An audacious challenge lies at the heart of Curious Theatre Company’s regional premiere of Dominique Morisseau’s Confederates: connecting the lives of an enslaved woman in the Antebellum South and a modern-day Black professor to explore systemic racism.
It’s a provocative premise, but this production falters under a sluggish script, inconsistent acting and a fractured directorial vision. Despite its striking moments, Confederates struggles to join its two timelines into a cohesive theatrical experience.
The play alternates between the present and the American Civil War, with two Black women fighting against their circumstances. Sara (Tresha Farris), an enslaved woman on a Southern plantation, seeks freedom while grappling with her relationship with her brother, Abner (Cameron Davis). She navigates the manipulative alliances of the plantation’s mistress, Missy Sue (Rachel Turner), and the opportunistic house servant, Luanne (Kristina Fountaine).
In the present day, Sandra (Kenya Mahogany Fashaw), a tenured instructor at a prestigious university, deals with the microaggressions and systemic barriers of academia. She faces challenges from Malik (Davis), a defensive student questioning her fairness, Candace (Turner), her overbearing and self-serving office assistant, and Jade (Fountaine), a Black colleague whose professional ambitions collide with Sandra’s authority.
While the play attempts to explore the persistence of racism over centuries, the connection here feels forced and, at times, reductive. Comparing Sara’s literal enslavement to Sandra’s workplace struggles creates a tonal imbalance that undermines both narratives. The stakes for Sara are life-or-death, while Sandra’s challenges, though significant, feel comparatively muted.
Missed opportunities, stalled momentum
The doubling of actors across timelines exacerbates these issues. Davis plays both Abner, a soldier fighting for freedom, and Malik, a modern figure of resistance against the academic powers that be, but neither receives the character development they deserve. Similarly, Turner’s Missy Sue and Candace lean on broad caricatures that flatten their dramatic impact.
Instead of enriching the narrative, the constant shifts between eras highlight the play’s weaknesses. Both timelines feel underdeveloped, and the parallels between characters come off as superficial. With the actors tasked with embodying thinly written roles, the doubling becomes a missed opportunity.
Technically, Confederates is striking. Matthew S. Crane’s set, a towering wall of books, serves as both Sandra’s office and the plantation study, a symbol of the oppressive weight of history. The reveal of a photoshopped image of Sandra’s face on a slave breastfeeding a white child — covered with a sheet at the beginning of the play — is a chilling moment that speaks to the work’s provocative themes of erasure and exploitation. The question of who hung this image is central to the conflict in the university setting.
Richard Devin’s lighting design effectively distinguishes between the two worlds: the warm, shadowy tones of the plantation contrast with the stark, fluorescent glare of academia. Nicole Watts’ era-appropriate costumes create a similar effect, but lengthy costume changes stall momentum, interrupting rather than bridging the two timelines. These interludes reflect broader struggles with pacing and cohesion.
A heavy hand
Fountaine shines as the production’s standout performer, seamlessly transitioning between the roles of Luanne, a cunning house servant, and Jade, a determined professor. Whether scheming to navigate plantation life or confronting Sandra about professional betrayal, Fountaine commands attention and demonstrates the potential of the doubling conceit.
Unfortunately, the rest of the ensemble struggles to match her level of subtlety. Mahogany Fashaw’s Sandra remains frustratingly understated. In a post-show conversation with the audience on Nov. 15, she described the character as having a “quiet rage,” but her performance was too understated to convey the character’s internal turmoil. Farris’ portrayal of Sara is hampered by contrived characterization that limits the role’s emotional range. Davis’s Abner and Malik lack depth, while Turner’s Missy Sue and Candace are too over the top.
Marisa D. Hebert’s direction compounds the production’s issues. While the decision to stage costume changes and transitions in full view could have reinforced the play’s central conceit, it instead fragments the narrative. The tonal inconsistency — oscillating between heavy-handed drama and misplaced humor — further weakens the emotional stakes, leaving neither timeline fully realized.
Confederates raises urgent questions about systemic oppression, but ultimately falls short in execution. Morisseau’s script gestures toward profound connections between past and present, but the production struggles to fully realize them. Despite Fountaine’s standout performance and impressive technical elements, the uneven writing, erratic pacing and disjointed direction leave the experience feeling incomplete.
ON STAGE: Confederates. Through Dec. 8, Curious Theatre Company, 1080 Acoma St., Denver. $43+