Hats with an attitude problem Hats with an attitude problem (April 22, 2005)

TheatreWorks closes season with 'Crowns'

By Julie O'Shea

You can learn a lot from a woman in a hat - how to stand tall; how to be proud; how to flirt.

Hats are status symbols. Some are pillbox small. Some are large with feathers. All are inevitable fashion statements.

Regina Taylor's "Crowns," which had its regional debut at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts last weekend, gives us a richly layered overview of hats and the African-American women who wear them. She gives us a lot of facts; a bit of hat etiquette and shows us exactly what it means to be moved by "The Spirit."

Unfortunately, that's pretty much all her show does.

"Crowns" starts off being the story of a young Brooklyn teen named Yolanda (Tiffany Thompson), grief stricken over the death of her brother, and quickly becomes a fashion exhibition for San Francisco-based shop owner Ruth Garland-Dewson, who donated more than 200 hats to the TheatreWorks production. The powerful opening sequence, which has a heartbroken Yolanda expressing frustration and rage over the loss of her older brother, sets us up for something the show never delivers. We have so many questions: Was the brother's death an accident? Why is Yolanda sent away to live with her grandmother? Does Yolanda even like her grandmother?

But the play never really does give us any satisfactory answers. Instead, the seven-member cast provides us with a musical dissertation on the importance of wearing hats and what types look best from a church pew. The dramatic shift in storyline is sort of a blur. One minute the characters are talking about poor Yolanda, and in the next, they are parading around stage in feathered head accessories, rattling off cheesy clichés like: "Hats are like people; sometimes they reveal, sometimes they conceal."

Indeed, the hats, which are incorporated into the scenery as well as the costumes, are lovely. And the actors all burst with explosive energy. Richard Battle's costumes are vintage classics. The set by Andrea Bechert and the purple, pink and blue-hued lighting by Steven B. Mannshardt makes us feel as though we've stumbled into New York City's Fashion Week.

The problem with "Crowns," which is based on the book by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry, is that it tries to live up to something it's not. This isn't a show about family values and redemption. It's not a show about a lonely teenager who's lost her brother. It's not even about the relationship between the girl and her grandmother. This is a story about hats. More specifically, this is the story about the types of hats, or "crowns" African-American women wear to church. Director Anthony J. Haney is so concerned about making sure his hat-touting actors appeared genuine when they were connecting with the Holy Spirit that he fails to remind them to look genuine when connecting with one another.
Information

What: TheatreWorks presents "Crowns," by Regina Taylor Where: Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., When: Tuesdays 7:30 p.m. (no performance April 26); Wednesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. (8p.m. only April 9 and April 30); Sundays at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (2 p.m. only April 17 and May 1) Closes May 1. Cost: $20-$48 Call:903-6000 or visit theatreworks.org

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