‘Tuskegee’ a New Slant on Tragedy

The Unity Players Ensemble, a new African American theater company, makes a commendably ambitious debut with an original work, Duane Chandler’s “The Trees Don’t Bleed in Tuskegee,” at the 500-seat Miracle Theater in Inglewood.

The company’s professional aspirations are clearly evident though not fully realized in this serious-minded drama about the government’s infamous “research” project that left syphilitic black males untreated for more than 40 years to track the progress of their disease.

Offering a different slant on the tragedy dramatized on stage and television in “Miss Evers’ Boys,” Chandler’s play focuses on one of the study’s unwitting participants--dirt farmer Arthur Shaw (Lou Beatty Jr.), who was honored in President Clinton’s public apology for the Tuskegee outrage.

Beatty brings an unfailingly dignified presence to Shaw’s anguished grappling with a life of cruel disappointments. With the arrival of a journalist claiming to be his long-lost nephew (Ronnie Robinson, sharing the role with Anthony Wayne Johnson), Chandler turns the spotlight back on the exploitation of victims for less than noble agendas.

Performance quality varies among the uneven double cast, sometimes lapsing into mannered recitation rather than felt presentation, though Joan Fuller and Darrell Philip bring notable believability to their supporting roles. Nevertheless, the dramatic weight of the factually based story elevates Spencer Scott’s staging above its individual hurdles.

* “The Trees Don’t Bleed in Tuskegee,” Miracle Theatre, 226 Market St., Inglewood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends Sept. 14. $10. (213) 860-3208. Running time: 2 hours, 50 minutes.