“Watch the Throne” closes on Sunday at Black Spectrum Theater Co. in Jamaica, Queens, at the end of a run that opened on Oct. 15. Felix Omozusi wrote it and Lawrence Floyd directed.
The play is set in an African kingdom. King Hamza, played by David Roberts, is contending with terrorism, the demands of the political structure around him and betrayal inside his own family. He is then struck down, and the question of who inherits is left open among people who each have a reason to want it settled their way.
The cast runs to thirteen. Malissa Myers and Lavera Williams play Queen Nafisa and Queen Zaniab, with Tatiana Skyy as Princess Amina and Torreke Evans as Prince Idris. Jade Mason, MisaLove Smith, K. Sidney, Dimitri Dewes Jr., Mathew Sirju, Aaron Watkins, I. Joseph and Rommell Sermons fill out the court and the world outside it. Chris Cumberrbatch designed the set, Allison Ramnarine the lighting, Troy Blackwell the sound and Robin Hemmings the costumes.
A succession plot gives a company a particular kind of problem to solve, because it needs enough actors on stage at once for the competing claims to register. Thirteen performers in a neighbourhood theatre is a substantial commitment of a budget, and the design team is credited across all four departments rather than doubled up.
Black Spectrum sits at 177-01 Baisley Boulevard, which puts a full-scale production inside a residential part of southeast Queens rather than in Manhattan. The theatre’s own listing describes the show as a portrait of family, community and a quest for status and power.
Southeast Queens has one of the largest concentrations of Black homeowners in New York City, and a theatre operating at this scale inside it is doing something a touring house does not: the audience and the cast come from the same postal codes. Omozusi’s script takes an African setting rather than an American one, which puts the play in the company of work written for audiences who do not need the setting explained to them.
Remaining performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m., with matinees on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m. Tickets are $35. The company’s box office number is (718) 723-1800.
Have your say