Star Finch’s Bold Banquet Bursts a Family’s Bubble

by Barry David Horwitz

Watching Margo Hall dictating Josephine’s wishes and plans into a laptop throws open a window into a mother’s soul. Hall’s Josephine is delightful and decisive. Hall persuades us that this brilliant woman may finally escape her lifelong Mommy-trap.

Josephine has had enough of her two clinging, complaining adult daughters—not to mention a brother and a nephew who remain clueless. On her 60^th birthday, Black matriarch Josephine emerges in thrilling immediacy by Hall’s potent art.

And Josephine—named after Josephine Baker—is rehearsing an announcement she wants to make over dinner. Her prepared lines are hilarious and revealing. Every word Hall utters–from Star Finch’s witty and beautiful script–keeps us rapt and fascinated. And Director Ellen Sebastien Chang keeps the action moving with deft staging and focus.

Hall makes every phrase an awakening. She sweeps us into Josephine’s exhaustion with her daughters who take years of mothering for granted. They don’t want their Mom to change—just to remain “on the shelf,” unchanging and waiting.

Designer Tanya Orellana’s comfy, modern living room balances a hectic family scene for a Black family in the Bay Area. The ceiling reflects threatening projections that keep the family off balance, as a storm gathers.

The superbly talented cast unveils family conflict in a super-charged clash of personalities. Elder daughter Lexx, a whip smart social justice PhD candidate (intense Britney Frazier) is a “soft-butch doctoral student, always in control.” Frazier’s Lexx hides her anger, challenging the rest of the family, brilliantly.

Meanwhile sister Amaya (sparkling Jasmine Milan Williams) looks like she just stepped out of Vogue in a bright orange suit. Amaya, younger and more sensitive, is secretly on fire for a new boyfriend. As Amaya, Williams evokes soap opera fantasy with flair and conviction.

Finch has made her women complex and mystifying, while the men in the family are bewildered. Uncle Tony (delightful Donald E. Lacy, Jr.) stumbles into one misstep after another—with hilarious riffs exposing his comic confusion. And his son, Jayden (engaging Tre’Vonne Bell) is still a flirty DJ, indulging himself. All together they make a familiar, down-to-earth family—revealing vanities, prejudices, and toxic individualism.

Visiting Josephine—her dinner, her family, her dreams—leads us to consider the people we depend on. Do we give them room to be people on their own—with dreams and hopes that differ from ours?

The realistic family drama and the electrical storm that plunges the feast into darkness, stands as a humorous and surreal reminder that even Moms are people, that we must give our friends and family room to change and grow. Josephine needs to flee for an adventure in New Mexico—and it’s high time!

Letting go may lead to strange, new territory. Josephine’s final feast rocks us out of a selfish stupor. The lyrical Star Finch takes us on a journey to greater empathy. The impeccable Margot Hall steers us to port. Every moment a joy.

“Josephine’s Feast” by Star Finch, directed by Ellen Sebastian Chang, scenic design by Tanya Orellana, lighting design by Russell Champa, by Magic Theatre, San Francisco. Info: MagicTheatre.org – to August 20, 2023.

Cast: Tierra Allen, Tre’Vonne Bell, Britney Frazier, Margo Hall, Donald E. Lacy, Jr., and Jasmine Milan Williams.

Banner photo: Jasmine Milan Williams, Margo Hall, & Tre’Vonne Bell. Photos by Jay Yamada