Gary Morgenstein
Under The Headstocks Zoom Read Through.
For those who do not know, a black and white cookie is a chocolate and vanilla Jewish confectionary, massive in New York City for over a century. President Obama declared black and white cookies to be an edible symbol of racial harmony. That in itself gives you an idea of what this superbly written short play is all about.
Covid 19 has meant that we look at a lot of things in a different way and theatre is one of those things that, albeit paused in a physical sense, still manages to be performed in a clinical and safe way online. It provides directors with either a headache or a challenge to be relished.
On Friday evening I was lucky enough to join a Zoom read through of “Black & White Cookie” with members of Under The Headstocks drama group based in Mansfield as well as the play’s critically acclaimed writer,
Gary Morgenstein
, author of The Dark Depths series and obvious baseball fan, zoomed in from New York. Also on the transatlantic Zoom call were actors Russell Jordan
, in Brooklyn and Jacqueline
Youm, zooming from Washington DC.The play is set in Manhattan in Spring 2021 and sees a newspaper and snacks street seller, Harold Wilson (Jordan) on the eve of closing up the street stall and regular patron, Albie Sands, read by Mansfield actor
Vic Wilkinson
.Sands had no idea that his local stop off point was about to close and he is very much against this idea, and protests vigorously over this decision. The first thing that you start to notice is the relationship that these two men have, but a later lifestyle discovery brings the two men closer, mutually benefitting both.
There are three main characters in “Black & White Cookie”, and the third being Wilson’s niece, Carol Wilson, read by Jackie Youm. Carol is protective of her uncle and sees the sudden introduction into their circle, and home, with great scepticism.
With Wilson, an Afro-Caribbean, being offered a substantial amount of money for his stand, and Sands being Jewish, she thinks that Sands is after her Uncle’s money, an idea that is far away from what this friendship between Sands and Wilson is really about.
Friendship is the key to this story and just being nice and lending a helping hand to your fellow man, irrespective of their creed, colour or which baseball team they support.
There was a Glen Campbell song that comes to mind called “Try A Little Kindness” with lyrics that go “You’ve got to try a little kindness and you’ll overlook the blindness of the narrow minded people on the narrow minded streets”, and that is core to this story.
There are several other threads woven into the story line such as Covid fears and superstitions and the obvious racist stereotypes, which are broken down, even with one of the minor characters, Pham, who works in the council offices and we meet when Albie and Harold make an appointment to discuss the future rental of the spot where Harold has his newspaper pitch, and the actions arising from this seemingly unsuccessful meeting.
Several other characters are on the interim of the play like the sports announcer, the narrator (read by
Sandy Edwards-Walsh
), Pham, the council official (read by Amy) and Mitchell (read by Jack Liversidge
) complete the play’s jigsaw. And I say jigsaw as some characters may not seem to be that important, but if that part were missing, the picture would not be complete.The three main actors, Russell, Jackie and Vic really brought the script to life, and while sitting reading a script does not provide the physicality of the character, their facial recognition delivered the emotions of all three home.
There are many things we can learn from a script such as this. You can overcome differences by the things that we have in common and by everyone coming together we can fight against hate and any “ism”.
I really hope that we get to see this play on the stage some time in the future. It would be a "shame, shame, shame" if that did not materialise because there are many funny moments, provided by the well observed script and the delivery of said script by all actors involved. The characters are well written with strong personalities.
We see, and I hate to use this phrase, the “journey” the three main characters go on, and especially the thawing of Carol as she gets to see the real Albie Sands, as well as the friendship and understanding developed by Harold and Albie.
I also like the way that Mr Morgenstein does not have to explain every little thing that happens and credits his audience with the knowledge to work things out for themselves. One particular moment comes when Albie is trying to work the TV remote control and can’t. Albie’s back story explains why this is such a task for him and once this has been registered, many scenarios surrounding Albie fall into place.
It is also admirable that Gary, Russell and Jackie gave their time to join Mansfield’s Under The Headstocks cast and Director,
Alan Dawson
, for the reading. This shows the unifying love for theatre world-wide and the eagerness to get actors back on stage, however big the stage, right where they belong.
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