‘Black Nativity’ Sends Out Love Letters to Lord

There’s one gospel song title in “Black Nativity” that says it all: “Can’t Nobody Do Me Like Jesus.”

The familiarity of the expression in the current Southeast Community Theatre production, along with lines about Christ like “He’s comin’ like a thief in the night” in the song “Get Your House in Order,” speaks volumes about the intimate connection gospel singers feel with their Lord.

While some African American writers such as James Baldwin have attacked black people for worshipping what Baldwin called “a white man’s God,” Langston Hughes in “Black Nativity” takes a totally different tack.

Hughes pictures Jesus, Mary and Joseph as being black and tells their story through gospel music.

In the capable hands of director Floyd Gaffney, this production, at the Educational Cultural Complex through Dec. 10, strips away the far-off, glittering mystery of the gospel tale in favor of stressing the universality of a story about have-nots being brushed off by the haves.

No room at the inn? As a sad-faced Mary waits anxiously for Joseph to get back to her with the bad news, there is an immediacy to her anguish that makes one wonder where the contemporary Mary and Joseph would go today. Maybe, if they weren’t strangers in town and knew where to look, they could find a temporary shelter for the homeless. But a hotel? Without a Visa or Mastercard? Not very likely. And a hospital? Not unless they had Medicaid.

All of these speculations and analogies are between the lines of course; Gaffney just lays the story out there and lets his ensemble sing out the tale with quiet, persuasive passion.

Some of the best voices in this excellent group belong to Krista Armstrong, who delivers “Can’t Nobody Do Me Like Jesus” with an irresistible force; Berrel Matthews, who gives words to the stricken face of Mary (Veronica B. Griffin) with “My Way Is Cloudy,” and Kenny Turner who pours power into “Wasn’t That a Mighty Day.”

Ernie McCray, as the preacher-narrator and Keith Walters as a worshiper-narrator, give the piece some of the definition it lacked last year at the Progressive Stage Company. With the help of some brief, additional text by Gaffney, the play now clearly begins in a church where, under the leadership of McCray and Walters, the parishioners reenact the Nativity scene in the first act, and ends with a church service in the second.

The feeling of this depicted service is so exuberant and unself-consciously reverent that if you mistook “Black Nativity” for an actual church service, you would not be far off the mark.

The grainy costumes by Joan Wong speak eloquently of Biblical poverty. The brief choreographed segment, designed by Sandra Foster-King, silently captures Mary’s pain and is beautifully executed by Griffin. Rose Buchanan handles the musical direction with finesse.

Only the conclusion rings false with the singing of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s “Messiah.” The ensemble does a fine job with the piece vocally, but the faces seem stiff and uncomfortable as if their reason for performing the piece is just to show they can handle classical music just as capably as gospel music.

They proved they can do Handel, but what makes “Black Nativity” special is the gospel music sung with the intimacy of love letters to God.

“BLACK NATIVITY”

By Langston Hughes. Director, Floyd Gaffney. Choreography, Sandra Foster-King. Music director, Rose Buchanan. Costumes, Joan Wong. Set and lighting, Tom Mays. With Ernie McCray, Keith Walters, Veronica B. Griffin, Aaron Braxter, Keith Davis, Morris White, Mena Ismael, Berrel Matthews, Doris Leary-Smallwood and Kenny Turner. Tickets are $2-$8. At 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, with Sunday performances at 2 and 7 p.m., through Dec. 10. At 4343 Ocean View Blvd., San Diego, (619) 534-2817 or (619) 262-2817.