A Review: Black Super Hero Magic Mama

Kimberly Hébert Gregory

By Darlene Donloe

Parents are not supposed to bury their children. When it happens, the pain is unfathomable and, for some debilitating.  That’s exactly what happens to Sabrina when she loses her 14-year-old son Tramarion to a police shooting in Black Super Hero Magic Mama, a drama/comedy by Inda Craig-Galván, currently having its world premiere at the Geffen Playhouse’s Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater.

When the play opens, Sabrina (Kimberly Hébert Gregory), a single mother, is reading Harry Potter as a bedtime story to her son. She then begins to wax lyrical about how most heroes and heroines in books and films frequently encounter personalities similar to the people they already know. That would prove to be pivotal in the show’s second act.

Tramarion (Cedric Joe) is a mother’s dream. He’s a good student. He’s currently studying Know Your Heritage, the high school black history quiz show. He and his friend, Flat Joe (Noah Abbott) are in the midst of writing a comic book where Sabrina’s face is used as the heroine.

(l-r) Noah Abbott and Cedric Joe

Sabrina doesn’t exactly approve of her son’s friendship with Flat Joe. The thinks Flat Joe is a bad influence. She’s apprehensive about letting her son loose in the city. She’s trying her best to keep him safe.  The night of the black history quiz show competition, Tramarion wants to ride to the competition on the bus with his Coach Corey Brackett (Daryl C. Brown) and his teammates.  It literally becomes a life-changing decision.

Later that night, after the team’s big win, the coach realizes he has left the keys inside the van.  Surrounded by the boys, including Tramarion, the coach tries to gain entry into the van by any means necessary. When a cop sees what’s happening, he tells everyone to put their hands up. Tramarion happens to be holding the trophy which shines when a flashlight hits it. Mistaking the trophy as a gun – the officer fires his gun – shooting and killing Tramarion.

Inda Craig-Galván

With her son now a statistic, Sabrina goes into a slightly catatonic state. Even though her sister Lena (Cynthia Kaye McWilliams) tries to bring her back from the edge, she finds she’s unable to face the ensuing flurry of media attention. Crippled by grief and anger, she retreats into a fantasy world of superheroes and arch villains that inhabit the comic book created by her son and his friend before his death. Assuming the role of the Maasai Angel rather than the expected part of a grieving mother, Sabrina battles her enemies along the way to peace.

While the first act is a straight-forward look at the tragedy that befalls Sabrina, the second act takes a hard left and enters the comic book world. The second act has a good amount of comedy that makes the show feel disjointed. It feels like the audience is seeing two shows.

The set design doesn’t lend itself to a free-flowing show for Director Robert O’Hara. It plays a little clunky.  Center stage houses Tramarion’s bed on a revolving pedestal. The set design works when the two secondary characters play 'stage left' and 'stage right' as both newscasters in Act 1 and crazy comic book characters in Act 2.  In Act 1 - upstage center is a brilliant cityscape that also doubles as a screen to project images. In Act 2 it becomes the set of a game show.

Cynthia Kaye McWilliams

Kimberly Hébert Gregory holds down the show along with Cynthia Kaye McWilliams.  Gregory’s grief as Sabrina is palpable and McWilliams’ attempts to bring her sister back from the brink – ring authentic.

The two boys, Cedric Joe, and Noah Abbott are adorable. Satisfactory performances from the supporting cast.

Although at times Black Super Hero Magic Mama plays like two separate plays (a drama and a comedy) fortunately - by the time the show ends, Inda Craig-Galván wraps it up nicely.

Kimberly Hébert Gregory

This is an emotional journey presented with moments of levity - probably to lessen the blow surrounding a young black man being killed at the hands of the police. It’s a recurring story that, unfortunately, has become our reality far too often.

Black Super Hero Magic Mama, written by Inda Craig-Galván, and directed by Robert O'Hara, stars Noah Abbott, Reiko Aylesworth, Walter Belenky, Daryl C. Brown, Kevin Douglas, Kimberly Hébert Gregory, Cedric Joe, and Cynthia Kaye McWilliams.

On the DONLOE SCALE: D (don’t bother), O (oh, no), N (needs work), L (likable), O (oh, yeah) and E (excellent) Black Super Hero Magic Mama gets an L (likable).

Black Super Hero Magic Mama, Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at the Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles; 8 p.m. Tues.-Fri., 3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays; through April 14; $30-$120 (subject to change);  (310) 208-5454 or GeffenPlayhouse.org; Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes.