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The Last Black Cowboy

nytheatre.com review by Jaime Robert Carrillo
August 15, 2005

The Last Black Cowboy, written and directed by Jimonn Cole, evocatively describes itself as a poem “inspired by the experience of child rape, particularly the rape of a little boy by a little girl.” It also claims choreography and “an underscore of pre-war gospel from the 1920’s.” These descriptions in this show’s marketing materials seem to promise an experience of some potency. Unfortunately, that is not the case with this piece.The play features three nameless characters; all dressed identically, portraying one man's constant torment, pain, and perseverance. This stricken main character (played by Cole) rants about the difficulties he’s encountered, recounting moments with his family, his youth, and relationships. In the show, he mostly faces the audience and delivers his tirade to us, while the other two nameless characters either look on or help set the scene.The piece begins with Cole on the ground, looking downtrodden; and then he tosses and turns. It’s a silent and effective opening which draws us in for about the first two minutes, but it quickly unravels into non-stop barrage of words. The play continues in this fashion, making it ineffective because it’s confusing. You don’t ever get a clear sense of what’s going on, who this character is, or what he’s ranting about.The show also features Artesia Balthrop and Amber Jean Koerner in smaller roles, but this show comes off as too much of a solo showcase for writer/director Cole. This is unfortunate because Baltrhop and Koerner provide most of the play's few engaging moments onstage, such as the youthful innocence of a hopscotch pantomime, or an unexpected playground moment with a basketball backboard. Balthrop exhibits good vocal energy.Lighting designer Amith A. Chandrashaker's work stands out. The overall color scheme and the magnified lighting effect for the main character at the show's end exceed design expectations for a FringeNYC show. The makeup for the three characters is also noteworthy for its dark, dramatic look.But ultimately I cannot recommend The Last Black Cowboy to you. There is no emotional variation in the main character, which makes us not care about him. And there’s a moment when he arbitrarily breaks out into song which feels like it's from a completely different play. Cole's Southern cowboy accent drops in and out throughout, although he does have good volume control. Some of the work's problems might be corrected through collaboration. As it is, there’s too much of the main character deliberately turning downstage to talk to the audience. A director might help him fix this in the future, as well as help establish a time and place for the setting, which is noticeably missing in this production. Ideally, the piece could build on the “Taking granddaddy fishing” monologue and “What are you doing here…You’re not hurt” section, the only two moments where any emotion was visible, to take it beyond its current level of a theatrical experimental along the lines of a graduate thesis or student project.