.
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