Steppenwolf’s “The Book of Grace,” with Zainab Jah and Namir Smallwood/Photo: Michael Brosilow
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“Grace says I’m a work in progress,” a man says about his wife.
“And I say you’re a piece of work,” his son responds.
The son is Buddy, an ex-soldier looking for a job. He’s come home to ask for help from his father, Vet, though he knows Vet is an abusive bully. Vet is a Homeland Security officer patrolling the Texas/Mexican border with excessive rigor—he gives Buddy a cold welcome and dangles promises he may not keep.
Between these bleak and troubled warriors is Buddy’s stepmother Grace—a woman who embodies her name, endlessly giving and forgiving. A waitress, she keeps a notebook in which she writes down funny stories and other “evidence of good things.” She sings and dances and plays with words. She sees the positive in Vet despite how little he gives her.
This is the vibrating triangle that forms “The Book of Grace,” a play by Suzan-Lori Parks. The play is a companion piece to “Top Dog/Underdog,” which won Parks the Pulitzer Prize in 2002. In “Top Dog,” Grace is talked about but not seen.
“The Book of Grace” was first staged in 2010, but Parks refreshed it for this Steppenwolf production. The new material includes an original song, “The Magic is Real,” which is on Grace’s favorite and only record.
Directed by Steve H. Broadnax III, “The Book of Grace” is a tense, violent and disturbing play about power and abuse, both military and domestic. Vet, played by Brian Marable, is a guy who thinks he’s always right and on a holy mission to rid the country of “aliens.” He’s getting a medal for a successful bust and wants to get his acceptance speech just right. In Marable’s spring-loaded portrayal, Vet swaggers and throws his weight around his shabby little home. But he’s also defensive and unpopular. He’s the scariest kind of man—violent, ignorant and insecure.
Steppenwolf’s “The Book of Grace,” with Namir Smallwood/Photo: Michael Brosilow
As Buddy, Steppenwolf ensemble member Namir Smallwood at first comes off as vague and undefined, a socially awkward blank. Is this guy really a tech bro and a Black James Bond, or just a broken kid? Smallwood transforms Buddy in the second act into energetic paranoia. The character seems most alive when he’s talking into his phone camera—Steppenwolf projection designer Rasean Davonté Johnson uses technical magic to project Smallwood’s face on screens around the set, blowing up Buddy’s bespectacled intensity.
As Grace, Zainab Jah is birdlike and lovely—you’d want her as your waitress or your stepmother. She’s also enabling and it’s unclear why she stays with Vet—when Buddy asks why she doesn’t leave, she speaks vaguely about how problems follow you.
The first act is a bit slow, with explanations sometimes going long. But the second act packed a wallop. Nothing was unexpected given the clues planted at the beginning, and yet it still shocked.
The production’s timing coincides with an increased focus on the border and immigrant deportations, and the story can be seen as a metaphor for American might. Yet it seemed more personal than political. Guys like Vet can be border guards or shopkeepers or window washers—the profile is the same.
There are many unanswered questions in this play. Why does Grace put up with this? Why did Buddy really come? Is Vet any good at his job or is the medal a fluke? The questions don’t need answers—you can supply your own on the way home. This isn’t a feel-good or a perfect play, but it is a powerful one. Grace isn’t the only one of us struggling with misuse of power and “boundary issues.” Practicing kindness and positivity in the face of brutality is a nice idea. But it may not be enough.
Steppenwolf’s “The Book of Grace” runs through May 18 at Steppenwolf’s Ensemble Theater, 1650 North Halsted. Showtimes: Tuesday-Friday at 7:30pm; Saturday at 3pm & 7:30pm; and Sunday at 3pm. There will not be performances on Tuesday, April 22 at 7:30pm, Wednesday, April 23 at 7:30pm, Wednesday, May 7 at 7:30pm, Saturday, May 10 at 3pm or 7:30pm; Sunday, May 11 at 3pm or Tuesday, May 13 at 7:30pm; there will be an added matinee performance on Wednesday, May 7 at 2pm. Tickets are $20-$102, available at steppenwolf.org.
