Courtesy of Claire Hlotyak
On February 7, a packed Palmer Auditorium hosted a little slice of the 1960s as The Acting Company presented August Wilson’s “Two Trains Running.” Connecticut College was the first stop on their national tour. Under a haze of blue lights sat an intricate set of a diner, complete with a jukebox tucked in the corner, and photos paying homage to the Hill District of Pittsburgh, the play’s setting and where playwright August Wilson (1945-2005) grew up. Wilson is best known for his 10 plays, referred to as the Century Cycle or Pittsburgh Cycle, in which he chronicles the African American experience throughout different decades in 20th-century America. He has received countless awards, including a Tony and a Pulitzer Prize for his 1985 play “Fences,” which was turned into a film in 2016 starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis. You may have also heard of his 1982 play “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” which deals with racial tensions in the music industry and was turned into a 2020 film starring Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman.
“Two Trains Running,” first performed in 1990, faces issues of urban renewal, gentrification, and eminent domain. It is the sixth play in the Century Cycle. One central pillar of the play focuses on Memphis, the owner of the diner where the show takes place. He sees his neighborhood changing before his eyes; the supermarket, drugstore, shoe store, doctor, and dentist are all gone, having been run out or bought out by developers. His diner, a staple in the community where each character spends most of their time, is set to be destroyed by the city. Memphis, played by The Acting Company’s Michael A. Shepherd, commands the stage. From his booming monologues about being paid what he is owed to his quiet moments of frustration with his customers, Memphis is a constant in this time of tumult and change.
However, no one person steals the show. Each actor presents their own moment of brilliance. Diana Coates is Risa, the diner’s only waitress, and the sole female character. She plays this harried role expertly, scurrying around the stage, filling up coffee mugs, cutting slices of pie, and facing the abrasiveness of her boss, Memphis. While she has fewer lines than most, she possesses a quiet resilience that sets her apart from the rambunctiousness of the customers she serves. While the men are mainly stationary in the diner, shouting for sugar to put in their coffee, she orbits around them in a carefully choreographed dance. Her movements are constant, mesmerizing, and beautiful in a way that often goes unnoticed.
Between scenes, the lights dim, and the diner is bathed in the soft glow of the jukebox. 60s jazz music and applause from the audience fill the space. The passage of time is subtle, but clear enough to understand that even as the days go by, the community in the diner remains unchanged and persistent.
Rounding out the seven-person cast is Wolf, who runs the neighborhood illegal gambling ring, West, the local undertaker who owns a majority of the neighborhood real estate and is trying to buy the diner, Sterling, who is recently released from prison, looking for work and constantly flirting with Risa, Holloway, who muses about life, injustice, and the alleged 322-year-old woman from whom he seeks advice, and Hambone, who lives on the street and has been repeating the same phrase for nine and a half years as a result of his fragile mental state. The characters genuinely feel at home in the space, a testament to the dedication of the entire cast and crew.
The Acting Company, who brings this show to life, was founded in 1972. Veteran actors share the stage with those just starting out as they perform professional theater nationwide. They are dedicated to helping young actors hone their craft while building a “discerning audience for the theater by playing exceptional productions in small towns and major cities.” The Wednesday before their show, company members visited my class called USA Plays and American Drama. Devin Brain, the Producing Director and Director for The Acting Company provided insight into the 54-year-old company. Unlike most other traveling shows, The Acting Company tours the country with one bus and one truck. They tour with a limited crew and adapt to the various theaters they perform in. At each stop, they make it a priority to interact with the community they are in, especially by engaging with students.
J’Laney Allen (who plays Wolf) and Robert Cornelius (who plays West) spoke to my class about the show, a career in theater, and the value of working with and learning from cast members of all ages. They emphasized that “Two Trains Running,” at its core, is about getting what is owed to you, whether that be justice, money, luck, or love. Cornelius highlighted the multifaceted nature of these characters—specifically West, who he stated is not the villain simply because of his wealth. Everything he has done has been out of necessity, and his humanity is in the diner, much like all the other characters.
I imagine I was not the only one leaving the theater in awe after a show of such magnitude. It does not matter if you are a theater connoisseur, a history buff, or anything in between: this show holds relevance for everyone, especially in this moment when we need a diversity of voices more than ever. “Two Trains Running” does not hit you across the head with metaphors or life lessons. It rises and falls in a way that all of our communities do. The cast moves in sync, and they hit their highs and lows in a breathtaking fashion. The two-and-a-half-hour show knows when to take a breath from the overlapping dialogue and electrified arguments. Stirling and Risa’s slow dance to “Take a Look” by Aretha Franklin allows the audience this breath, this calm.
“Two Trains Running” is not afraid to let vulnerability take center stage, nor will it sugarcoat life for the sake of its audience. In an argument with Stirling about the vitality of the Black Power Movement, Memphis delivers some of the show’s most poignant and truthful lines as he shouts, “Freedom is heavy. You got to put your shoulder to freedom. Put your shoulder to it and hope your back hold up. And if you around here looking for justice, you got a long wait.” These words seemed to echo around the theater as they echo in this country’s past and turbulent present, where we find ourselves desperate for answers. But there is no perfect happy ending, just an amalgamation of moments, joyous and full of grief, that color our lives. The best we can do is hold on to this, strap freedom to our backs, and run right at our future.
