''Hoodoo Love'' is a play by American playwright and producer

Katori Hall Katori Hall (born May 10, 1981) is an American playwright, screenwriter, producer, actress, and director from Memphis, Tennessee. Hall's best known works include the hit television series ''P-Valley'', the Tony-nominated '' Tina: The Tina Turner M ...

. It debuted

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

Cherry Lane Theater The Cherry Lane Theatre is the oldest continuously running off-Broadway theater in New York City. The theater is located at 38 Commerce Street between Barrow and Bedford Streets in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village, Manhattan, N ...

in 2007 and has been produced in other metropolitan areas in the years since. The

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

-era play tells the story of an aspiring singer in

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

, Toulou, who seeks help with her personal life from a local hoodoo practitioner. The play received mixed critical reception after its initial release and received more positive reviews for later productions.

Synopsis

Set in 1933 in

, aspiring singer Toulou seeks help from an elderly neighbor, Candylady, to secure the love of her restless musician boyfriend. Candylady performs hoodoo to help her, after which her

born-again Christian Born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelicalism, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is distinctly and sepa ...

brother re-enters her life.

Cast

Original run (2007)

* Angela Lewis as Toulou * Marjorie Johnson as Candylady *

Kevin Mambo Kevin Mambo (born June 29, 1972) is a Zimbabwean-Canadian actor and musician. He is best known for his role on the CBS Daytime serial ''Guiding Light'' in the role of Marcus Williams, which won him two Daytime Emmys and for his role as Fela Ani ...

as Ace of Spades * Keith Davis as Jib

2017 (Seattle) and 2019 (Chicago)

* Martasia Jones as Toulou * Shariba Rivers as Candylady * Matthew James Elam as Ace of Spades * Christopher Wayland Jones as Jib

Production

Hall developed the play through Cherry Lane's Mentor Project under the mentorship of

Lynn Nottage Lynn Nottage (born November 2, 1964) is an American playwright whose work often focuses on the experience of working-class people, particularly working-class people who are Black. She has received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice: in 2009 for he ...

. It debuted off-Broadway at

from November 1, 2007 - December 9, 2007. ''Hoodoo Love'' is Hall's debut play. It has had several other productions throughout the years in other cities including Los Angeles (2012) Seattle (2017), and Chicago (2019).

Critical reception

The show received mixed critical reception after its initial off-Broadway run. Writing for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'', Tom Sellar stated: "And this debut play...has several evocative moments—especially when it delves into hoodoo, an African-American folk magic, which Hall uses to conjure her drama’s most compelling scenes. In other places, however, ''Hoodoo Love'' lumbers along a little like one of the freight trains the characters hear in the night, overloaded with themes from slavery to music to magic." In a less positive review, Anne Midgette wrote for the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', "Flawed as the play is, it is a creditable early effort. It shows Ms. Hall as a strong presence who is still working out how to articulate what it is that she wants to say." ''Hoodoo Love'''s later productions received more positive reviews. David C. Nichols stated in the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' in 2012, "Admittedly, her debut script sports some clichés and arbitrary plotting amid the pre-PC patois and imaginative interstitial songs -- musical director Haskel Joseph's live guitar licks are worth admission -- yet it fascinates us despite its flaws." Sara Porkalob wrote about the 2017 Seattle production for ''The Stranger'', "What I had seen was full, moving, and blooded with real people, a celebration of Black resilience running through it." In a review for ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' in 2019, Chris Jones rated the play 3/4 stars and wrote: "The set doesn’t free up the strongest, central part of the stage and, frankly, the constantly swinging screen doors end up as a distraction. But the visual finale that these two artists pull off in this small space is pretty spectacular...and each performer here is diving deep into a difficult work, richly staged."

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoodoo Love Plays about religion and science 2007 plays Plays set in the 1930s Off-Broadway plays African-American plays Hoodoo (spirituality) Fiction about magic