Photo: Michael Brosilow
Antonio Edwards Suarez in the Milwaukee Rep's "Antonio’s Song/I Was Dreaming of a Son"
The cyclical nature of family violence is an all-too-common theme today; passed down, knowingly or unknowingly, generation to generation. So, imagine a new theatrical work that combines song, dance and poetic language and is a tribute to those brought up in such familial violence and then work hard to escape it.
That is the rough-edged yet delicate beauty of Antonio’s Song/I Was Dreaming of a Son making its co-world premiere at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. It is a lyrical ode to the power to overcome life’s circumstances and rise above. And that is exactly what Antonio does.
Written by Dael Orlandersmith and Antonio Edwards Suarez, featuring Suarez in the one-person production, Antonio’s Song showcases the young man as father catching himself in the act of violence and immediately regretting it. Over the course of this 90-minute production (no intermission) we come to understand how, as a child, Antonio was subjected to violence at an early age: in Antonio’s case, an abusive, unloving mother enabled by a passive father. As a child of mixed race, he is neither truly accepted by his Latino or Black friends. But moves cautiously back and forth, immersed in the caustic environs of “toxic masculinity.”
Director Mark Clements has given the production an otherworldly feeling, at first ethereal, floating on Antonio’s hopes of becoming a dancer and dreams of fatherhood. And then, it is as abrupt and gritty and in-your-face as the streets of New York where Antonio moves about. It works given the powerful synergy of language, direction, and in particular the stellar performance by Suarez. His ability to capture the feelings and emotions of the many characters he plays is truly an accomplishment and fascinating to watch. There’s the Harvard teacher that elicits laughter with the simple placement of a hand to the face. Or little sister, “Pinky,” saying so much with so little: simply by the innocent, concise tone of her childlike questioning.
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But ultimately, there’s the many layers to Antonio himself: the stage character and the real-life actor. Where does one end? And where does the other begin? We wonder as we watch him trying to do better and to break the emotional chains that bind.
Antonios’s Song/I Was Dreaming of a Son is a testament to those who recognize and work toward positive change in their own lives. And that we can realize our dreams if, once we attain them, we nurture them as well.
Antonios’s Song/I Was Dreaming of a Son runs through March 6 in the Stiemke Studio, 108 E. Wells St. For tickets, call 414-224-9490 or visit: milwaukeerep.com.
