‘Skeleton Crew’ Review: Phylicia Rashad, Chanté Adams Shine in Vibrant, Profoundly Layered Play
variety.comAyanna Prescod The playwright Dominique Morisseau knows what she is doing. That’s clear not only because she says it so convincingly in her Playbill note for Manhattan Theatre Club’s production of “Skeleton Crew,” but because she writes this moving drama with pristine delicacy and develops its characters with rigorous detail and tact.
Under the masterful direction of Ruben Santiago-Hudson, “Skeleton Crew” presents a vibrant cast, poetic dialogue and profoundly layered storytelling that move the audience to audibly engage.After a successful run Off Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company in 2016, Morisseau’s final installment of her blistering Detroit trilogy (also including “Detroit ’67” and “Paradise Blue”) has arrived on Broadway in a new production. “Skeleton Crew” offers a microscopic look at the work lives of four Black employees at an automotive stamping plant in Detroit in the midst of the 2008 recession.
The Motor City once held more than 200,000 jobs for the working class in auto plants run by Chrysler, Ford and General Motors, but Morisseau thrusts the audience into the once-booming industry at a time of decline.
The auto plant where characters Faye, Dez, Shanita and Reggie work is the last one standing, and everyone’s job is at risk. Detroit was one of the most important destinations for Black migrants from the south because of the vast work opportunities, but Black people who were hired for auto industry jobs found themselves in undesirable and more dangerous positions like those at the stamping plant.
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