Langston’s legacy

The Black Ensemble Theater continues its four-play season with My Brother Langston, written and directed by Rueben D. Echoles. The 90-minute play zooms into the life story of American poet Langston Hughes (Chris Taylor) with original dialogue, song, dance, and of course, readings of some of his most well-loved poems. 

My Brother LangstonThrough 9/18: Fri 7 PM, Sat 3 and 7 PM, Sun 3 PM, Black Ensemble Theater, 4450 N. Clark, 773-769-4451, blackensembletheater.org, $55

The acting in My Brother Langston is strong, especially from the supporting cast, as they take on the roles of numerous characters and figures in Langston’s life such as his stepbrother Gwyn (Nolan Robinson), fellow poet Countee Cullen (André Teamer), his Nana (De’Jah Jervai), and even Zora Neale Hurston (Reneisha Jenkins). The play’s inclusion of music from cherished Black artists such as Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington successfully pulls the audience into the complexity and thrill of the Harlem Renaissance, the era in which Hughes begins to make a name for himself as a poet. (Adam Sherrod leads the four-piece band.)

Various segments of the writer’s life are on the table—from his childhood, complex parental relationships, friendships, his sexuality, and terrifying encounters with racial violence and prejudice. Consistent throughout Hughes’s life experiences is his desire to be heard. His pen is his microphone—a point of connection with humanity at large, a vessel for the hopes and dreams of his fellow Black Americans. This intrinsic desire that Hughes holds is something that Echoles’s writing conveys well. 

This is a very good play and I have no doubt that audiences will enjoy it. My main critique is that I struggled to connect emotionally with the principal character. While I walked out of the theater knowing significantly more about various aspects of Hughes’s life, I kept asking myself: Who really was Langston Hughes? Perhaps that is too simple of a question for such a complex (yet beloved) figure.

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