“Everything we did was an adventure,” recalls playwright Charlayne Woodard of youthful days in the company of her aunt Beneatha, the subject of the one-woman show “Neat,” the B Street Theatre’s latest can’t-miss production now playing through Oct. 2.
Featuring a brightly revelatory, triple-threat performance by Danielle Moné Truitt, “Neat” is itself a wonderful adventure that accomplishes that rare feat of making a very personal memoir (set in a very specific place and time), accessible and relatable to everyone.
But what makes the B Street’s production of “Neat” an eyes-wide-open entertainment, is Truitt’s ability to seamlessly transform herself from one character to another as she tells Woodard’s story from the age of 8 through her high school years as a young woman discovering her black heritage in 1960s upstate New York.
Whether adopting the persona of her great-grandmother, whose inability to read resulted in the accidental poisoning of the baby Neat and a developmental disability that would forever affect her life and those around her, or putting on the puffed-up attitude of a teenage bad boy, Truitt imbues Woodard and her “characters” with soul-touching nuances that has one laughing one moment, and filled with outrage the next.
The relationship between Woodard and Neat really begins when the woman-child Neat becomes a favorite playmate of Woodard and her sister during visits to their grandparents’ home in rural Georgia.
Their early adventures – spurred on by her aunt’s fearlessness – evoke some of the emotions on display in Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory,” in which a young Capote-inspired young boy bonds with an eccentric, “childlike” older cousin.
Years later, when Woodard’s grandfather dies, it’s an older and decidedly different girl who greets her aunt and grandmother when they arrive in Albany to live.
Now a middle-schooler surrounded by Jewish classmates, Woodard longs to fit in and, in a series of hilarious recollections, tries everything to gain acceptance – from recruiting her mother to create an attention-getting “flip” hairdo to learning Hebrew.
So when Neat arrives, in her ill-fitting “country” clothes, and announces “I’m going to follow you everywhere,” the teenage Woodard cringes.
But Woodard’s maternal instincts toward her sweet and loving aunt Neat soon return, and in between lessons on Northern lingo (“Don’t say ‘hey,’ we say, ‘hi.’”) and their mutual discovery of the simple joy of catching snowflakes on the tongue, Woodard shares her newfound discovery of black culture and social awareness.
Things take a darker turn in act two, but Woodard’s script maintains a welcome balance of poignancy, humor and wonder – the latter being a hallmark of her aunt Neat.
Truitt, an L.A.-based B Street Theatre company member, absolutely brings alive each and every one of the more than 12 characters featured in Woodard’s adventure. Though too young to have been belting the Supremes as a teenager (the show is ostensibly set in present day), it’s easy enough to imagine this recollection being presented by a younger version of Woodard in 1990 rather than in 2010.
Well blocked, with Truitt giving due attention to every audience member surrounding the modified thrust stage, this is no static monologue, as director Buck Busfield has Truitt singing, dancing, twirling with joy and sometimes violently hitting the stage throughout the two-act’s 105 minutes.
The bare-bones set is highlighted by evocative lighting and a backdrop by Catherine Frye and Ron Madonia, with the mood further enhanced by a series of ‘60s tunes.
Like its two previous productions, “Love Child” and the currently playing main stage mounting of “Old Love,” “Neat” features a small cast (a solo turn is definitely small) playing multiple characters. Though Truitt may be alone up there, she definitely fills the B3 stage with life in a show that shouldn’t be missed.
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JUST THE FACTS
WHAT: The B Street Theatre's production of Charlayne Woodard's "Neat"
WHEN: "Neat" plays through Oct. 2: 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, and 8 p.m. Saturdays. Matinees are at 2 p.m. Sept. 9 and 23, and at 1 p.m. Sept. 5 and Sept. 12
WHERE: The B Street Theatre is at 2711 B St., Sacramento
WHO: Featuring Danielle Moné Truitt, directed by Buck Busfield, set design by Catherine Frye, lighting design by Ron Madonia
HOW MUCH: $18 to $30
INFO: Call (916) 443-5300, or go online at www.bstreettheatre.org
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