THEATER REVIEW : ‘SPLIT SECOND’ FINDS NEW STAGE BUT MISSES MARK

Controversy usually draws a crowd. Not so at Sushi Gallery, where Dennis McIntyre’s “Split Second” has found a home after being banned in Southeast San Diego.

Originally slotted as the final production of an acting class conducted by San Diego Community College instructor Alan DiBona, the play’s racially sensitive subject matter apparently offended too many people. Both production and class were canceled by administrators of the Educational Cultural Complex (ECC), and a court action by DiBona failed in its attempt to have class and play reinstated.

One would expect such a stir to bring out the curiosity seekers, but there were only a dozen people at Saturday’s performance, half of them black, half white--a racial balance important only in terms of the subject matter.

McIntyre’s play, written in 1981, begins on a New York city street, where a black policeman named Val (Hilary Martin Jones) arrests a white suspected car thief--a real “slime ball,” as they say. Val routinely handcuffs the young suspect and calls for backup, but as they wait, the white man (played by Ray Porter) tries to talk, then bribe his way out of trouble.

He starts easy--it was only a ’77 Oldsmobile he was trying to steal. When Val doesn’t respond, he works his way into a stream of particularly foul racial remarks which touch not only upon Val’s race, but his wife, family, mother--you name it. This street vermin apparently has no perspective on his personal safety.

Eventually, the suspect ignites a deep rage in Val, which in this production is only apparent much later in the play, dragged out by the confrontational scenes between Val and his friends and family.

Here the actor playing Val is nervous but not really explosive as he pulls his gun, aims, and puts one bullet through the white man’s heart. He quickly unlocks the dead man’s handcuffs, puts a confiscated knife back in his hand and, presumably, starts concocting a story of self-defense. He sticks to it, until his wife (Rhea Rodgers) and policeman father (Willis Goodlow IV) drag the truth out of him.

Not much happens in “Split Second” after that first murderous flurry, and DiBona’s cast has trouble evoking the emotional tension needed to bring Val’s inner conflict into view. Should he tell the truth as his father urges, saving his honor but going to prison? Or should he continue the lie, as his wife, Alea, begs?

As he argues and fights his own conscience, Val clings to a racist incident from his childhood--wasn’t that as cruel as shooting a man when his hands are cuffed behind his back? Isn’t it justifiable for a man to finally strike back?

Therein lies the real controversy in McIntyre’s play--a deep moral conflict that resonates in ugly feuds around the world that feed off the revenge mentality and split countries down the middle in senseless killing. “Split Second” brings the issue into scale by placing it squarely in one man’s conscience.

If the black-and-white scenario is looked upon as no more than a way to bring the mechanics of rage into focus, a lurking predator that can push any human being of any color into a “split second” of insanity, then ECC’s decision to cancel this play’s production seems sadly narrow-minded.

A college atmosphere could have drawn so much more from this particular play: post-performance debate between cast and audience, special seminars on the psychology of anger, its impact on contemporary society and its link to crime. There are a number of ways the ECC program could have benefited the entire community.

As it is, DiBona’s production is a brave attempt by beginning actors. Some are more skilled than others, but none are quite prepared for the glare of professional performance their commitment has nudged them into.

If these performers would stop worrying about enunciation and let themselves lapse into the natural rhythms of real speech, they might be shocked at how quickly they cross the line between mediocre and terrific. The freer atmosphere would help draw needed tension from McIntyre’s sparely plotted script.

The Sushi setting, costumes and lighting are obviously strained by lack of City College support, but they work well enough to provide the cast with a place to develop their skills.

“Split Second” is not disturbing for its profanity or its exposure of a sensitive community issue about cops and citizens. It sounds a troubling warning about the explosives that may be harbored in our own minds.

“SPLIT SECOND” By Dennis McIntyre. Directed by Alan DiBona. Lighting design by J.A. Roth. Costume design by Roxanne Femling. Stage manager is Thomas Morris. With Ray Porter, Hilary Martin Jones, Charles T. Salter, Ali Rashid, Rhea Rodgers, Willis Goodlow IV. Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 p.m. through Aug. 24 at Sushi, 852 8th Ave. Produced by New Horizons Theatre.