Reviews for Goldman Project, The

The average rating for Goldman Project, The based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-10-12 00:00:00 Jeff Lemmer 3.5 stars This is my second expedition into a Lynn Nottage play and while I find there her plays possess great potential and have great stories, they would benefit much more if they were longer and allowed their stories to flow. It is like an Italian sub with a thick bread and only one slice of each cold cut with piles of lettuce, tomato, and onion that you would hope would make up for it. At the same time, this is still a pretty good play. There is a lot to ponder about the circumstances of black people during the 1950s and in this case a recently widowed man trying to provide the best possible life to his two daughters. Godfrey Crump is the widowed man we are speaking of and his two daughters are Ernestine, who is about ready to graduate high school, and Ermina, his younger, somewhat outspoken daughter. Ernestine also provides a sense of narration as she talks to the audience to provide a landscape to their story. This helps me the reader follow the play a bit easier. Godfrey's pursuits are somewhat questionable, first seek salvation from a paid service from a certain Father Divine and will later step aside and return with a second wife that he found on the subway named Gerte, who is German. Upon his arrival to Brooklyn, his sister-in-law, Lily, moves in to help out, but her values are far different from Godfrey's. Lily is more determined, fights for her beliefs, and is not afraid of her Communist connections. Ernestine and Ermina see great inspiration from Lily, much to Godfrey's dismay, and this play creates a clash of values and determining what is right and if there is such definition. There is a lot to examine within this text, from the names of the characters to how each character goes about responding to the problems regarding their race. Godfrey and Lily both approach things oppositely and in some cases they are in the right, while in others they are in the wrong. In other cases, whether or not one would agree with one side or the other would be up to that person's beliefs. This play is not for everyone, especially those that have strong opinions and especially those that are heavy on the political right. Again, though, it would have benefited heavily if it was longer. The intentions were strong, but the execution could have been more fleshed out. The potential energy within the characters was fiery and they were solid enough so that we can spend a nice amount of time with each, but the kinetic energy left me the reader wanting more. Mlima's Tale was the other play I have read by Lynn Nottage and this was a better play in its ability to follow and how it felt more like a play. The direction was clearer so that I had a general idea as to how this was taking place in my head. I would be up to watching this on the stage, but I could see myself yearning for more.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-08-07 00:00:00 John Griffin Lynn Nottage, one of America's foremost playwrights, has created a nostalgic look at a slice of The Great Migration with Crumbs From the Table of Joy. Centered on the Crump family who have moved from Florida to New York City in the 1950's, eldest daughter, Ernestine, is our protagonist. Her father, Godfrey, now a widower, has relocated the family following his wife, Sandra's, death in hopes that Father Divine's Peace Mission Movement will help supply answers to his many questions about life that burden him in the wake of her passing. Godfrey's sister-in-law, Lily, already transplanted to New York, reacquaints herself with her sister's family in a semi-permanent manner. Lily opens Ernestine's and her younger sister, Ermina's, eyes to the ways of less subordinate women - a trait more agreeable to Ermina than to Ernestine. Lily also stirs up unforgotten passions in Godfrey from when they had mutual interest in each other, but their own deep seated problems interfere with any hope for reconnecting. In his quandary over Lily and Sandra, Godfrey meets and marries Gerte, a recently immigrated German woman who is white. All the intersecting complications of their disparate lives in Brooklyn culminate in the midst of Ernestine's high school graduation. The play bears a weighty and wistful melancholy that is very effective in telling a story that is so ethno- and gender centric. The blending of post-war African-American and European Jewish perspectives makes for an intriguing dynamic. Nottage's hand at melding humor and lament into her writing is exceedingly well developed.