Odyssey Theatre Ensemble presents ‘Sunset Baby’

LOS ANGELES - March 19, 2015 - PRLog -- A secret cache of letters brings together a former Black Power leader, his estranged daughter and her drug-dealing boyfriend in a powerful story of family and activism, revolution and estrangement. An energized, vibrant look at the point where the personal and political collide from a rapidly rising star, playwright Dominique Morisseau.

Nina is a fiercely independent hustler and her boyfriend, Damon, is a thug, but they both are dead set on breaking from this life and finding a way out. When Kenyatta, a former Black Liberation leader and Nina’s estranged father, shows up on her doorstep hoping to reunite and reconcile the past, Nina’s life plan is thrown askew.

“The play explores the gaps between generations, movements and the effect that absent fathers have on their young daughters,” said Morisseau. “That dynamic is so rarely examined on the stage: we usually talk about the effect it has on young black boys, but what about our girls?”

“When Kenyatta reaches out to Nina shortly after her mother’s passing, he has high hopes of burying the wounds of the past,” she explained. “What he finds instead is a vengeful daughter who embodies everything contrary to the movement he fought in.”

In his New York Times review of the Labyrinth Theatre production, Ben Brantley called Sunset Baby “a smart and bracing new play about two generations of urban outlaws struggling to stay afloat in the lower depths… Without ever sounding merely expositional on the one hand or dialectical on the other, the conversation covers vast acres of social and political ground. Among the subjects: the parallels between criminal acts in the name of revolutionary change and plain old street crime; the changing and unchanging face of paternal absenteeism; and the toll on trust — and the possibility of love — taken by a culture of survival.”

Performances of Sunset Baby take place on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.and Sundays at 2 p.m.,April 18 through June 7, except Sunday,April 19 which will be at 5 p.m. with no 2 p.m. matinee. Additional weeknight performances are scheduled on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on May 6 and May 27; and on Thursdays at 8 p.m. on April 30, May 14, May 21 and June 4. Tickets are $30 on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and $34.99 on Saturdays and Sundays. There will be three pay-what-you-can (minimum $10) performances on Friday, April 24; Wednesday, May 6; and Wednesday, May 27.The third Friday of every month is wine night at the Odyssey: enjoy complimentary wine and snacks and mingle with the cast after the show. The Odyssey Theatre is located at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles, 90025. For reservations and information, call (310) 477-2055 or go to www.OdysseyTheatre.com.