Stonewallin' @ Oberlin College

Written and directed at Oberlin College by Cleveland's own Kari Barclay, Stonewallin’ brilliantly weaves a tale of intersectional and intergenerational ideas of race and queerness in rural America. Kari asks audiences, what does it mean to call a place and a people ‘home’? How do we confront the complexities our familial roots, living and dead, as intertwined with our chosen families and identities? Can we cast a spell against white supremacy and against cisgender and heterosexual norms? This show dazzled audiences fortunate enough to take in its short run and presented a heartwarming take on some very salient issues of our time. I hope to see it have more time on additional stages soon.

Tommy, played by Rowan Kozinets, Oberlin class of ’26, had a -- wait. '26? If my math is correct, which I assure you it rarely is, this human is a first year student? So, 18, 19 years old? WOW. Okay, let me like-share-subscribe so I can keep seeing what they get up to in their theatre career, if this is what they are capable of at such a young age.

Rowan portrayed Tommy with an endearing, contagious affect I have only seen in a few other humans - ironically or perhaps appropriately, one of them being our playwright and director, Kari. It is difficult to describe. Perhaps I can say it is impossibly kind and comfortable. Perhaps I can say they always look like they are about to laugh, but never at your expense. Perhaps I can say that they are always smiling, even when they're not, and their smile is equal parts innocent and mischievous, and when they're smiling, which they somehow always are, their entire face is doing the smiling. It's an incredibly beautiful quality. I caught myself grinning throughout the show, partially because it was chock full of clever humor, and partially because this actor just elicited that response.

Tommy is well-meaning to a fault, and interested in connection and kindness. Their unbridled joy in the moments when they are connecting with Marsha makes you root for them. Rowan's voice was tender and lovely for Tommy's serenade to Brooke while in Dolly Parton drag. As Tommy, Rowan gave just the right amount of awkward that made you laugh with them and want to envelop them in a hug and tell them, 'you're doing great.'  Tommy has a disarming enthusiasm for life despite what we can assume have been some significant challenges as a ‘guy in a skirt.’

Marsha, played by Brooke Lynlee, has a kind of confidence that Tommy did not, in herself and how she wants the world to see her, even after relocating to the South where she feels stifled. Brooke portrayed Marsha with a kind of self-knowledge I admire in women, and I liked this character immediately.

Tommy and Marsha reveal towards the end of the play their sexual and gender identities - queer and nonbinary (“not... really a guy”) for Tommy, and queer and homoromantic for Marsha. The audience spent most of the show wondering - will they? is she? is he, they? I liked this particular storytelling technique; for me, it reminded me that it’s okay not to know, and to let a person come out in their own time. The supporting characters help us wonder, reflecting our own thoughts - Elijah makes many comments about Tommy being 'gay' and a 'guy in a skirt' and Mamaw makes clear her fear that Tommy is gay. Tommy’s gender identity in this production was further compounded by the casting of Rowan as opposed to a more definitively male actor – but again, I was reminded that one’s gender is defined by them, not by my perceptions of them.

Throughout the show, both characters work through the ongoing trauma and confusion of being queer in America. While Tommy certainly presents more clearly as queer and likely has endured questions and harassment as a result, Marsha presents an important view of intersectionality – not only queer, but a woman, AND Black, AND all of these identities in the American South. While Tommy has, and knows they have, the privilege of choosing to ‘pass,’ Marsha would never be able to, and she knows this. Alternatively, Marsha has the privilege of choosing to pass as straight, where Tommy does not if they are living their true self. There were marked differences in their coming out narratives, too – Tommy consistently battles against Mamaw’s denial of their queerness, as she notes that they ‘just like earrings' and rejoices to find Tommy is dating and intimate with a woman.  Alternatively, Marsha bravely came out to her grandfather and appeared to experience rejection from this decision.

