James Anthony Zoccoli/Photo: Christopher "DJ Evil Vince" May
RECOMMENDED
Probably most appropriate for high-school audiences, James Anthony Zoccoli’s one-man show presents his childhood of racial identity confusion in a combination of monologue, stand-up and family slideshow, with some fly-for-a-white-boy dance moves that keep the show dynamic—and a DJ off to the side spinning tracks that complement the story cleverly. Spanning from age seven, when his mother married a black man who raised him, to Obama’s election, Zoccoli’s account offers a sincere and sometimes awkwardly honest look at the performance of race from the little-explored point of view of a white boy “raised black” (whatever that means, and Zoccoli doesn’t seem quite sure himself). It’s a shame that he doesn’t bring more complexity to the perspective—there are some really funny and insightful lines here, but they get lost in simplistic, occasionally smarmy civics lessons. But Zoccoli’s a gifted storyteller and born entertainer, and if his lecture on the originations of the word “caucasion” and human life in Africa are cringe-inducing, they’re quickly forgotten during his spot-on impressions of his family and pop culture figures of the eighties. (Monica Westin)
At DCA Studio Theater, Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E Randolph (312)742- 8497. Through February 22.
Let’s See Together: A Review of "Choir Boy" at Steppenwolf Theatre Among other compelling reasons to see "Choir Boy" is the power and musicianship on songs sung by the young men who play the students in the choir at the Black, Christian Charles R. Drew School for Boys.
