“In the Upper Room” ends in much the way it begins. This set - with Rose’s and her granddaughter’s side-by-side bedrooms on risers and the family gathering spots on the first level – does so meaningfully. Still, it’s a challenge to make commanding use of the Denver Center’s in-the-round space (rechristened the Kilstrom Theatre). Given the play’s title, it’s no surprise that designer Efren Delgadillo’s set is itself a vivid character. (Adams VisCom, provided by the Denver Center) Janet (Sydney Cole Alexander) and husband John (Matthew Hancock) share a moment in Beaufield Berry’s “In the Upper Room” at the Denver Center. Thanks to a fine piece of stagecraft - and the playwright’s interest in stories surreal and magical - things get a little hot. One of Colorado’s few remaining dinner theaters may close if supporters can’t raise $2 millionĭenver’s historic Holiday Theater reopens in April with Chicano Batman showĬatch some rising stars this weekend at the Colorado New Play SummitĪll-in-one Mardi Gras bash, Egypt’s secrets, punk-rock art and more to do in Denver Masks, COVID vaccines will no longer be required for Broadway shows, Colorado Ballet, opera and more The playwright teases just how dark that spell might be when the girls disobey their grandmother and bring a Ouija board into the house to consult the spirits about Rose’s mysterious roots. Rose seems to hold everyone in the household under her thumb, if not a spell. Even so, they remain tightly bound as they try to make sense of and minimize their grandmother’s favoritism and inexplicable dislike. Vinson bring zest and pathos to the siblings who, although they look like their parents’ children, don’t resemble each other. They push back against Rose’s imperiousness and provide “In the Upper Room” with sly laughs. Sydney Cole Alexander is terrific as Janet, the wife and mother who balances being respectful of her mother-in-law with being fiercely protective of her daughters.Įqually protective are Janet’s sisters Jackie and Delores (played to warm and hilarious effect by Yvette Monique Clark and Monnae Michaell). Son John (played with upbeat vigor by Matthew Hancock) is a dancer, a strutter and an enthusiastic teller of tales. Rose’s husband, Eddie (Levy Lee Simon), is a hard-working, upright man, but even he harbors secrets. There are yarns to unspool and music on the hi-fi to cut a shag carpet to. Daniel’s fluid direction, the ensemble navigates the multilevel house and the play’s layers of revelation with grace, gravity and satisfying bites of playfulness. The answers - for there isn’t a simple one - make for witty and wise exploration of the idiosyncrasies and contradictions of colorism in the Black community.
She dotes on her light-skinned granddaughter, Yvette, and gives Josephine, Yvette’s darker sister, her shoddiest treatment. It isn’t age versus youth, so much as light versus dark. Not unlike a certain queen in the Brothers Grimm tale, something is eating at her. Vinson portray her granddaughters in “In the Upper Room” at the Denver Center. Rose (Chavez Ravine) makes obvious her preferences. As imposing as she is, she spends an inordinate amount of time in front of her vanity dresser. When she descends from the room of the play’s title, activity tends to grow hushed if not outright cease. Portrayed by Chavez Ravine, Rose has the haughty demeanor befitting a family matriarch, more intimidating than nurturing. It is her stifled scream as she rifles through a box of letters that kicks off playwright Beaufield Berry’s telling family drama about secrets and lies, generational trauma and multigenerational dramas.
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She’s more than a little bit prickly and knows how to make an entrance. And there’s plenty of sass and no small measure of hurt on display in the middle-class, Omaha, Neb., home where John and Janet Berry live with daughters Josephine and Yvette and John’s parents, Eddie and Rose, circa the mid-1970s.Īh, Rose, by any other name she would smell as … well, honestly Rose Berry does not uphold any of the well-worn sayings about the bud. For tickets and info, go to or call 30.Īfter all, to peek in on someone’s home is to see its inhabitants in their uncensored, often blemished glory, to bear witness to their messy selves. At the Kilstrom Theatre at the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex, 14th and Curtis.
Featuring Matthew Hancock, Monnae Michaell, Sydney Cole Alexander, Levy Lee Simon, Yvette Monique Clark, Chavez Ravine, Courtney A. “In the Upper Room.” Written by Beaufield Berry.
Review: "In the Upper Room" at Denver Center for Performing Arts Close Menu
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