Honky
In Greg Kalleres' button-pushing satire, a 14-year-old African-American boy was murdered for his SkyMax sneakers. Peter wrote the ad for the shoes, and Thomas designed them. Both feel enormous guilt. Davis, a white man who runs the company, couldn't care less about the shooting or stereotyping (which he calls "demographics"). The murder sends them and others through a kind of racist looking glass where words become weapons. Honky has a kind of hit-and-run quality; don't give the audience time to reflect. Director Sam Woodhouse and the San Diego Rep let fly with a manic, often very funny staging. The cast performs as a tight ensemble with unrelenting energy on Sean Fanning's effective, video-rich set, and Kevin Anthenil's sound design includes variations on the theme from Rocky ("feelin strong now...") , the jock anthem that drips with irony. The sketchy play uses racially offensive terminology so much it feels like fingernails on a chalkboard. But the Rep's show entertains throughout, and the real revelations could come in the post-performance discussions. Worth a try.
When
Ongoing until Sunday, December 7, 2014
Hours
| Sundays, 2pm & 7pm |
| Wednesdays, 7pm |
| Thursdays, 8pm |
| Fridays, 8pm |
| Saturdays, 8pm |