New Jersey Stage logo
New Jersey Stage Menu


?>

 

Bad Start, Powerful Finish in Superb World Premiere


By Bruce Chadwick

originally published: 07/08/2022


I thought only Superman, with his X Ray vision, could see two plays at the same time. I was wrong. The audiences at the Unicorn Theater, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires, can do it, too. All anyone needs to do is see the world premier play B.R.O.K.E.N CODE / B.I.R.D SWITCHING, by Tara Wilson Noth.

I was befuddled. The first act was uncertain, confusing, baffling. What is the word I am searching for? Oh, yes. The word is dreadful. The second act, though, was a waterfall of power, a huge quiet lagoon of pleasure – one hell of a debut play.

In the first act, none of the stories or characters were connected. A couple – black and white – are fighting, but you don’t really know why. Another story in the opening act is that of black woman lawyer convinced her young black client is innocent of a murder charge. She won’t let go of her belief, even though the client admits to killing someone. What does one story have to do with another and where is either going to go? I was pretty lost.

The second act of the play is just brilliant. Everything does tie together and we have the turbulent arrival of a photographer, who is determined to show the ”killer’s” life through photographs. The idea is that no one sees it because the “killer” is black and gets lost in both the justice system and society.

The play has a lot (a lot) of sex, betrayals, racism and the battle of African-Americans in a justice system that the playwright suggests is against them.




Promote your shows at New Jersey Stage! Click here for info



So, where is all this going?

You don’t find out until that last moments, and he last ten seconds are, well, gripping.

The play gets really dazzling at the end of the first act, when the photographer jumps into bed with black lawyer Olivia, the woman fighting with her white husband. The photographer tries to convince her he is trying to find her soul, show her the right path in her life. Oh, come on! Anyway, she buys his story.

Noth has written an intriguing play – lot of sharp turns in the plot, but what makes this play so powerful is the deep characters she has created and the way the actors portray them – stage cannonfire.

Olivia is older than her white husband and they battle each other ferociously. The playwright hits a lot of high notes her and explains, as we all know, that tragedy often hits good people like Olivia and her husband. Why does she keep thinking it is only hitting her? The husband gets it, but why doesn’t she?

She runs off with the photographer, the chatty and persuasive Olen Porter, to assuage her grief and her problems with her husband, well played by Torsten Johnson. The husband is rather uninteresting until the end of the play, when his emotions change to volcanic.

DeAnna Supplee is nothing short of magnificent as Olivia. The actress takes on the role and transforms herself into the lawyer, leaving no stone unturned. She is sometimes happy, sometimes sad ad always titanic  in her portrayal.




Promote your shows at New Jersey Stage! Click here for info



Justin Sturgis plays the “killer,” Deshawn Payne, wonderfully. Did he do it? Is he taking the rap for someone else.? People want to free themselves of a wrongful charge, but he seems to wrap his arms around it. People want to free themselves of a wrongful charge, but he seems to wrap his arms around it. He is often stern and often ready to collapse.

Others in this fine cast are Almeria Campbell, Rebecca Hargrove and Jahi Kearse (photographer).

Three cheers for director Kimille Howard. This is a play that could fall apart at any moment if she was not in charge. She keeps it moving and, at the same time, keeps you moving with her. This might have been a trite TV crime show (Law and Order?), but she raises it to another level.

She and playwright Noth have also done a fine job with race in the play. They don’t keep hitting you over the head with it, and that would have been easy to do. African Americans have always been short changed by the justice system (some five times as many of them are in jail as whites even though they make up only 10% of the population). We all know that is a problem of some kind and want to change it, but we don’t need a playwright to beat us with it. Noth does not but makes her point, and strongly.

The play’s title? I was up half the night trying to figure it out – unsuccessfully. When the play comes to a theater anywhere near you, though, please see it.

Two final words to describe it- whoa, baby.

