Review: N at Company OnStage

There are two names that every theater person should know - Eugene O’Neill and Charles S. Gilpin. O’Neill was a playwright of great importance in bringing realism into American stagecraft, and his works rank up there with luminaries such as Chekhov, Ibsen, and Strindberg. During his lifetime, he was presented with four Pulitzer prizes for his dramatic plays, a record that has yet to be broken. Charles S. Gilpin starred in O’Neill’s first big hit called THE EMPEROR JONES, and he was Black. This was 1920 when theaters would often cast white actors and put them in blackface rather than hiring someone racially authentic. Gilpin and O’Neill produced a huge hit that played Broadway and toured America, but the two of them had a falling out that famously led O’Neill to recast the actor when it came time for a revival and a London production. Gilpin was angry about O’Neill’s use of the “n-word,” and he wanted it removed from the script. O’Neill felt that was not possible because it would make his work inauthentic. This whole scenario is the basis for the conflict presented by N, which is currently running at the Company OnStage in Bellaire. 

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It’s a word that has divided people for generations, so much so that I won’t even write it in this review. Rising Houston actor Cardero Berryman thoughtfully directs N; surprisingly, this is his first time at the helm of a play. He has a wonderful cast, great technical support, and the appropriately intimate Company OnStage theater space to produce the piece in. He smartly divides the stage into three sections and keeps the action moving quickly from scene to scene and location to location. N seems filmic and well-paced. Cardero is a director to watch, and this cements it. Adrienne Pender’s script combines real history with dramatic conjecture, and it zips along, hitting all the right notes. This is a great pick for the Company OnStage. 

Veteran Houston actor James West III brings Charles S. Gilpin to life for this production. James is a smart actor who leans into his own likeability to bring charm to the role. The historical figure of Gilpin paints him as someone who struggled with alcohol and a man who had his own convictions about the theater, which would prove correct in time. James West III is regal when he needs to be and alternates that with the rock bottom the last act asks for. He’s great here. Randall Packer portrays Eugene O’Neill, and he is a commanding but quiet presence that I imagine the real-life author had as well. He plays theatrical royalty quite well but brings in his own charm, much like his co-star. This pair is perfect to play these two historical figures.  I really enjoyed watching their friendship grow and then fall apart over the one word that would divide them. 

A third star turn is provided by Caprice Carter, who gets to embody Florence Gilpin, Charles's wife. Caprice does a marvelous job of leaning into the realism of her role, almost as if she had been a student of Eugenie O’Neill. She lives and breathes in her character; I felt she was authentic and graceful. Dylan Smail gets to appear as a stagehand, and he uses his comedic timing to make a small part a big presence. Stay for intermission if you want to see him and Johnny Mejia improv a comedy bit or two. 

N proves to be one of those shows that feels just right for a smaller theater like the Company OnStage. It’s an intimate portrait of people from history who struggle with a lot of the same issues we still do today. This is a production and a company well worth seeking out. N gives insight into two people who pioneered what we are watching onstage even today. 

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