"It Happened in Atlanta," Now at Karamu, Mines Love and Risk Both Personal and Professional

Twentieth reunions can tend to be hilarious, revealing and sometimes disturbing events for anyone at any age. And for the four people getting together 20 years after they met at the Freaknik festival, "Atlanta's most infamous street party," it's all that and more.

As written by local playwright Michael Oatman, It Happened in Atlanta looks at love and risk from the perspectives of two Black couples who have found success in their careers but perhaps not so much in their personal lives. While this world premiere production, now at Karamu House, takes a couple odd detours, Oatman proves masterful at fashioning dialogue that tickles and then occasionally cuts to the quick. And director Tony F. Sias keeps the pacing brisk while adding a couple musical interludes.

Allen and Dava are visiting Trajan and Reven, and it all starts out fine as they catch up with their careers as lawyers. Due to a stroke in recent years, Trajan transformed himself into a successful novelist and Allen has branched out, taking on the side-gig of pastor.

Amid some gentle jibes and joshing, they all settle into Trajan and Reven's modern, well-appointed home. Then they decide to relive their memories from Freaknik by passing around some professionally rolled doobies courtesy of Dava. Soon they are all moving and grooving to some soulful and sexy music.

But when that mellow moment passes, they all awaken in the light of their current situations, and that's when cracks appear and things get serious. Trajan talks about his book "The House of James" that dealt with his father's suicide, while Allen challenges them all to think about God in a different way. Soon, secrets are revealed involving relationships, sexual predilections, and more.

Playwright Oatman generates plenty of laughs with his frank and feisty dialogue, and all the actors work it quite well. Dyrell Barnett and Brandi Gipson turn Allen and Dava into a bit of an odd couple, since Allen is quite prim and self-contained while Dava is a free spirit, happy to cut loose as she washes her weed down with Black Jack. As Reven, Sydney Smith is strong as she deals with the flashpoint moods of her husband Trajan, played at a wry distance by Darelle Hill. As the actors come and go within the home, they find themselves in different combinations where chat and sometimes fume about their shared (ahem) interactions.

But there are a couple of off-putting digressions that hamper the momentum of the play. About halfway through, they all decide to play a pre-packaged dating game where they draw cards and ask each other edgy questions about themselves and their lives (ie. "What's your big turn-on?" or "What's the one thing you'd change about your partner?").

This scripting gambit jerks the play to a halt since the ensuing discussions are not generated through the interactions of the characters. It's as if, in the middle of Death of a Salesman, Linda drew a card from a pack of cards on the kitchen table and asked Willy about the biggest regret in his life.

At another time, pastor Allen shares one of the oldest God joke/anecdotes around, the one about a drowning man who pleads for God to save him while turning away a rowboat, a motorboat and a helicopter. After he drowns waiting for celestial salvation, he asks God why He didn't save him and God replies (oh hell, you know the punchline). This tired yarn, which has appeared in countless plays and movies over the decades, doesn't deserve the glorious featured-spotlight moment it is given by the director and/or playwright.

That said, most of the decisions made by Sias and Oatman are good ones, because you get a sense of how committed their four characters are to the people they live with and love, even when they aren't in between tokes.

It Happened in Atlanta
Through March 30 at Karamu House, 2355 E. 89 St., karamuhouse.org, 216-795-7070.

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