Dominique Morisseau’s play explores the experience of two very different Black women

In Dominique Morisseau’s play Confederates, she presents two parallel stories of Black women in different times. One is Sandra, a tenured university professor in modern day played by an exceptional Kenya Mahogany Fashaw. The other is Sara (Tresha Farris), a Black slave in Civil War times who’s dabbling with spying for the Union.

It might seem a stretch to compare these two experiences — it’s more a dotted line than a solid one and doesn’t always entirely land. In this well-executed Curious Theatre production directed by Marisa D. Hebert, Confederates nevertheless brims with clever language, sarcasm and poignant details about the lives of these women. It’s not a comedy, but it comes with plenty of laugh lines — mostly on Sandra’s side of the fence.

Fashaw and Sara are the only cast members with just one role. The story flips back and forth in time with Sara’s brother Abner and Sandra’s student Malik both played by Cameron Davis. Rachel Turner plays Sara’s white childhood friend Missy Sue as well as Sandra’s student aide Candice. And Kristina Fountaine does double duty as Sandra’s colleague at the university and a house slave at the plantation named Jade.

Morisseau’s sharp, exacting script includes a great many scene changes, almost all of which include a shift in costumes, place and character. Hebert has done a nice job realizing it on the ample stage at Curious, and watching the mechanics unfold is one of the delights of the show.

A big shout-out goes to Costume Designer Nicole Watts, whose convertible outfits allow for super-quick, onstage changes that nicely define each character. Matthew S. Crane’s excellent set is mostly designed around Sandra’s book-lined office, with the Sara scenes done on simpler pieces downstage. His choice to make the bookshelves open in the back with a blue background gives the set an airy feel, while two doors allow for variety in entrances and exits. Richard Devin’s tight lighting design throughout also does a lot of the lifting to distinguish the two environments.

Rachel Turner, left, and Tresha Farris in ‘Confederates’ | Photo: McLeod 9 Creative

Fast-moving action

The action kicks off with a poster tacked on the door of Sandra’s office. It depicts a slave wet nurse with a white child, and Sandra’s image is pasted over the original face. The poster is actually displayed above her desk so it’s visible to the audience, although from my spot in the first row of the balcony I couldn’t quite discern the Photoshop work, which confused me from the get-go. Suffice to say that it upsets her greatly, and she spends the rest of the show trying to figure out who did it.

Switching to the other timeline, we meet Sara sewing up a wound incurred by Abner and learn he’s run off to fight on the Union side. She’s clearly a competent, resourceful woman but I struggled at times to understand what she was saying behind the accent. It’s clear enough, though, that she’s enormously frustrated by her station and those around her who don’t trust in her abilities to help in the war effort.

When Davis shifts from Abner to Malik, we get a much better sense of where Morisseau is headed with all this. Upset that Sandra gave him a B-minus on his paper comparing the antebellum South to corporate America, Malik makes a number of insinuations — including the charge that she’s downgraded him because he’s a Black male. We later meet her batty assistant Candice, who’ll serve up plenty of cringeworthy, accidentally racist lines, but with Malik, Morisseau says: “See – Black people can say all kinds of stupid shit to each other as well!”

Davis is quite good at cranking smug up to 11, and he has perhaps the biggest left turn from his other character.

Kristina Fountaine, left, and Kenya Mahogany Fashaw in ‘Confederates’ | Photo: McLeod 9 Creative

Campus intrigue

Where Malik is just annoying, Turner is all that and a hoot as the mega-ditzy Candice. Here, Morisseau shows off her impressive skills by serving up laughs atop all manner of racist-y utterances by Candice as Sandra does one eye roll after another. But Candice also offers insights into the rumor mill, including the perception that Sandra favors Black students over whites.

Turner does similar work with Missy Sue, the high-strung daughter of the plantation owner who has her own ideas about how to help bring the war to a close.

Added to all the comings and goings in Sara’s office is LuAnne, the only other Black woman in the department. She’s up for tenure and is seeking Sandra’s help, but she can’t hide her jealousy about Sandra’s own success — including guest spots on cable news to talk race. As she always does, Fountaine nails LuAnne’s character as well as that of her counterpart Jade.

While the modern-day scenes contain plenty of poignant, and funny, commentary about race in 2024 America, I never fully grokked the connection between the worlds of Sandra and Sara. Sure, they are both Black women dealing with stereotypes about their capabilities, but beyond that I drew a blank. Surely Morisseau isn’t comparing the troubles of a plantation slave with those of a university professor. Sandra may be dealing with some racist BS, but Sara is swimming in an ocean of it.

Morisseau dishes out lines to make both races squirm, but some of the conflicts built up don’t pay off. It’s particularly notable with Malik, which seemed like a rich vein to tap with potentially greater consequences for student or teacher.

Whether or not we can see these two women as “confederates,” the play itself is a smart, funny piece with some notable performances and nifty stagecraft.