The story takes place in a once-promising, now blighted, Philadelphia neighborhood that has become a haven for drug dealers and gang members. This deterioration takes a tragic turn when 12-year old Jinny Tate is shot and killed while sitting on her front porch. The killer is a young hoodlum called Zooman (chillingly portrayed by Amari Cheatom). At first Zooman explains the girl simply got in the way during a gun battle, but later proclaims the shooting was deliberate.
While Zooman shrugs off what he's done as simply another day on the streets, the Tates are nearly torn asunder. Jinny's older bother Victor (Jamal Mallory-McCree), a teenager, gets a gun from a friend (W. Tre Davis) and wants to go after her killers, but is stopped by his mother Rachel (Rosalyn Coleman) who is determined no one else in her family will die. She also prevents her estranged husband Reuben (Evan Parke), as well as her uncle Emmett (Ron Canada) from administering their own brand of justice.
However the outlet for the family's anger takes a new direction when a neighbor (Peter Jay Fernandez) comes by to offer his sympathies and mentions that no one on the block claims to have seen the shooting, despite the fact many of them are known for sitting outside all day.
Needing to do something, yet bound by a promise to Rachel not to take the law into his own hands, Reuben has a sign made up saying that the killers of his daughters are walking free because their neighbors would not identify them. He then hangs the sign on the family's front door.
It's not long before the sign begins to get some attention—not only from the media, but also from the community, many of whom think the family is causing trouble by not letting things get back to "normal." Soon the family begins receiving angry telephone calls and are having rocks hurled through their windows. Zooman meanwhile, furious at the Tates for keeping this issue alive, decides to end things once and for all, setting the stage for a potentially deadly showdown.
While the story is eventually brought to a conclusion, the underlying questions the play raises are not: Can one afford to report a crime to the police if it places them and their loved ones in danger? How can a society, which has had first-hand experience of racism by the authorities, learn to trust them? How much is the criminal to blame when all he's ever known is a world of drugs, violence, and absentee parents? And when does personal responsibility enter into the mix? That these issues are still being debated today make the play seem all the more timely.
Parke is excellent as Reuben, a man who wants to avenge his child's murder, but at the same time he knows violence is not the answer. In response to this dilemma, he comes up with a unique solution— to hopefully shame people into coming forward, while at the same time feel like he's making a difference. One gets to see the strength of these convictions when he resists the urging of his neighbors, friends, and eventually his family, to take the sign down.
Coleman is stoically strong as Rachel, who on one level wants her daughter's killers punished, yet is also concerned about the family's safety and security. She is also angry that Reuben, Victor, and Emmett's need for vengeance is preventing them all from properly mourning the loss of Jinny.
As Zooman, Cheatom paints a devastating picture of a teenage killer, one with seemingly no regret or remorse. Yet as the story goes on, one begins to see past the bravado and observe the increasing desperation of someone who knows his time is running out. However, when the finale comes, it does so with several codas, announcing that events depicted haven't quite reached the end.
Stephen McKinley Henderson's direction works well, keeping the action moving nicely and continually building the tension, not only keeping the audience on the edge of their seats, but also forcing them to ask what would they do in the situation depicted.
Sets by Shaun Motley are fine, costumes by Katherine Roth and lighting by Matthew Frey work well. As does the sound design by Robert Kaplowitz.
Also in the cast are Lynda Gravatt and Portia.
Zooman and the Sign
Signature Theatre Company
555 West 42nd Street
Tickets: 212-244-7529 or www.signaturetheatre.org
Running time: Approximately two hours
Closes: April 26
Judd Hollander is the New York correspondent for the London publication The Stage.
