Together Again…Or Maybe Not: Douglas Lyons’ Hot, New Play

Elevating  the RomCom genre and delivering a wonderful evening.

BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE

Douglas Lyons’ newest play Table 17 is a joyous, sophisticated, RomCom, and you have only till the end of the month to hop into Manhattan and catch it, a trip that is highly recommended.

Lyons was the 2024 Connecticut Voice Honors recipient of the Arts & Entertainment award, and once again in his latest effort, he demonstrates the comedy, feeling, and celebration of Black culture that has characterized his work to date and was recognized in the award.

Table 17 is on one level an homage to the genre of Black romantic comedies, and the corridor outside the theater is decorated with movie posters from some of the most well-known. Once in your seat, though, you’re in for something fresh and original as you meet Jada and Dallas, exes who get together for dinner, nearly two years after their breakup. Is there still a spark? Was the breakup or the relationship that was the mistake? In the course of scenes that hopscotch through the four-years the two were together, we see the fabric and dynamic of the relationship, as it twists and turns through love, frustration, closeness, and consternation. While demonstrating a deft, character-based, comic touch, Lyons also peers into the hearts of his characters and shows them as deeply human, vulnerable, flawed, and unforgettable.

Jason Sherwood’s simple but effective set places the audience in the restaurant, many at tables with numbers. (Hence the title when the characters are seated at Table 17, just another couple of guests in a restaurant that’s reservation only.) The dramatic effect is that we are overhearing the interactions between Dallas and Jada as they rehash their time together—and explore whether or not the spark still smolders. At times each of the characters turns and addresses other people in the restaurant, as if they are aware that they are being watched and listened to. It’s a very meta concept, and it’s what makes the piece so marvelously theatrical, commenting on the nature of being an audience—wherever that might be. Without giving away the ending, the conceit turns the mirror towards us, inviting us to examine our own approach to relationships, as if we might gossip at our table about Jada and Dallas, always seen through the filter of our own lives.

Director Zhailon Levingston, who also directed Lyons’ Chicken and Biscuits on Broadway, balances all the goings on with a keen eye for the humanity of his characters and a skill for comedy that is both hilarious and heartwarming. Never settling for the formulaic, he goes deeply into the characters and make them complex and compelling, even as they are variations on familiar RomCom types.

Of course, Levingston has a dream cast to work with. Biko Eisen-Martin is terrific as Dallas, a sweet, loving but sometimes clueless guy when it come to Jada’s needs. Kara Young as Jada proves once again that she is a theatrical force to be reckoned with. From her heartbreaking performance in Cost of Living to her amazing Tony-winning turn in Purlie Victorious, here she’s a fierce and sometimes flailing very contemporary woman trying to get her life together—and sometimes tripping over her own, albeit masked, insecurities. Together, Eisen-Martin and Young find all the nuances in the connected/unconnected, selfish/selfless tensions of Dallas and Jada’s relationship.

Michael Rishawn is the third member of the company, and he plays Eric, the flight attendant who gives Jada everything she thinks she needs…at least for a time. He also plays the over-the-top gay waiter who comments on the problems of “the straights” as he overhears their dinner conversation. Throw in a very self-assured, bartender who thinks all the ladies are in love with him, and you have three distinct and masterful performances, each sexy and appealing in their own way.

The outstanding costumes by Deavrio D. Simmons and the lighting by Ben Stanton allow the characters to move seamlessly between space and time.

Taken all together, this is a feel-good RomCom where no matter the outcome, you can’t help but fall for the characters. At the same time, Lyons’ sly theatrics, ear for dialogue, and meta commentary elevate this familiar genre to something extra special.

Table 17
MCC Theater
511 West 52^nd Street
Mon-Thurs, Sun 7 p.m.; Fri 8 p.m.; Sat, Sun 3 p.m. & 8:30 p.m. (Schedule may vary) through Sept. 29
$60-$150 through mcctheater.org

Production photos by Daniel J. Vasquez
Posted September 18, 2024