Bishop Arts Theatre Center presents The Tragedy of Othello

Adapted by Franky D. Gonzalez

Directed by Jericho Thomas

Cast

Denise Lee

Jericho Thomas

Jon Garrard

Riley Turner

Chris Abraham

Tim Bass

Matthew Crawford Jr.

Octavian Lewis

Stage Manager Kendalynn Clemons

Set Design by Mya Cockrell

Sound Design/Asst Director Becki McDonald

Lighting by Philip Vilar

Asst Lighting Designer Josephine Miller

Costume and Props by Bernetta Sowells

Light Board Operator Viviana Servin

Sound Board Operator Randy Slay

My thoughts on The Tragedy of Othello at Bishop Arts Theatre Center or…. the green-eyed monster hits the gridiron.

Bishop Arts playwright-in-residence Franky D. Gonzalez has crafted a skillful and clever adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello. Gonzalez updates the play, deftly combining characters and changing genders. He sets the story in modern day Dallas against the backdrop of a fictional professional football team that has just hired a new coach. The twist here is that the new coach, Imani Othello, is the first Black female head coach in professional sports.

Being the first at anything is never easy, and for Imani Othello (Denise Lee), who faces racism, sexism, and ageism, the thrill of victory becomes agony. Blood is spilled smashing this glass ceiling.

Treachery and just plain evil in the form of Jacob Iago (Jericho Thomas, who also directs), one of Imani’s assistant coaches, makes it his life’s mission to bloody, bruise, and destroy Imani Othello. Coach Othello has promoted another assistant coach, Michaela Cassio, for a position Iago feels he deserves. This act is the catalyst for Iago’s campaign of cruelty.

Imani is secretly married to Desmond Mitchell (Jon Garrard), the team’s star wide receiver, who is white and several years her junior. When this is revealed, through Iago’s release on social media of a secret tape he took of the couple, Desmond ‘s father (Chris Abraham), a wealthy investor in the team and avowed racist, and Iago become allies in the quest to bring Coach Othello down. Iago is the prince of lies and his evil knows no limits as he convinces Coach Othello of imagined wrongdoings and infidelity. No one in Iago’s orbit emerges unscathed.

Playwright Gonzalez follows Shakespeare’s play faithfully, but it is Gonzalez’s own masterful plot twists and turns that make the Bard’s 17th century play, current, engrossing, and unsettling.

Getting Dallas theater legend and cabaret star Denise Lee to play Othello is a major casting coup. Watching Lee’s face as Coach Othello’s world starts to deteriorate is like looking into the soul of the character. Lee’s actual physical being seems to change as each deception weighs Othello’s once proud shoulders down. This is total inhabitation of a character on a grand scale.

Jericho Thomas’s Iago is the classic wolf in sheep’s clothing. Thomas makes Iago so detached from morality, that he is often chilling to watch. He rarely changes expression and has an outwardly calm demeanor. The evil machinations rarely show on his face except when Iago’s plans succeed. And as one of, if not the, worst villain in all of Shakespeare, Thomas’s Iago is most definitely a success.

I admired Jon Garrard’s choices as Desmond. As the famous wide receiver, he could have been cocky and self-important. Instead, Garrard makes Desmond gentle, kind, and self-aware. Garrard’s scenes with his wife Imani are tender and convincing. Desmond is never aware of the web that Iago spins. He is a good man caught up in an evil plot and Garrard’s skillful portrayal of Desmond wins our sympathy.

Riley Turner is impressive as Michaela Cassio. Michaela, at first an ally and friend to Amani Othello, becomes a competitor and a suspected rival for Desmond’s affection. Turner is adept at portraying Cassio’s bewilderment as she also becomes a pawn in Iago’s plot. Cassio is strong and passionate about her career and is also breaking the glass ceiling, but Turner brings a vulnerability to Cassio that shows both her humanity and inner struggles.

The part of Mr. Mitchell, Desmond’s father, provides some terrific scenes for Chris Abraham. Abraham’s racist rant as Mitchell is scarily real and his final scene when Mitchell has become completely unhinged, is a mini lesson on how to create terror on stage.

Tim Bass is effective in a small role as the team owner Jameson. Jameson, is basically an announcer, who shares the team’s triumphs and tragedies.

One of my favorites aspects of this play was the use of Octavian Lewis and Matthew Crawford Jr. as the “O-Line.” These young men dressed in football uniforms predominantly serve as Othello’s conscience. They are there on each side of her whispering inaudibly. It is a surreal effect that emphasizes Othello’s confusion in a visible and frightening manner.

The creative setting of the play (pictured below) designed by Mya Cockrell takes place on benches in front of a giant chalkboard/scoreboard where characters write and erase names and teams as affiliations change. There’s some very good dramatic lighting by Philip Vilar and there’s music from Becki McDonald that echoes the music heard in stadiums to pump up the crowd pregame.

In preparation for attending the play, I reread Shakespeare’s Othello. While it’s certainly not required to enjoy Franky D. Gonzalez’s adaptation, it deepened my respect for Gonzalez’s work and his inventive and clever reimagining. This is an Othello for 2023 with splendid acting, writing, and directing. Bravo.