STAGE REVIEW : ‘Zooman’ Examines Blacks’ Reaction to Violence

Charles Fuller’s “Zooman and the Sign” is being touted as something of a gang play, most likely to capitalize on the media-oiled hype surrounding the movie “Colors.” But this uneven drama’s focus is not so much on mean streets warfare as it is on the way the black community handles violence closer to home.

The 1981 play is being staged by the Orange County Black Actors Theatre and opens its regular run at the Curtis Theatre in Brea on Friday. Fuller introduces us to Zooman (Mellow Martin), a chilled-out hood and strutting sociopath who may or may not be a gang member (he does carry the emblematic “color” bandanna, but Fuller’s writing never makes his status clear).

We also meet the Tates, an ordinary black family trying to make do in a neighborhood where Zooman and his kind prey on bums and anyone else unfortunate enough to be out after dark. Zooman and the Tates become linked when Zooman accidentally kills their daughter during a shoot-out.

With his bleating boom box on his shoulder and his knife cutting the air, Zooman tells us at the play’s start that Ginny’s death doesn’t affect him one way or another. He proudly reminds us that he cuts people every day. It just don’t mean nothin’, man.

Switch from Zooman’s iced fury to the Tates’ somber living room: The family mourns Ginny, and the men dwell on street revenge; of going out and taking the turf apart until they find her killer. They doubt that the cops can help and, more troubling, they worry that their neighbors, frightened by reprisals and distrusting the police, will refuse to name the killer. Their fears realized, Ginny’s father (Warren Anthony Jordon raises a sign on his porch attacking the community’s cowardice, but nobody comes forward.

This is really the point of “Zooman.” Like Fuller’s stronger “A Soldier’s Play” (it became “A Soldier’s Story” as a movie), the undercurrent questions the responsibility blacks have to one another, their interactions with one another. In “A Soldier’s Play,” Fuller makes some unsettling accusations--black Sgt. Waters turns out to be as bigoted against the shuffling, poorly educated blacks as are the racist white officers who run the base. In “Zooman,” Fuller understands the fear behind the apathy, but he still criticizes that apathy for keeping the black neighborhood in a kind of social bondage.

“Zooman” came before “A Soldier’s Play” and it shows. The structure is fairly weak--having Zooman reveal his character by revolving monologues is not always graceful--the writing could be fresher and less overextended, and the violent ending has a contrived tidiness. Still, the ongoing attention, especially heightened in recent weeks, to the inner city’s problems gives “Zooman” a topical relevance. At times, it can be as disturbing as a night walk through Los Angeles’ Nickerson Gardens.

At the first preview Friday, the Black Actors Theatre production was weakened by various problems. Most are fixable. On the purely technical side, sound and lighting cues were off all night, and Arnold Brumley’s set of the Tates’ home seemed unfinished. More important, Patrick J. Ferrnell’s and Adleane Hunter’s direction had sluggish patches, and the acting was up and down.

Regardless of these slips, the show did have its forceful moments, many owed to Martin. His portrayal is raw and untutored, a portrait full of angry attitudes and ghetto mannerisms. There’s nothing sophisticated here--Martin is a self-proclaimed ex-gang member recently turned actor and the inexperience comes out--but there is also a dynamic that can’t be avoided. Simply put, he’s downright scary.

Jordon was more often than not believable as the father whose powerlessness turns into rage, as was Samuel McCorvey as his short-fused brother. Robyn Hastings gathers several moving moments from the mother, revealing her paralyzing grief, but the portrayal flattens out in the second act. After her sorrow, the character needs more exploration.

The same applies to the stage and the issue of gangs. Fuller’s “Zooman” bumps into the turmoil and pain that is the result, but only glancingly. A surer, less tangential play must be out there somewhere.

“ZOOMAN AND THE SIGN”

An Orange County Black Actors Theatre production of Charles Fuller’s drama. Directed by Patrick J. Ferrnell and Adleane Hunter. With Mellow Martin, Robyn Hastings, Samuel McCorvey, Warren Anthony Jordon, Byron Allen, Bennie Patridge III, Amir Magonid, Curtis Thomas, Marcille V. Block and Beverly C. Watson Chandler. Set by Arnold Brumley. Costumes by Wendell Carmichael and Clarrissa Pettijohn. Lighting by J. Terry Smith. After Friday’s opening, it plays Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 and 7 p.m. through May 15 at the Curtis Theatre, 1 Civic Center Circle, Brea. Tickets: $15 to $18. (714) 990-7722 or (714) 667-7090.