”The Coffin Maker” is an exciting play for a number of reasons. It serves as the finale for Pittsburgh Public Theater’s current season, and it is also a world premiere, written by Pittsburgh playwright — and founder of Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company — Mark Clayton Southers. Inspired by August Wilson, Southers is creating a cycle of 19th-century set plays similar to Wilson’s “Pittsburgh Cycle.”
Set in 1849 in the territory that is now Oklahoma, “The Coffin Maker” is an often-hilarious, often-brutal entry in that series.
The action of the play is centered in the home and workshop of freedman Lawrence Ebitt (Garbie Dukes), where he and his wife, the still-enslaved Eula (Robin R. McGee), make coffins and prepare the dead for burial. Their world is shaken when a bounty hunter, Evan Wainwright Hollister (Randy Kovitz), brings them the body of a Black man (Brandon St. Clair) — accused of multiple murders — whose bounty he means to collect.
The Ebitts get more than they bargained for when it turns out that things with this particular burial are not what they appear.
What follows is a surprising tale of revenge with a number of twists and turns and some uproariously funny moments — and some that are, well, dead serious.
It is crucial to note that Pittsburgh Public Theater has rated this play “MA” for “mature audiences.” They recommend it for theatergoers 18 and older, and with good reason. The contents of the riveting two hours and 20 minutes of “The Coffin Maker” are frank and often truly brutal, dealing with the realities of slavery in ways that are historically accurate but still difficult. It is a play well worth seeing, and a history of great importance, but potential attendees should be aware.
It requires the delicate hand of a truly inspired playwright to deftly weave together comedy and violence the way that Mark Clayton Southers did with this work, and a cast of talented actors to pull it off. Dukes and McGee have a dynamite dynamic as married couple Lawrence and Eula, both playfully antagonistic and sweet. Dukes plays the most conflicted character in the play, and he does it with nuance. Eula as a character is a woman with deeply-held Christian convictions, but who also has moments of anger and vulnerability, and McGee’s stage presence is compelling through every scene.
Randy Kovitz, as Hollister the bounty hunter, is aloof and no-nonsense, caring more about the death of his horse than the human life he took for money. It is a challenging role, but Kovitz faces it head-on and does an admirable job.
The second act features Connor McCanlus in the role of Buchannon, a photographer who comes to the Ebitts’ workspace to take pictures of the man Hollister killed as proof for the bounty. With some of the funniest lines of the whole play — and a couple of expertly-done pratfalls to boot — McCanlus is a fantastic addition to the cast.
It’s impossible to discuss the role that Brandon St. Clair plays without some spoilers. Suffice it to say that he, as a man who has spent his life in slavery and seeks revenge, gives the production’s most memorable performance. He commands the attention of the entire room with every monologue and certainly elicited audible gasps and reactions from Sunday’s audience.
Director Monteze Freeland also had the task of balancing the comedy and drama of “The Coffin Maker,” and his direction made so many of those transitions possible, especially in moments of physical comedy — and impressive fight choreography. The set — by scenic designer Tony Ferrieri — was like its own character in the play, bringing visual gags to life and often aiding a vital hand to plot revelations. It may consist of the workshop and a balcony that served as the Ebitts’ bedroom, but it was also effective in its simplicity.
Lighting designer Latrice Lovett, sound designer Bill Toles and costume designer Venise St. Pierre all deserve praise for contributing to a stage that truly felt like a living, breathing place. Small touches, including audible cricket chirping when a character opens the door that fades away once it closes again, are a great example of this.
The production also has great use of music, both recorded between scenes and sung beautifully by McGee and Dukes at several points throughout the play.
Getting to spend a couple of hours with these characters isn’t easy, but it is enjoyable and rewarding. It may not be for the faint of heart, but “The Coffin Maker” is an important window into a time and place well worth examination. Southers has done August Wilson proud.
“The Coffin Maker” runs through June 16 at the O’Reilly Theater in downtown Pittsburgh. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit ppt.org.
Alexis Papalia is a TribLive staff writer. She can be reached at apapalia@triblive.com.