SUNSET BABY

A Virginia Premiere & A Directorial Debut

by BLK Virginia Theatre Alliance

A Reflection on a Theater Performance by Julinda D. Lewis

At: VirginiaRep Theatre Gym. 114 W. Broad St, RVA 23220

Performances: April 4-13, 2025

Ticket Prices: $30/Adults; $15/Students

Info: (804) 282-2620/Box Office; (804) 309-6522, tariqkblkva@gmail.com or https://www.blkvatheatrealliance.org/

In case you didn’t know, there’s a new Black theater company in RVA. BLK Virginia Theatre Alliance (BVTA) was founded in January 2023, with a mission to present challenging works from underrepresented voices (www.blkvatheatrealliance.org). The company, under the leadership of Tariq Karriem, Artistic Director. A walking definition of Young, Gifted, and Black, Karriem became a professional stage manager at age 17 and now – still in his 20s – has recently worked on the production teams of 5^th Wall Theatre’s productions of H*tler’s Tasters and Sanctuary City and VirginiaRep’s productions of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Misery.

Director Dee D Miller had this to say about Karriem, “You know most of the time people say they want to help the youth … this was the way for me to put my action behind my words. That kid is a force. He is a mogul in the making and always trying to better herself over and over again and with little support. I wanted to change that and I hope with this piece I did.”

The BVTA production of Dominique Morisseau’s Sunset Baby marks the Virginia Premiere of the play as well as the directorial debut of Dee D Miller (aka Dorothy “Dee-D” Miller – winner of Richmond Theatre Community Circle award for Best Supporting Actor, “How Black Mothers Say I Love You,” 2023 which also took home the Erie McClintock Ensemble Award for that year).

Sunset Baby is a powerful, confrontational drama that looks beneath the surface of the bold and brash Nina, daughter of two Black activists, and her reluctant reunion with Kenyatta, the father she barely remembers. Nina is played by Chayla Simpson and Kenyatta is played by Larry Akin Smith. Mu Cuzzo rounds out the cast as Nina’s boyfriend, Damon. And let me not forget to mention that Sunset Baby would not be the same without it’s powerful soundtrack of Nina Simone songs. Just as Motown provides the background for Morisseau’s Detroit ’67, Nina Simone provides the background – and is central to the context – for Sunset Baby.

Dominique Morisseau is the author of at least nine plays to date, several of which have been presented here in RVA: Pipeline in 2021 (https://jdldancesrva.com/2021/10/16/pipeline/) and Detroit 67 at the Firehouse Theatre as recently as March of this year (https://jdldancesrva.com/2025/03/16/detroit-67/)

In 2018 Morisseau received a MacArthur Fellowship, aka the “Genius Grant.” Morisseau’s works are known for their bold approach to issues relevant to the Black community and many of them revive or preserve important aspects of Black history.

“Ain’t nothing sentimental about a dead revolution.” – Nina

In Sunset Baby the dialogue is filled with F-bombs and N-words but the characters also debate the relevance of criminologist Steven Spritzer’s writings on social junk and social dynamite and the political activism of Kwame Ture (nee Stokely Carmichael). Protagonist Nina was, in fact, named for singer, pianist, and activist Nina Simone. The daughter of two political activists, Nina’s mother died, penniless and drug addicted, and her father is just now reconnecting after years spent in prison for armed robbery committed to fund “the revolution.” So much of this work is very personal to me.

Sunset Baby is set in a tenement apartment in East New York, Brookly, not far from Bedford-Stuyvesant where I grew up. Kwame Ture, a leader of the Black Power movement and “Honorary Prime Minister” of the Black Panther Party, attended my alma mater, the prestigious Bronx High School of Science. And my late, second husband was a political organizer for The Young Lords – the Puerto Rican version of the Black Panthers. I felt as if I knew these people; they were not just creations of Morriseau’s imagination and research, they were people from the pages of my old photo albums and yearbooks. For younger folk, this may be less personal but should be no less impactful.

“Some dreams get lost, never to be found again.” – Common ft. Nina Simone

Chayla Simpson gives a memorable performance. She is loud and brash and angry. She leaves no doubt that her character, Nina, is smart and independent, but also suffering from childhood trauma. The men are equally complex. Larry Akin Smith, as Kenyatta, alternates between impassioned scenes with Nina and her man, Damon, and carefully controlled monologues in which he records his history – his daughter’s inheritance. As brilliant and committed as he is, there is just one thing he cannot bring himself to say – the one thing Nina truly needs to hear. Mu Cuzzo provides perhaps the most well-rounded characterization of thug life to ever grace a stage. He sells drugs and shoots people, but he is also a well-read Black man with big dreams of traveling the world, a loving partner who steals from his woman one minute and rubs her feet the next. And Mu Cuzzo makes this believable.

“Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood.” – Nina Simone

As for Dee D Miller’s directorial debut – the characters sometimes veer on the edge of overacting, but except for one scene, in which Damon trashes Nina’s apartment, they don’t go completely over the edge. They are violent, and loud, and shocking, but we never dismiss them because there are always redeeming qualities or actions that remind us that these are real people – the kind of dysfunctional people many of us have in our own families and on the periphery of our own lives. Miller takes us on a ride in a jitney – an unlicensed taxi once popular in neighborhoods like the one Nina lives in, because legitimate taxi drivers were afraid to go there – and delivers us to our destination shaken but for the most part unharmed. And kudos to the design team for Nina’s hootchie-mama wardrobe, six-inch heeled boots, and wig collection.

Oh, and that title? I looked up the meaning of “sunset baby” and found that it refers to a twin that dies before birth. The surviving baby is a “sunrise baby.” Interesting as that may be, it is not at all relevant to Sunset Baby so maybe just save that in case it comes up in a game of trivia. The complete answer would be a spoiler, so I’ll just leave you with this…when Nina was a toddler, she asked,

“Where does the sun go when it disappears?”

For the answer to her question, and the relevant context, you need to go see the show.

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Julinda D. Lewis is a dancer, teacher, and writer who was born in Brooklyn, NY and now lives in Eastern Henrico County. When not writing about theater, she teaches dance history at VCU and low impact dance fitness classes to seasoned movers like herself and occasionally performs.

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SUNSET BABY

By Dominique Morisseau

Directed by Dee D Miller

CAST

Chayla Simpson       ……….           Nina

Mu Cuzzo                  ……….           Damon

Larry Akin Smith      ……….           Kenyatta

CREATIVE TEAM

Direction                   ……….           Dee D Miller

Scenic & Prop Design   .…..           Tariq Karriem

Lighting Design       ……….           Griffin Hardy

Sound Design ………. Jonathan Pratt

Asst Lighting Design/

     Master Electrician ……….          Zeke Brookes

Costume Design      ………..          Elijah Brown

Dramaturgy              ……….           Jasmine Bates

BLK VIRGINIA THEATRE ALLIANCE STAFF

Artistic Director/

     Production Manager      –           Tariq Karriem

Chief of Business Administration-Ayanna Shelton

Producer                               –           Malakai Lee

Creative Producer/

     Director of Costume      –           Elijah Brown

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Friday, April 4           7:30PM          Opening Night

Saturday, April 5      2:30PM

Saturday, April 5      7:30PM          Black Theatre Night/Talk Back

Sunday, April 6        2:30PM

Sunday, April 6        7:30PM

Friday, April 11        7:30PM          Industry Night/Talk Back

Saturday, April 12    2:30PM

Saturday, April 12    7:30PM          Student Night

Sunday, April 13      2:30PM

Sunday, April 13      7:30PM          Closing night

Run Time

About 90 minutes with no intermission