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ALL AMERICAN GIRLS Send This Review to a Friend
Writer/director Layon Gray says in a program note that he always wanted to write a mystery. The trouble is that he uses the wrong subject for one with “All American Girls.” The interesting thing about Gray’s new drama is the recollection of an all-Negro women’s baseball team during the World War II years when women’s teams came to the fore during a period when men went off to fight. By cheapening the concept with a sleazy murder mystery and cover-up, despite the affability of an excellent cast, the author detracts from what could be far more involving without the whodunit detraction.
As a result “All American Girls” is nowhere near as good as Gray”s “Black Angels Over Tuskegee,” a sensitive, powerful drama built around rediscovering the role of black airmen in World War II and now being performed in repertory with “All American Girls.” The new play fritters away what might have been a good opportunity for a more meaningful excavation.
This is not to say we don’t enjoy meeting the assortment of actresses as the women who gather to play ball in Chicago, especially Arlene A. McGruder as their tough, demanding Coach Hicks. But the locker room-style horsing around depicted comes across too much like sorority foolishness. The set-up involves a woman journalist investigating the coach’s disappearance, with flashbacks leading to what happened. The mixing of a cover-up to try not to tarnish the team and the coach’s complicity in such a bizarre scheme undercuts whatever positive values that Gray appears to be trying to illuminate while pursuing his dream of writing a mystery.
I have nothing but admiration for the cast that works hard to breathe life into the enterprise, including Daphnee Duplaix, Mari White, Setor E. Attipoe, Yasha Jackson, Ashley Jeffrey, Chantal Nchako. Catherine Peoples, Antoinette Robertson and Steve Brustein. At The Actors Temple Theatre, 339 West 47th Street. Phone: 212-239-6200.
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