Terry Gomez's gripping "Carbon Black" at the Autry

---Theater Review

CARBON BLACK, written by Terry Gomez (Comanche) and directed by Randy Reinholz (Choctaw), the Producing Artistic Director and co-founder of Native Voices at the Autry, is billed as a humor-tinged suspenseful psychological drama. The play certainly delivers drama and suspense in a succession of disturbing scenes that tear at the heart and quicken the pulse, but it´s hard to find humor in a story about an agoraphobic woman and the young son she´s all but imprisoned with her unreasonable fear.

Early on we recognize their topsy-turvy relationship. Carbon "Inky" Black (played by Michael Drummond) takes care of his mother, while she struggles to maintain her role as the parent. As the story progresses, we see a constant swapping of maturity and neediness between the two.

Silvie (Sheila Tousey), whose psyche we learn later has been traumatized by a horrific experience, wants to hold her son close and protect him from the dangers that lie outside their apartment. But the boy, though he loves his mother, longs to escape her unnatural confinement and "live a normal life."

What makes their situation worse is that Inky insists he´s witnessed the murder of a young girl below the balcony where he sleeps. This knowledge justifiably terrifies his mother who refuses to let him speak about it, though the boy clearly needs to do so. His anxiety and fear, as well as his guilt over doing nothing to help the girl, begin to take their toll, evidenced by his lying and skipping school.

The situation comes to a head when school authorities notice the boy´s truancy and insist on a school meeting or home visit with his mother. Sylvie's mental state makes neither choice possible and Vice Principal Tucker (Stephan Wolfert), an insensitive, sometimes bigoted, adult bully decides to deliver the final notice to her in person.

We watch as she cringes in fear inside the apartment, holding her son silent lest he run to answer the door. Tucker eventually gives up pounding and leaves, but only after slipping the letter under the door and threatening to call the authorities. Even then, Silvie tries to stop Inky from opening the envelope, convinced it contains Anthrax.

A ray of light in this dark picture is Inky´s compassionate school counselor, Lisa Yellowtree (played by Tonantzin Carmelo). Gradually she wins his trust, bucking "the system" in order to give him extra time and help. She initiates a Q & A game that frees him to talk about his feelings but also allows him to see her own vulnerability.

With this bond, Yellowtree is able to help the boy, and through him, the mother. In an emotion-packed final scene that is almost unbearable in intensity we witness a miracle so triumphant, we must literally struggle to keep from standing and shouting.

In CARBON BLACK, playwright Terry Gomez sets (as examples to all) each of her four characters, who, though scarred by the circumstances of life, are able to conquer the impossible when the incentive became strong enough.

Yellowtree chose joy in raising a retarded child, though it meant she lived a solitary life. Tucker´s physical handicap forced him to act the ogre he resembled, but when the chips were down, he came through. The prison of his mother´s fear almost suffocated Inky, but he rose above it with a maturity beyond his years. And Sylvie was forced to choose between an incapacitating fear and a terrifying response to love.

So convincing was Stephan Wolfort´s performance as a partially paralyzed cripple that I was utterly astonished to see him walk out normally at the curtain call. A very courageous actor!

Equally impressive was Sheila Tousey´s brilliant performance as Silver "Silvie" Black.

The honest, raw emotions she portrayed as the extreme agoraphobic were frightening – almost excruciating – to watch for their sheer intensity. Whether manic, grieving, terrified or jubilant, we believed her. Tousey deserves an award!

CARBON BLACK plays Thursdays – Saturdays at 8 pm (Saturday & Sunday matinees at 2 pm) through November 22, 2009.

Tickets are $20.00 ($12.00 for Autry members). Discounts available for groups of 10 or more.

For information & tickets call (866) 468-3399 or visit www.NativeVoicesattheAutry.org

The Wells Fargo Theatre is located at the Autry National Center of the American West, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles, CA 90027-1462 (next to LA Zoo)