Theater Beat : Production Packs in Too Many Issues

African Americans face many issues today. Nashid Fareed’s drama “Joimanju’s Corner,” produced by Unity Players at the Inglewood Playhouse, tries to cover them all in a jumbled, static production.

The play’s main concern is the crowded conditions and inadequate facilities at a Brooklyn junior high in a low-income area. This is reduced to a one-sided diatribe that the flat dialogue does nothing to enliven. The most passionate moments are in the monologues--speeches given at the rally for this cause.

Yet on the way, Fareed wants to cover questionable rap lyrics and how they deepen the generation gap, the need for young black men to be politically active, the need for higher education, the logic behind demanding governmental reparations for the years of slavery and Jim Crow laws, Rodney King and more.

Joimanju (Rahn Sargeant) is the peacemaker and sane voice among the activists. His high school senior son (Tobius McGlove) dreams of fame as a rapper, but that thread only bogs down the story. Although this is a story about providing a better future for the junior high kids, we never see them or feel their presence.

Doing double duty, director Spencer Scott gives a passionate performance as the hot-headed Magii, Joimanju’s friend and fellow activist. Overall, the pacing is too slow, particularly the at-home sequences between Sargeant and Kymberlee Stewart as Joimanju’s wife.

* “Joimanju’s Corner,” Inglewood Playhouse, 740 Warren Lane, Edward Vincent Park, Inglewood. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends Oct. 3. $12. (323) 860-3208. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.