Funerals can be comforting and unifying for family members. They can also be hotbeds for the airing of old grudges and long-untold family secrets.
All of the above occurs when the Jenkins and Mabry families come together to mourn their patriarch in Douglas Lyons’ Black family comedy “Chicken & Biscuits,” which Oceanside Theatre Company is presenting in its California premiere. The play opened Saturday at the Brooks Theater in downtown Oceanside.
The play debuted on Broadway in 2021. Since then, it has become among the most produced plays in America and Lyons has become a much-in-demand writer for stage and screen. “Chicken & Biscuits” kicks off OTC’s first season under new artistic director Kevin “Blax” Burroughs, who also directed the production.
In his director’s notes in the program, Burroughs describes Lyons’ play as a story written “by a Black artist for the Black community,” but the trials and tribulations of the characters in this 90-minute comedy are universal. There’s a wry humor and knowingness to the many Black cultural, music, religious and racial references in the play, but audiences of all ethnicities will connect with these characters and their struggles.
The play is named after the favorite meal of the late church pastor Bernard Jenkins, whose funeral day has arrived. Heading up the holy festivities are his daughter, the conservative and often-disapproving Baneatta Mabry and her longtime husband, Reginald, who has nervously assumed leadership of the family church. Joining the Mabrys at the service are their two adult children, seemingly directionless daughter Simone, and upbeat son Kenny, a New York stage actor who arrives with his anxious White boyfriend Logan. And arriving from Atlanta is Baneatta’s self-adoring younger sister Beverly, who brings along her teen daughter La’Trice, an aspiring rapper.
Durwood Murray and Kimberly King in Oceanside Theatre Company’s “Chicken & Biscuits.”
(Courtesy of Esteban Marin)
Tensions flare between the long-estranged Baneatta and Beverly, and Baneatta’s cold rejection of her son’s gay relationship is potent. But once the high-energy and wacky funeral service gets under way, the family begins to draw strength in unity and many touching, conciliatory speeches are made. Then an uninvited guest shows up at the funeral with a secret known only to Baneatta and the story takes a swift turn.
Kimberly King and Durwood Murray lead the cast as Baneatta and Reginald Mabry, who share a tender, lived-in warmth as the long-loving couple, and Murray’s high-stepping sermon is one of the funniest moments in the play. As the extroverted Beverly, Taylor Renee Henderson hilariously electrifies the play, stealing every scene she’s in. Kiara Hudlin has an understated grace as Simone; Allyce Calloway has the requisite snark and sass you’d expect from 15-year-old La’Trice. And Jacob James and Marley Bauer balance each others’ energy as Kenny and Logan. Michael Amira Temple completes the cast as the funeral’s surprise guest.
Andre Buck Jr. designed sound and created original music for the play. Emily Carter designed costumes. Reiko Huffman designed the church scenery and Mashun Tucker designed lighting.
Some of the plot threads in “Chicken & Biscuits” are clichéd, and not all of the jokes land, but there are also some wonderful monologues and heartfelt family moments.
‘Chicken & Biscuits’
When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Through March 24
Where: Oceanside Theatre Co. at the Brooks Theater, 217 N. Coast Highway, Oceanside
Tickets: $45
Phone: (760) 433-8900
Online: oceansidetheatre.org