Must See: brownsville song (b-side for tray) at the Seattle Rep

When the house lights go down, all you can see on stage is a small, smoldering fire. It’s a symbol for many things, including the survival of the human spirit, the love a parent has for a child and the little light we keep burning as we hope for a better day. This little fire stays on stage for the duration of writer Kimber Lee’s play, brownsville song (b-side for tray), at the Seattle Repertory Theatre through April 24. It’s sometimes a focus for the audience, and sometimes forgotten in the background. 

The play itself is a moving success. Indeed, around me there wasn’t a dry eye. The story goes like this: Tray (Chinaza Uche), an 18-year-old boxer, Starbucks employee and high school student who’s about to graduate has to write an essay about himself for a scholarship application. But who is Tray? He’s an athlete, a kind-hearted son, a supportive brother and someone, like many who live in poor American neighborhoods, who encounters people without the best intentions. 

In the meantime, however, we get to learn all about him. We see him interact with his little sister Divine (played by Leah DeLynn Dual), and the two actors couldn’t have had better chemistry. In one scene, they dance together–pretending to be trees–and without saying a word, the audience sees what a real, loving sibling relationship looks like. We also see Tray interact with his grandmother (played by Denise Burse), who raised him. She rides Tray, making sure he gets his schoolwork done, and chides her grandson when she finds out he’s spending time with Merrell (played by Vanessa Kai), who has been hired by Tray’s coach to tutor him.

The twist is that Merrell, who is unrelated to Tray by blood, is just out of rehab where she went a few years prior, leaving Tray’s father (who died from four gunshots to the chest on the street) and Tray’s sister, Divine. As the play unfolds, we see Merrell trying to reconnect with the family, which Tray’s grandmother vehemently fights until the very end. 

Brownsville’s cast–it’s also important to note–is all people of color. And they are stunning, bringing the house down and moving the audience to tears.