“Radio Golf,” the Black Rep’s final production of the 2024-2025 Season, is a splendid one, the kind of production many of us long to see on St. Louis stages, a meaningful drama, full of wonderful dialog and gripping performances. “Radio Golf” is the last in playwright August Wilson’s 10-play Century Cycle, with each play set in a different decade of the 20th century. “Radio Golf” is also the completion of the Black Rep’s performances of all August Wilson’s play cycle, as well as wrapping up the theater company’s 2024-2025 season.
Set in the 1990s, “Radio Golf” takes place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s Hill District, a traditionally Black neighborhood where most of the plays in Wilson’s Century Cycle take place and where the playwright grew up. Harmond Wilks (Reginald L. Wilson) is a prosperous, Ivy League-educated, real estate developer, the son of a wealthy Black man from the now-economically depressed Hill District. . Harmond, who was tapped by his father to take over his successful real estate business, is now running for mayor of Pittsburgh, with hopes of becoming Pittsburgh’s first Black mayor. Harmond’s wife Mame (Velma Austin), a political advisor in her own right, is running his campaign.
Harmond is also finishing up a lucrative redevelopment project for the Hill District area, which will gentrify the rundown old neighborhood with big chains like Costco and Starbucks and new apartments. His business partner in this endeavor is his friend Roosevelt Hicks (Ronald L Conner), who is a newly-promoted VP at Mellon Bank, with an offer to manage a radio station is in the offing. Roosevelt and Harmond share the office Harmond just relocated to the Hill District, and they also share a passion for golf. Life looks pretty rosy for Harmond.
The real estate has been acquired, permits and funding are in place, and demolition is set to begin when a fly lands in the ointment, in the form of two characters, a handyman man hired to paint a house slated for demolition and the old man who thinks he still owns the long-unoccupied house. Sterling Johnson (Kelvin Roston Jr.) is the man painting the house, a local freelance builder, a fast-talking, crafty man who breezes into Harmond’s office, and makes himself right at home. The other character is the older man who hired Sterling, Elder Joseph Elder Joseph Barlow (the incomparable Ron Himes), who strolls into the office and assumes Harmond is a lawyer. The old man seems a bit confused, is very difficult to communicate with, and very stubborn, even about giving his name. Barlow, who eventually gives his name and says to call him Old Joe, believes he still owns the house and he won’t convinced otherwise.
Things start to fray for Harmond, when questions arise about whether the city had the right to sell the house, which is smack in the middle of the development. The events that follow lead Harmond to question his decisions and put him at odds with all he has built.
Photo: Keshon Campbell. Courtesy of the Black Rep
“Radio Golf” starts out comic and breezy, with a focus on Harmond’s and Roosevelt’s friendship, glowing future and their shared love of golf. A putting green takes center stage in their office and a poster of Tiger Woods decorates the office wall. The pair often knock off work for 18 holes, and Roosevelt even teaches golf to young Black kids. Harmond’s relationship with his wife Mame is also happy, as they plan out the campaign, and Mame interviews for a prestigious political job as well.
There is a lot of play, kidding around, joy, and optimism in the office. A first Sterling and Old Joe are dual headaches that Harmond thinks he can easily deal with, but things slowly grow more complicated, and morally challenging.
Terrific dialog – smart, funny and capturing the cadence of the that neighborhood – electrifies “Radio Golf.” August Wilson’s unparalleled skill with dialog is one of the things that makes all his work so enjoyable, and so riveting, along with his sharply drawn, unforgettable characters, and the dilemmas they face. The playwright’s brilliant mastery of dialog enlivens the comic banter at the beginning, and turns to fire as the play’s dramatic arc takes off.
August Wilson’s Century Cycle plays explore the Black experience, decade by decade, through the 20th century. Each play is an independent drama, which capture the times and lives of Black people in each era, but some characters and locations link back to other plays. In this case, the house at the center of this drama is one such link, an address that appears in several of the plays.
Like most plays in the Century Cycle, the characters start out in ordinary circumstances that escalate into moral and ethical dilemmas and powerful human drama. Such work requires skillful actors, and “Radio Golf” has the cast to do that.
The acting is superb. As Old Joe, the unmatched Ron Himes is incredible, as he usually is, creating a character that at first seems to be befuddled comic relief but is revealed to be an agent of change at the heart of the matter. Likewise, Reginald L. Wilson is excellent, starting out confident and in control, and slowly walking unknowingly into a quagmire that shakes his world. All the cast is strong, with Ronald L. Conner, Velma Austin and Kelvin Roston Jr. all transforming their characters as the play goes from light to dark to a new dawning.
This is one of the best theatrical productions of the year, exceeding on all levels from the sets and costumes to the cast and the play itself. This gripping production’s run was interrupted on its opening weekend by the EF3 tornado that devastated a swath of North St. Louis, starting in Clayton near the Washington University campus. The truncated run is unfortunate but do not miss your chance to see this outstanding production. It is this kind of theater many of us long to see on St. Louis stages. Kudos to the Black Rep.
Everyone should rush to see this excellent production. The Black Repertory Theater of St. Louis’ production of August Wilson’s “Radio Golf” is on stage at Washington University’s … theater through June 1, 2025.
© Cate Marquis
