Terry Guest Intertwines Black History & Growing Up, A Saga

by Kheven Lee LaGrone

“The Magnolia Ballet” tells a part of American history through the eyes of a Black gay teenager finding himself inside his Southern roots. It’s a moving 21st century tale about the “tough love” between a father and his son.

By incorporating his Southern origins into “Ballet,” Director AeJay Antonis Marquis successfully brings to life the story of a Black father and son’s love overcoming homophobia and racism in rural Georgia.

“Ballet” flows with singing and choreography, from jazz to blues to R&B. Marquis uses music and video to take us to the lush and sensuous Georgia marshes. Its solitude and serenity belie the memories of several generations of Black Mitchells. More memories will be made. In the opening, 17-year-old Ezekiel Mitchell VI (sympathetic Jaiden Griffen) called “Z,” reflects:

My father isn’t affectionate.
My father isn’t affectionate because his father wasn’t affectionate
And his father wasn’t affectionate because it was unsafe to be affectionate, soft, malleable . . .
It was dangerous to need to be squeezed tight.
I need to be squeezed tight.

Z longs for affection from his father, Ezekiel Mitchell V (powerful Drew Watkins), but his father offers him only “tough love.”

Mitchell V avoids hugging his son or even sitting too closely. It would be easy to assume that Z’s father is just being homophobic, but there’s a bigger reason. Growing up in Georgia, he knew that a Black man had to fight and be tough. He tries to teach his son to fight and be a tough Black man. But Z is a lover, not a fighter.

Handsome and moody, Mitchell V’s own toughness has a vulnerability. When he asks his son a “dangerous question,” Z hesitates to answer. His father pleads, “Don’t start lying to me Ezekiel. We don’t lie to each other. . .  You gon break my heart if you start lying to me.” The bond of their strong relationship is at risk. The truth could be bad, but the lying would be worse.

In a spoof on Gone with the Wind, Jaiden Griffen’s Scarlett O’Hara stops the show.

We soon find out that Z’s white friend Danny Mitchell (Nicholas Rene Rodriguez) is also his secret lover. As the mercurial Danny, Rodriguez convincingly covers a wide range of emotions. As they talk about their family history, Z remembers how Danny’s ancestors helped oppress his ancestors.

When Danny’s father comes home, we see the contrast between his fathering style and Mitchell V’s fathering style. As white men, Danny and his father feel safe enough to express affection to each other. They wrestle and joke and hug. They even say, “I love you,” while Z watches enviously.

But a father’s love is a father’s love. Watkins plays both the white father and the Black father brilliantly. He becomes the “cool” TV dad we all wanted. But a father teaches his son what he’s been taught. Both fathers teach their sons to fear being gay. The rampant homophobia breaks out into fiery scenes pitting fathers against sons and boyfriends against each other.

Z searches his family history as he tries to find himself. It connects him even more to his father and his father’s father. “Everything in this moldy old shed is a reflection of me!” he exclaims as he goes through his grandparents’ old things.

Devin A. Cunningham plays Apparition, a shapeshifting ancestor, who guides Z through his history. Cunningham wisely plays this part low-key, to inform, not distract from, the action. He shape shifts convincingly, playing several spirit characters as he riffs through decades of American history with comic flair.

But in “Ballet,” the family history rambles. It overshadows the heart-warming journey of a Black father-son love.

“The Magnolia Ballet” by Terry Guest, directed by Aejay Antonis Marquis, scenic design by Imani Wilson. costumes by Corrida Godbold, sound by Jules Indelicato, and lighting by Michael D. Combs, at Shotgun Players, Berkeley. Info: shotgunplayers.org – to August 10, 2025. Video On Demand to Sept. 6, 2025.

Cast: Jaiden Griffin, Drew Watkins, Nicholas Rene Rodruiguez, and Devin A. Cunningham.

Banner photo: Drew Watkins & Jaiden Griffen. Photos: Robbie Sweeny