A winner of the Pulitzer Prize among other awards, Katori Hall is an inventive, accomplished playwright who creates a wide variety of works. The Mountaintop imaginatively witnesses Martin Luther King on the final night of his life. Our Lady of Kibeho depicts a village girl in Rwanda endure abuse for claiming to see the Virgin Mary. Hurt Village considers a troubled veteran’s return from Iraq to his family in a housing project in Memphis. The Pulitzer-winning The Hot Wing King is an affable dramedy about gay Black men dealing with their loved ones and a barbecue contest. Then there’s Hall’s brisk script for Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, which spent a year on Broadway and continues in productions elsewhere around the world. Obviously, Hall is a writer who does not repeat herself.
Originally staged by Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., in 2015, The Blood Quilt is Hall’s contemporary story about four sisters and their Black family’s legacy. Lincoln Center Theater now presents the play in its 299-seat Mitzi E. Newhouse space, where director Lileana Blain-Cruz’s production opened on Thursday.
[Read David Finkle’s ★★★★☆ review here.]
Shortly after their mother’s death, the four Jernigan sisters, ranging in age from late 20s to early 40s, gather at their ramshackle ancestral home situated on a bucolic island off the Georgia coast. The family has lived there since before the Civil War and a tradition among its women of every generation is the making of quilts. The sisters, who don’t entirely get along for various reasons, return for the weekend to craft together a quilt honoring their mom. Not incidentally, each sibling has a different father. Clementine (Crystal Dickinson), the eldest, remained at home on the island to care for her mother and connects spiritually with its mystical qualities. The big and blustering Gio (Adrienne C. Moore) is a cop going through a divorce and mad about it. Cassan (Susan Kelechi Watson) is an Army nurse whose soldier husband is overseas, and she brings their 15 year-old daughter Zambia (Mirirai) for the weekend. The last to arrive is Amber (Lauren E. Banks), the youngest sister and a chic, successful, West Coast lawyer, who is in trouble with the others for missing the funeral. Meanwhile a big spring storm threatens to hit the island.
The Blood Quilt is one of those tasty dramas where every so often the characters spill secrets that cause the audience to collectively croon a sort of oo-ing sound. Such a reaction occurs in varying degrees of audibility perhaps half a dozen times over the two hour and 40 minute course of this play. A major revelation is how mama did not pay real estate taxes for the last seven years. Can her daughters possibly raise a quarter of a million dollars to pay the debt? Will they lose the house? Meanwhile, the storm rumbles, tragic tales of enslaved ancestors arise, bad dads and happy times are recalled, mama’s last will and testament suddenly is produced and read to all, and the sisters confront each other over lingering resentments and new challenges. Oh, and they cut out fabric and stitch away and during their process chat about the significance of quilting and the histories that every quilt embodies.
Not a particularly subtle family drama, The Blood Quilt is overstuffed with content and its resolution seems a tad far-fetched in timing, frankly, but the playwright’s fine gift for natural conversation keeps things rolling along agreeably. If The Blood Quilt is not among Hall’s better plays, at least it is a pleasant work that provides good roles for actors. Observed at a preview last weekend, the production staged by Lileana Blain-Cruz had not completely flowered. The performances were all right, quite capable even, but that crucial emotional fusion that transforms actors into an ensemble, particularly when they’re depicting a family, had yet to happen. A climactic scene involving a ritual appeared more chaotic than meaningful.
Purples, blues, and greens predominate in the indoor/outdoor two-level setting designed by Adam Rigg to feature many beautiful quilts. Designer Montana Levi Blanco dresses everybody perhaps too nicely. The lighting designer Jiyoun Chang and sound designer Palmer Hefferan whip up a good enough storm, but a buzz from the dimmers becomes noticeable during quiet moments. If that technical issue cannot be resolved, one hopes that by now the performances seem better pieced together for The Blood Quilt.
The Blood Quilt opened November 21, 2024, at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater and runs through December 29. Tickets and information: lct.org
