Review: Mustard Seed’s Feminine Energy Has Honesty and Heart

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Jon Abbott

Feminine Energy highlights the friendships among Black women and the failings of the healthcare system.

The friendships among Black women and the strength and resilience those friendships can provide is at the center of Myah L. Gary’s moving and resonant Feminine Energy. The highly respected Mustard Seed Theatre returns to produce the well-executed staging, which began as part of the Confluence playwright workshop.

The effective contemporary drama follows the friendship of three Black women through a tough span in their lives. Dr. Soleil Kirkpatrick, a thoughtful and persuasive Erin Renee Roberts, does not want to have children and would like to be free from the debilitating pain of endometriosis. Monique Thomas, portrayed with a vivacious laugh and tenderness by Ricki Franklin, is struggling emotionally and physically from her efforts to get pregnant as well as the disregard and judgment of her doctors. Debra Jackson, given seemingly limitless patience, kindness and stamina by Andrea Purnell, is about to begin chemotherapy to treat ovarian cancer. The situations these women face are all too real, and the dismissive treatment and lack of compassion they receive from the health-care system is all too common.

Roberts, Franklin and Purnell are believably close and comfortable with each other, deepening the sense of trust and honesty conveyed in the dialogue. Whether raw with emotion or packed with information, their conversations and interactions are grounded and authentic. We watch as the friends support each other through treatments, doctor visits and girls’ nights in —where they feel the most free to open up. These scenes are warm and easy, showing their friendship as a safe harbor when the world is too much.

Michelle Dillard assumes several roles, including distinct turns as each of the women’s concerned mothers. Rae Davis has a particularly compelling arc as Purnell’s teenage daughter, and plays several other characters, including Madame Juniper. Joshua Mayfield provides strong support as Franklin’s husband and is oppressively needy as Purnell’s spouse and Claire Louise Monarch is effective in multiple roles, most notably as Franklin’s judgmental doctor.

Mustard Seed Theatre provides a strong creative team to bring the script to life. Director Jacqueline Thompson ensures the women’s lives remain in focus, using smart transition sequences to frame each chapter of each story. Patrice Nelms' intricate stage design creates multiple unique areas in a single set, reducing changeover time and helping the audience remain immersed in the storytelling. The costumes, by Shevare Perry, lighting by Michael Sullivan and sound by AhSa-Ti Nu Tyehimba-Ford provide the finishing touches to tie the stories together.

Gary’s script is dense with detail and information; some judicious editing could cut about 20 minutes off the show with no loss of impact or drama. Additionally, a few of the secondary characters seem purposefully generalized and stereotyped. The device works for the most part with the only misstep being the too convenient prescience of Madame Juniper. Overall, Feminine Energy is an intriguing contemporary drama that celebrates and values friendship and self-advocacy while demonstrating the many ways the health-care system too often fails individuals, women and, particularly, Black women. The combination makes for good, thought-provoking theater.

Feminine Energy is open at the Mustard Seed Theatre (6800 Wydown Boulevard, Clayton) through Sunday, February 19. Tickets are $25 on Eventbrite.