Tommy and Marsha’s chemistry is palpable. In the grocery store, the audience couldn’t help but grin as they performed their sweet dance around their common interest in one another. In the first coffee shop scene, Tommy hands Marsha a latte with a heart drawn into the foam, but Marsha sees it as a penis – a clever foreshadowing that would return towards the end of the show. The birding scene is such a unique performance of staged intimacy – a clever lean by Tommy that spoke to me as foreplay and a quirky bird-like mating dance performed by Rowan and Brooke. I can't know whether this performance of intimacy was written into the script as a bird mating dance or whether this was a clever imagining of Kari’s. Neither would surprise me as I am familiar with Kari’s intimacy work. The scene was an excellent representation of how a sex scene doesn’t need to involve sex in order to get the point across.

Marsha drops some important knowledge in that scene – Africans invented birding! I couldn’t help but think back to the viral May 2020 altercation in Central Park, in which a Black man was birding and asked a white woman to leash her dog, leading to an altercation and police involvement when the woman falsely presented herself as being in physical danger. I feel an additional weight to that situation knowing, whether the involved parties did or not, that he was in fact honoring an ancestral tradition when the altercation occurred. 

Elijah, Marsha’s brother, played by Tony Singfield, is an interesting enigma. A seemingly self-realized Black man participating in Confederate war reenactment? However, his explanation that he participates to put himself in front of “people who think the war isn’t over,” and essentially to try to create change from within, resonated with me. Tony portrayed Elijah as gentle and refined with an unconventional wisdom, except when it came to queerness. I was disappointed in his continued disparaging remarks toward Tommy as a member of an historically marginalized group himself, though this can be unfortunately common.

Olivia Bross had the audience doubled over laughing in her portrayal of “Southern Patriot” Maragaret or Mamaw, Tommy’s grandmother. Her bold choice to walk like she’d just gotten off a camel never got old, nor did her seating choice of comically ‘manspreading’ legs. Olivia is an expert of physical comedy and I hope to see her in a similar character on a future stage. Mamaw had a slew of great one-liners that had the audience awaiting more, but also some important insights into rural America that we miss when we exist in our urban echo chambers. Remarks like “we used to have a community” and “liberals don’t say hello on the sidewalk” speak to the preservation of values that bear such importance for conservatives, while her casual racism and overt homophobia remind us of the importance of value progression.

Stonewall, Tommy’s great-great-GREAT-grandfather and Civil War icon Thomas Jackson, came to life after what must have felt like an eternity standing still with a great display of lighting and a gorgeously placed breath – I love well-utilized breathwork on stage. Ana Morgan was awesome in this role. Their dialect and affect were impeccable – not only a Southern accent but a distinct old-timey way of speaking that communicated a soft and wise, though misguided, personality. I loved the casting of a woman in this role – a choice that would certainly have the real Stonewall Jackson rolling in his grave. Ana played Stonewall as multidimensional, and we even felt compassion for him as he worked through his own trauma during the PTSD flashback that was expertly portrayed with lighting and sound effects. An exasperated Stonewall, hoping for humanity, remarks, “I’m not a hero – I’m a human being,” a commentary on our battle to bring down or keep up problematic statues.  

The costuming for this show was especially enjoyable. Mamaw absolutely dressed the way an older, working-class Southern woman would. The Halloween costumes for Tommy and Marsha were both incredible. And the tremendous joke of Stonewall having to wear Tommy’s clothes and being given a delightfully queer t-shirt landed well with the audience. The set design was also excellent. I loved the lighting coming up from the short columns around the stage, Stonewall’s monument, and the coffee bar especially. The lighting was so effective in creating the world, and I loved the subtle effect of the floor design and suspended sheets adorned with mountain ranges, giving an effective rural feel. The music between scenes was engaging and provocative.

Stonewallin’ is, in its essence, about belonging - within a place, within one another, and within ourselves. And especially, within the theatre: this is a show where those who don’t often see themselves represented on stage, will. Well done, Kari and cast and crew.