Waitin' 2 End Hell

Presented by the National Black Touring Circuit in association with Parker's Place at the 47th Street Playhouse, 304 W. 47 St., NYC, May 30-June 20.

William A. Parker's 1998 play "Waitin' 2 End Hell" is a serious, closely observed work dealing with the psychological and sociological problems confronting both husbands and wives of a newly emerging black middle class. The focus is on the pathos of one particular male, a husband and father of a family whose working wife is moving into the higher echelons of a corporation. She is now making far more money than her husband, a parole officer, and the time-honored paradigm, in which the woman stayed home to mind the children and the male breadwinner was head of the family, dominating the woman, is ruptured. Indeed, this play argues that the black male's sexual prowess is threatened.

The action begins with a 12th-anniversary party for Dante (Marcus Naylor) and Diane (Trish McCall). Their friends, two unmarried couples, have gathered for the occasion, and as they play cards, remarks about relationships flow freely and the language is spirited and authentic. While the first act ripples with energy and trenchant observations expressed mostly by the men, the second, concentrating on the domestic life of Dante and Diane, slows the play to a crawl. Unbeknownst to Dante, Diane is having an affair with Mark, a light-skinned black man who is a corporate lawyer where she works.

The resolution to this marital problem comes suddenly and unconvincingly. Still, the playwright has clearly articulated how a vibrant economy has led to the new empowerment of black women in the job market, unexpectedly threatening male authority and destabilizing the family. Along the way, the four friends, who are in part a chorus, are wonderfully individualized, both in the writing and by the actors who play them with bravado: O.L. Duke, Elica Funatsu, Ron Scott, and Thyais Walsh. Eric McLendon is the corporate executive. The play is well-directed by the famed Woodie King, Jr., but one wonders if he asked for rewrites.