‘Bee’ Raises Timely Questions, Without Giving Easy Answers

Thomas Gibbons’ provocative drama “Bee-Luther-Hatchee� at the Tamarind, raises salient issues about the incursion of political correctness into art--before it veers into a predictable ending.

Book editor Shelita Burns (Anne-Marie Johnson) has made a small hit with her “Rediscovered Voices� series, books by neglected African American writers. Her most successful offering to date is a new memoir by the now-elderly Libby Price (Michele Lamar Richards), detailing her experiences with prejudice, rape and alienation in the South. But when Burns travels to North Carolina to meet her reclusive author, she has a shock in store.

Gibbons steers clear of didacticism in the passionate but balanced philosophical exchanges between Burns, a woman of color, and Sean Leonard (Martin Grey), a white author with his own compelling views about literature as a color-free zone. Under the sure hand of director Ben Guillory, the talented cast delivers performances that ring absolutely true. Johnson is particularly affecting as a professional woman whose sense of connection and propriety is badly rattled by her discovery. Tom Dugan is also exceptional in his dual roles as an intellectual New York journalist and a well-meaning Southern man involved in a forbidden relationship.

But Gibbons loses the reins of his well-crafted tale in the stretch. The “surprise� ending--which we see coming from the outset--is just too neat a twist in an otherwise nicely ambiguous drama. Without providing easy answers, “Bee-Luther-Hatchee� asks what role, if any, race should play in the consideration of a piece of art.

BE THERE

“Bee-Luther-Hatchee,� Tamarind Theatre, 5919 Franklin Ave., Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Ends Sept. 12. $20. (323) 655-8587. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.