'When I Come to Die' Will I Meet my Maker?

Chris Chalk as a man awaiting his executioner, not realizing the miracle ahead in “When I Come to Die.” Photos by Erin Baiano.

BY TAMARA BECK

NATHAN Louis Jackson is the author of last year’s moving “Broke-o-logy,” among other works. His new play “When I Come to Die,” has elements of interesting mystery but also some major flaws.

In “When I Come to Die,” Damon Robinson (Chris Chalk), having inexplicably survived a lethal injection, is back in his cell again awaiting death. His next-door neighbor on death row, James “Roach” Teagle (David Patrick Kelly), is preparing his last words while he waits.

Convinced that he is alive because someone screwed up at his execution, Damon goes to the prison chaplain, Adrian Crouse (Neal Huff) for an explanation. “In my business," the priest tells him, “we call it something else.” Father Crouse suggests that Damon can use the temporary reprieve to make a difference.

Siblings Damon (Chris Chalk) and Chantal (Amanda Mason Warren) have an extraordinary family reunion in "When I come to Die."

Damon begins by making a list of demands, and abandons that in favor of leading his fellow inmates in shouting, a stunt that is interpreted by the guards as a riot. Once he is released from solitary, Damon discloses to Father Crouse that he finds solace in the “contact” he gets from the letters he keeps under his bunk.

The connections he sought were never made since the letters are all ones that his father had returned to him unread. He reads these letters meant for his sister and brothers to himself in his cell.

CC in an unblinking performance is alternately sympathetic and belligerent. Radiant and inspiring as Damon’s estranged sister, Chantel, is Amanda Mason Warren. She is at once hopeful and hopeless, as she meets her brother for the first time since she was a little girl.

Michael Balderrama as Officer Cooper and Chris Chalk as deathrow inmate Damon Robinson in “When I Come to Die.”

Still, “When I Come to Die” – produced by Lincoln Center Theater’s LCT3 and in a workshop-like setting at the Duke Theatre through 26 Feb. – shows its weakness in its poor character development.

It is unfortunate that NLJ’s murderers are not simply not-monsters as Roach says, but that they are nearly lovable. The crimes that they committed are a slow reveal and when exposed tend toward cliché.

NLJ is too much of a realist to make the most of the subtexts in “When I Come to Die.” Is Damon’s survival, owing to divine intervention? Can he make use of his second chance? “When I Come to Die” only winks at the possibility of a miracle, and barely hints at redemption.

Visit http://www.lct.org/showMain.htm?id=203 to learn more about “When I Come to Die.”

On the Brink of War in 'Other Desert Cities'

Brooke (Elizabeth Marvel) wants to reveal family secrets against the wishes of her father and mother, Polly (Stockard Channing), in "Other Desert Cities." Photos by Joan Marcus.

BY TAMARA BECK

“Other Desert Cities” is the telegenic new play by Jon Robin Baitz. It is also a road sign directing drivers beyond the Palm Springs locale.

Finally, it alludes to those war zones where America has been engaged. Currently playing at Lincoln Center Theater’s Mitzi Newhouse Theater through 27 Feb, "Other Desert Cities" is looking to extend its run at a Broadway home.

Politics is a big part of this family drama set at Christmas 2004. The elder Wyeths, Polly (Stockard Channing) and Lyman (Stacy Keach), are minor California Republican celebrities – he, a Reagan-era ambassador: she, the noise behind the man. Their apolitical son, Tripp (Thomas Sadoski), produces reality shows for television.

Elizabeth Marvel, Stacy Keach and Thomas Sadoski as members of a family going through a difficult stretch in "Other Desert Cities."

Daughter, Brooke (Elizabeth Marvel), is a novelist who returns to her parent’s home in Palm Springs after some six years spent mainly in a mental hospital on the East Coast. She has re-imagined the mystery of her elder brother, Henry’s, disappearance 30 years earlier and brings her conclusions to her parents for their pre-publication blessing in a box of Xeroxed manuscripts.

Henry, in defiance of his parents, had been an anti-Vietnam War activist. Brooke reconstructs the story of her brother’s suicide with the encouragement of both Tripp and her aunt Silda Grauman (Linda Lavin). Memory and truth are very personal. (See videos from “Other Desert Cities” at http://lct.org/mediaPlayer.htm?id=71.

Polly and Lyman are adamantly against Brooke’s memoir being published. They cajole and threaten. Polly suggests that although she will always love her daughter, she will never again welcome her into the family home if the book is released.

Thomas Sadoski as politically apathetic son, Tripp, and Stockard Channing as Polly, a political animal of a mother in "Other Desert Cities."

SC plays a steely, determined and self-assured woman with humor and humanity. SK’s Lyman is a loving father who only wants to keep his family around him. His sadness over the memoir and the loss of the family’s privacy is palpable.

Despite their political differences the Wyeths are a loving, caring family. Polly and Silda had been screenwriting partners until a long-ago falling out. Nonetheless, the alcoholic Silda is drying out in the Wyeths’ guestroom. LL and SC, in the brief time they share the stage, exchange quips and gentle rejoinders with the perfect timing of comic pros.

EM is a masterful actress. In one scene her seemingly impassive face suddenly goes from indignation to jaw-dropping shock. She is glib and lively while surrounded by her family. Alone in another scene, EM’s eyes betray the pain that forces Brooke to take to her medication.

Silda Grauman (Linda Lavin) encourages her niece, Brooke (Elizabeth Marvel), to follow her dreams over the objections of her parents in "Other Desert Cities."

Jon Robin Baitz, the man/mind behind “Other Desert Cities,” has had a peripatetic career: as a TV producer he created (and was fired from) ABC’s “Brothers and Sisters.” He has worked on films, most notably “One Fine Day” with Michelle Pfeiffer; at HBO, he was a screenwriter. Also on his resume are numerous other playwrighting credits, including “Substance of Fire,” for which he also wrote the screen adaptation.

“Other Desert Cities,” the latest addition to JRB’s theater resume, is the third of his plays to be staged at Lincoln Center Theater.

Visit http://lct.org/showMain.htm?id=201 to learn more about “Other Desert Cities.”