THEATER REVIEW : An Academic ‘Historia’ at L.A. Theatre Center

There is a potentially interesting idea behind C. Bernard Jackson’s “B/C Historia” presented by the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts at Los Angeles Theatre Center in collaboration with Jackson’s Inner City Cultural Center.

“B/C” concerns the uneasy historical relationship of Africans and Hispanics (the producers’ preferred label). If only it were more boldly attacked. If only it didn’t get lost in the mildly arcane speech of another time. If only it didn’t subscribe so wholeheartedly to the artificial trappings of a “costume” play. If only . . .

Jackson’s investigation begins in the 8th Century with the friendship of two wives married to the same man and leap-frogs through the centuries.

A task and a half. One wife, Carime (Carmen Zapata), is a Hispanic historian; the other, Boyushi (Emily Yancy), is an African seer. Carime looks back, Boyushi forward, and together they assess the present and their husband. Discourse is their game.

The husband these women share is Musa (Charles Dumas), a Moorish lord whose affections each holds dear. Musa has two daughters by these wives: Kahina (Novel Sholars), whose mother is Boyushi, and Atena (Teresa Velarde), mothered by Carime.

Musa also has a friend, Tarik (Henry Darrow), an Arab general with the same political ambitions to invade Spain. Musa and Tarik also talk often and a lot. Which is the problem.

These six characters, playing themselves or others, frame the play and move it forward. But they’re pushing rocks uphill.

The production that opened Thursday under the direction of the author is weighted down with complex and confusing exposition. The essence of the action here is talk, and while there are skirmishes in the second half that employ livelier theatrical conceits, one rarely has the feeling that these men and women are flesh and blood, or amount to anything more than well-spoken animatronic mouthpieces.

Polite ones at that. Jackson, who apparently did not flinch at the enormity of his undertaking, should have. He has packed too much in. His piece rambles back and forth in time, tracking Tarik’s defeat of Spain’s King Rodrigo, covering the greedy takeover of the island of Hispaniola, watching over the birth of El Pueblo de la Reina de los Angeles.

As worthy and well-intentioned as the project is, it is simply too academic and hard for an audience to get through.

*

Not until Zapata lets loose as a comical interpreter at the Spanish court or all six of the actors share in a glorious send-up of the snobbish Castilian lisp ( “Yo thoy Ethpanola purithima, purithithima” ) does this piece come to honest-to-goodness life.

But it isn’t only the comic breaks that work. Sholars delivers a wrenching account of one young woman’s horrific crossing on a hopelessly overcrowded slave ship. It strikes a bitter parallel with today’s vision of Haitian boats groaning under the weight, not of slaves, but of people ironically trying to break free.

More scenes like these would energize Jackson’s piece. But it’s unlikely they would fix it altogether--not unless the over-exposition and tendency toward lofty pronouncements were also dropped.

Jackson does not really explore the past so much as expose it, offering only blandishments for the future. “Know where you came from; know who you are” rings hollow on stage, and such admonishments as “It’s time to move forward” are tired sound bites.

Yancy is best able to consistently overcome these turbocharged lines and delivers an often touching emotional performance, while the seasoned Zapata, less consistently, is at least able to make certain moments work. For the rest, it’s a mostly losing battle with a mostly wooden if well-meaning script.

Estela Scarlata has provided a functional platform set for the occasion, but Robert Fromer’s dim and shadowy lighting should be better focused on the action.

In a departure from the Bilingual Foundation’s titular policy, “B/C” is being performed in English only.

“B/C Historia,” Los Angeles Theatre Center, Tom Bradley Theatre, 514 S. Spring St., downtown. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends March 21. $15-$18; (213) 225-4044. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes. Teresa Velarde Atena Novel Sholars Kahina Charles Dumas Musa Carmen Zapata Carime Emily Yancy Boyushi Henry Darrow Tarik A presentation of the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts’ Theatre/Teatro in collaboration with the Inner City Cultural Center. Director and playwright C. Bernard Jackson. Sets Estela Scarlata. Lights Robert Fromer. Costumes Richard D. Smart. Sound Jon Gottlieb. Choreographer Mari Sandoval. Stage manager Tony Moya.