OUTSTAGN/SPOT BITZ: "HOT WING KING" COOKS UP A WINNING FORMULA TO BLACK MASCULINTY @ALLIANCE THEATRE MARCH 5, 2023

PHOTOS BY MA'ATOLOGY (AS OTHERWISE NOTED*)

YOURS TRULY (MA'AT ATKINS) WITH ACTOR NICCO ANNAN AFTER THE PLAY. HE PLAYED THE ROLE OF BIG CHARLES IN "HOT WING KING"

THE MAIN CAST OF HOT WING KING: FROM LEFT: CALVIN THOMPSON, BJORN DUPATY, NICCO ANNAN AND ARMAND FIELDS (PHOTO BY GREG MOONEY)

IN recent years, award-winning writer Katori Hall has received praise for her hit drama P Valley on The Starz Network. On the theatre stage, she brought some of the same flavor and assortments of that drama and recooked it with the Regional Premiere of "Hot Wing King," that had its final shows at The Alliance Theatre in Atlanta March 3-5 after a two month run.

Set in current Memphis (Hall's hometown), the Pulitzer Prize winning comedy-drama tells the story of four black LGBTIA centered characters on the night before the annual "Hot Wang" Festival.

It's main couple Cordell aka The Hot Wing Master (played by Bjorn Dupaty) and his bougie partner, Dwayne (played by Calvin Thompson)) live together while their friends/wing cookers sports fanatic Big Charles (played by Nicco Annan of P Valley fame ) and the flamboyant Isom (played by Armand Fields) help with cooking up Cordell's signature wings.

Things turn awry when Dwayne's teen-angst nephew EJ (played by Myles Alexander Evans) visits and asks to live with him because of his disdain for his street centered father, TJ (played by Jay Jones).

THE PROGRAM OF "HOT WING KING"

At first glance, "King," that premiered in March 2020 at The

Off -Broadway Signature Theatre in NYC, could be easily misinterpreted as a Tyler Perry-esque stage production with the characters' exaggerated physical humor, intonations (the N-word is quite prevalent in this play) and mannerisms of some of its characters (e.g. Isom's hip twisting and tongue popping ) and neatly placed cookout songs throughout the production (Maze, Luther Vandross).

However, those conventions were used more to flavor the play and Hall's intentional understanding of who her audience is (mainly black) and using these urban ingredients to tell the real story: challenging black masculinity and the social constructs from them (ex. street cred, homophobia, sexual prowess and joblessness) and questioning those tropes that define it.

THE CAST (FROM LEFT):JAY JONES AS TJ, ARMAND FIELDS AS ISOM,

NICCO ANNAN AS BIG CHARLES, BJORN DUPATY AS CORDELL

AND CALVIN THOMPSON AS DWAYNE

(PHOTO BY GREG MOONEY)

As far as the performances, everyone in the cast had their moment to shine when the dramatic components of the story were highlighted (especially Dupaty's and Thompson's). The actors' characters who were portrayed as straight (Evans's and Jones's) also were treated honestly in their shortcomings and their own truths. The performances also redefined the roles of a meaningful gay relationships showing more of the humanistic and dimensionality of love, affection and their honest existence and not just archetypes of sexually driven characters within the LGBTIA community.

EVANS AS EJ AND JAY JONES AS TJ IN A SCENE FROM "HOT WING KING"

(PHOTO BY GREG MOONEY)

Although the ending of "King" came across a bit "happily ever after" with its main couple and the mature evolution of the nephew, the production overall gave an honest and open perspective of how important that all characterizations of black manhood are represented without compromise and the social aesthetics that comes with it.

Additionally, the scenic design of an upscale two story house by Michael Carnahan of the movable and retractable stage was elaborate, "eye-taking" and gave a feel of a Southern motif with its choices of furniture and posters (the art decco Diana Poster was a nice touch).

So, if and when this production receives another run either on a stage at a city near you or on your television screen, be sure 'King" is part of your appointment viewing!