Review: In ‘The Prodigal Daughter’ at Raven Theatre, a rich family drama unfolds in a South Side apartment

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Joshua Allen’s “The Grand Boulevard Trilogy” has taken some three years to unspool at the Raven Theatre. The final installment is “The Prodigal Daughter.”

Joshua Allen’s “The Grand Boulevard Trilogy,” a series of three plays set on different floors of the same apartment building on Chicago’s South Side, has taken some three years to unspool at the Raven Theatre; too long, perhaps, for audiences to easily feel the connective tissue.

But even as that conflict rages outside, the Bass family is trying to get on with their lives and save themselves from potential economic ruin. In essence, the play explores the choices a Black woman faces while trying to get ahead. George is perhaps benign, and even in love with her, but also patriarchal in that he has crafted an unusual arrangement that could be read as either craftily supportive, given the givens of the day, or profoundly exploitation. John sees it as the latter, of course, but then he’s facing those financial issues, an argument against principles, perhaps.

As in “The October Storm,” Allen hones in here on how family lives amidst American tumult always have to balance their own inter-generational power structures, which may or may not match what’s going on outside. It’s family drama but also sophisticated writing, matched here by a strong cast and an especially lovely performance from Mattos, who is entirely credible as a young Chicagoan who just wants to grab some of the promises offered by her growing but exclusionary American city.

 

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