TENz Editor-At-Large Chad g. takes in the silent genius of serpentwithfeet’s new offering,
Fresh off the heels of black/queer-centered plays “A Strange Loop” and “Fat Ham” (one of my personal favorites from 2022), talent multi-hyphenate serpentwithfeet offers us “Heart of Brick”, a dance/drama fusion that ruminates on the magic that occurs when two Black men decide they want to love each other. Like his predecessors/contemporaries, Serpent does not shy away from straightforward and authentic storytelling, staying true to the ethos of Black Queer life while also managing to deliver uniquely flawed characters that draw the audience in for a mesmerizing one-act piece with no intermission.
Yes, it’s yet another look into the intricacies of “Butch Queen Love”, honey.- and one that most of us know all-too-well but too few of us covet. At the outset, we meet serpentwithfeet as he goes through a familiar nightlife routine; the “pregame” to get ginned up to actually go to the club, the hesitancy of deciding whether or not to go because you might actually run into an ex that you may or may not be over, the old cat-and-mouse game of connecting with a cute boy once you actually get to the club, the one-night stand with the cute boy that turns out to be the one you could repeat for a month of Sundays and a few decades (in this case, the charismatic cutie “Brick”- played perfectly by the sinewy, intoxicating Dylan M. Contreras). We’ve all been there. Picture it: any given Thursday before stepping out to “MeatFest” at Club Lambda, or getting our ‘fit right to walk into Trappy Hour at 4 West Lounge, or mentally girding our loins before we step foot into “Some Nice Things” at Madame X or “The Stimulation Ball” at HUSH on a Sunday. Yeah, we’ve all been there.
Rolling up to the club introduces us to the array or personalities and protagonists that make this project work, but it’s the “12th day of a one-night-stand” between Serpentwithfeet and Brick where the production really finds his sea legs. The storyline deepens as all of the familiar emotions- the egomaniacal machinations, insecurities, the hearsay, the shady acquaintances, and the like- take form. Here we root for our intrepid romantic as he must navigate this labyrinth of “tea” and trap doors to find his way to the other side- despite his fears of rejection and inadequacy. Like I said, we’ve all been there (ok, MOST of “us” have…)
serpentwithfeet’s soothing (and at times falsetto) voice engages the audience not with spoken monologues but with his internal dialogues set to melody. The decision to have the actors not “speak” lines but enact movement to pre-recorded text (produced by Donte Collins) feels fresh and bold for this genre. What seems like contemporaneous choreography (because there is some beautiful interpretive dancing here) is really an ingenious way to weave a tightly-knit storyline, thanks in large part to Raja Feather Kelly’s decision to engineer movement as opposed to teaching eight-counts.
There are two additional characters not listed in the Playbill that deserve very honorable mentions: the staging and the costuming- both of which utilize, according to Kelly, the smallest of details to elicit the largest of impact. Carlos Soto’s minimalistic yet very directional set design adds yet another element of intelligent yet creative decision-making that keeps the production visually appealing without too many moving parts. A flash of hot pink halogen, the sheerest of curtains that offer dreamy, scrim-like qualities to the story. An atypical neon sign of a cocktail glass hung at precisely the right spot and angle to let the audience know we are entering the club. Smallest of detail, largest of impact. Same with the costume design. Sequin fabric adorn apparition-like dancers as well as serpentwithfeet’s pants, and this fabric choice makes several appearances as both the characters and the plot thickens. Who knew that one could utilize such a familiar fabric as sequin to move the plot along while also illuminating the Black Queer experience to both its brightest and most ethereal moments? Julio Delgado really thought about how to visually maximize what (or who) should “shine” at various plot points throughout the story. Again, the smallest of details, the largest of impact.
