Education and race: there aren't too many issues that are more divisive in our country at the moment. The Indiana Repertory Theatre's current Upperstage production, Pipeline, tackles them both. The 90 minute play keeps a frantic pace as Nya, a public school teacher, finds out her teenage son has gotten into a fight at his private school. The show, written by Detroit-native Dominique Morisseau, brings to the stage the debate of public vs. private education and the role race plays in that conversation. In addition to being a playwright, Morisseau was a teacher for years and that experience comes through in her writing. She writes about the struggle from the point of view of both parent and teacher with equal weight. One of the major strengths of the show is the character of Omari, played with compelling vulnerability by Cole Taylor. In the hands of a less talented playwright he could easily have been a caricature of an angry young black man. Instead...
Midwest theater reviews, everything from Broadway musicals to Shakespeare.