If you're looking to test your senses, then "Good Bad People" is the show to do just that. It has the right amount of laughter, sadness, empathy, and anger to challenge you to think.
This play is written by Rachel Lynett, who introduces audiences to a prominent Black family in Los Angeles dealing with the loss of Amiri Johnson, a 23-year-old Black man who is shot by a police officer while taking out the trash.
What I love about the show is how it pulls you immediately into the family's grief while introducing you to each family member.
June is the family's oldest daughter. She is played by Loyse Michel, who does a convincing job in her role. She arrives at the family home to find her younger sister Audre, a lawyer dealing with the grief of their brother's death, while June tries to control the public perception of her brother's death.
However, it's the family's affluent mother, Miriam, a law professor, played brilliantly by actress Renee Freeman, who takes the audience deep into the grief of her son's death. She has locked herself in her bedroom and refuses to come out except to eat and throw insults at her daughters.
The family's relationship is unveiled in layers, and time passes from scenes inside the family's home. Artistic Director Todd Lyman has done a great job with the appealing set and makes the audience feel like they are inside the home of an upper-class family who is dealing with its own dysfunction aside from the tragic death.
While their relationships may be somewhat complicated, it is easy to follow along and understand what each character is dealing with and why.
Actress Emilee Baartman plays a determined yet misguided reporter who wants to tell her viewers more about the dead young man who was shot by a police officer. However, getting the family to cooperate is very difficult.
As mom Miriam declares, "The only Black lives that have ever mattered are the good ones."
It's this scene that audience members are waiting for as Freeman pours out with raw emotion and is utterly convincing as a mom grieving on so many levels. She brought a tear to my eye in the scene.
There are some funny moments in the show, too and just enough to lighten the otherwise heavy mood.
Actress Chloe Eliott-Chann plays Camile, the white girlfriend of the dead man. It is Camile who tells the family she wants a decent picture of Amiri and a statement for the media from the family.
This is an emotionally honesty show that makes clear not every police shooting is met with protests and violence. If you're looking for a thought-provoking good time then this is a show you won't want to miss.
"Good Bad People" is playing at the Laboratory Theater through Feb. 8.
Tickets are $37 each or $10 for students with valid student IDs. There is a new Thursday night special ticket price of $32 each for adults. For tickets, please call the box office at 239.218.0481 or online here.