B.R.O.K.E.N code B.I.R.D switching ran at The Unicorn Theatre (6 East Street in Stockbridge, MA) from June 25 to July 9.

PHOTOS BY JACEY RAE RUSSELL



Bruce Chadwick worked for 23 years as an entertainment writer/critic for the New York Daily News. Later, he served as the arts and entertainment critic for the History News Network, a national online weekly magazine. Chadwick holds a Ph. D in History and Cultural Studies from Rutgers University. He has written 31 books on U.S. history and has lectured on history and culture around the world. He is a history professor at New Jersey City University.

EVENT PREVIEWS

Dragonfly

Dragonfly Multicultural Arts Center presents Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" in Metuchen and Plainfield

(METUCHEN, NJ) -- Not long after a revival of Thornton Wilder's play Our Town closed on Broadway, New Jersey audiences will have the chance to see the classic drama close to home. Dragonfly Multicultural Arts Center will present the classic play in both Metuchen and Plainfield in July. Directed by Dragonfly's Artistic Director Catherine LaMoreaux, Our Town invites audiences into the heart of small-town America through the everyday lives of the residents of Grover's Corners, New Hampshire.



Gateway

Gateway Playhouse to Showcase a Weekend full of One Acts

(SOMERS POINT, NJ) -- Gateway Playhouse will host "Party of One (Acts)" from July 11-13, 2025. The one-act plays are a series of vignettes taken from Tracy Wells' A Trip to the Moon, with each story set during the Summer of '69, specifically around the moon landing.



Light

Light Opera of New Jersey presents "The Pirates of Penzance"

(BASKING RIDGE, NJ) -- Light Opera of New Jersey presents The Pirates of Penzance at the Sieminski Theater July 12-13, 2025. They have assembled a brilliant cast ready to bring you a sensitive-yet-duty-bound pirate apprentice, a gaggle of gloriously melodramatic daughters, a Major-General who can out-patter anyone, and a police force whose bravery is inversely proportional to the size of their mustaches.



A

A New Musical, "Rocky Bumps," to Have Staged Reading in Haddonfield

(HADDONFIELD, NJ) -- An original musical, Rocky Bumps, will hold a staged reading on Sunday, July 13, 2025 at the Haddonfield Theater Arts Center Studio. The musical is a coming-of-age tale steeped in romance, risk, and retro charm. The reading begins at at 2:00pm.



Players

Players Guild of Leonia to Hold Auditions for "Where The Time Goes"

​​​​​​​(LEONIA, NJ) -- The Players Guild of Leonia will hold auditions for Where The Time Goes on Tuesday, July 15 and Wednesday, July 16, 2025 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm each night at their theater. This is a World Premiere musical featuring the iconic songs of The Baby Boomer Generation.



FEATURED EVENTS

ART | COMEDY | DANCE | FILM | MUSIC | THEATRE | COMMUNITY

To narrow results by date range, categories,
or region of New Jersey
click here for our advanced search.


The

The MAC players at the Middletown Arts Center present "Hairspray"

Sunday, July 13, 2025 @ 2:00pm
Middletown Arts Center
36 Church Street, Middletown, NJ 07748
category: theatre


 

The

The Wizard of Oz

Sunday, July 13, 2025 @ 3:00pm
Algonquin Arts Theatre
60 Abe Voorhees, Manasquan, NJ 08736
category: theatre


 

A

A Broadway Tour of America

Sunday, July 13, 2025 @ 2:00pm
Grunin Center - Black Box Theater
1 College Drive, Toms River, NJ 08754
category: theatre


 

Vivid

Vivid Summer Solos: My Name is Lucy Barton

Wednesday, July 16, 2025 @ 6:30pm
Visual Arts Center of New Jersey
68 Elm Street, Summit, NJ 07901
category: theatre


 

The

The Mallard

Thursday, July 17, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Premiere Stages - Bauer Boucher Theatre Center
1000 Morris Avenue, Union, NJ 07083
category: theatre