Verses., Hermit Theater, Rhinoceros Theater Festival, at the Lunar Cabaret, One Two Three Four Five, Rhinoceros Theater Festival, at Prop Thtr, and Mazel, Still Point Theater Collective, Rhinoceros Theater Festival, at Prop Thtr. Diverse subject matter and performance styles have long been a hallmark of the Rhino fest–but cultural diversity has been less prominent. Idris Goodwin’s Verses., dramatizing the shifts in a longtime friendship between two African-American men, marks the playwright-director as a talent to watch. Phillip (Warren Jackson) is tired of being the dependable good guy and asks his cocky best friend, aspiring actor Aaron (Ansa Akyea), for advice on how to be a bastard. Aaron is going through his own crisis of confidence–he keeps rejecting roles he deems racist, such as Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird. (His cogent phrase for such writing is “the Mighty Whitey Yuck Mouth.”)
