Patricia Milton Strips the Veneer from Precious Antiques

by Teri Piccolo & Tracy Allen

First produced in Berkeley in 2018, “Bamboozled,” a fantastic comedy-mystery by local playwright Patricia Milton, comes to life with wit and humor under the direction of Terrence Tyrie Ivory. Four skillful actors portray sassy, driven women in a tale of embezzled Civil War heirlooms, Bible theft, and culture clashes.

The action unfolds in an authentic-looking lawyer’s office in Collierville, Tennessee. We hear loud noises from a nearby park, where an angry Ku Klux Klan mob is rioting to stop the removal of a statue of a Confederate hero from his pedestal. They chant a pre-MAGA slogan: “The South will rise again!” Prophetic words.

The female protagonists manipulate the truth and purposely stretch words, as they try to bring change or stop change in Southern life. Each actor uses untruths to justify their actions, as they make their way in our profit-driven world. Antiques and heirlooms become crucial symbols in the women’s search for identity.  

Three actors are involved in the first act: Abby (Amirah LaForcarde), a young, intelligent Black woman, who is accused of under-appraising civil war artifacts at $60,000. She is on trial for conspiring to sell the antiques for a million dollars.  Later, theft of a family Bible is added to the accusations against her.

Abby comes from California to Tennessee to find her enslaved great-great-grandmother’s “roots.” Her two defenders are Rochelle (Linda Scaparotti), a white, gay, ambitious lawyer, and Rochelle’s savvy assistant, Savannah (Ashley Jaye) who is Black, gay, and brilliant. The two legal minds spar with wit, comedy, and sharp insights.

The three women step in and out of the office to tell their “facts.” Abby says she’s been bamboozled and blames her no-good ex-boyfriend, the nephew of the woman being embezzled.  Did she do wrong for love? For retribution?  Her lawyer Rochelle coyly seems to believe in Abby’s innocence and advises her not to settle.

But legal assistant Savannah see through Rochelle’s ploy, and strongly encourages Abby to settle. As a Black woman, Abby will never get a fair trial in Collierville, that’s clear. Savannah says she hates Confederate antiques because of the segregationist worldview they represent. She relates her own court experience with discrimination and believes she was disbarred for being gay and Black.

In the second act, sparks fly and thicken to flames when the fourth woman, the bigoted, wealthy southern belle Opal Anne (Laura Martin Chapin) enters the scene. With surprising twists and turns, Opal Anne accuses Abby of bamboozling her out of the heirlooms. Her business is Civil War re-enactments. Why has Opal Anne dropped the charges against her nephew? A comedy delight in Blue and Grey, “Bamboozled” exposes the lies we live by, even now.

Playwright Patricia Milton humorously shows how these women twist basic truths, vilify their “enemies,” and glorify wrongdoers. Out of those mingled threads, Milton conjures thought-provoking ideas, delivered with delightful comic flourishes. We highly recommend “Bamboozled” for fun and focus in these troubled times.

 

“Bamboozled” by Patricia Milton, directed by Terrence Tyrie Ivory, at Benicia Theatre Group, Benicia, California. Info: beniciatheatregroup.org – to May 11, 2025.

Cast: Amirah LaForcarde, Ashley Jaye, Linda Scaparotti, and Laura Martin Chapin.

Banner photo: Cast of “Bamboozled.” Michael Van Auken Photography