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REVIEW: HOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED BY CONGO SQUARE THEATRE IS
WISDOM ON BEING BLACK IN AMERICA  
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Kathy D. Hey
April 23, 2024
third coast review
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_ Congo Square Theatre presents How I Learned What I Learned by
August Wilson. Harry Lennix is featured in this one-man
autobiographical play about growing up in Pittsburgh and moving
through the experiences that would form him as a man and an artist. _

Harry Lennix, Congo Square Theatre

 

_HOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED, now playing at the Broadway Playhouse,
175 East Chestnut Street, Chicago. The play runs 90 minutes with no
intermission and plays through May 5._

Lennix is a Chicago-born journeyman actor. He is currently appearing
in Purpose
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Steppenwolf Theatre _and_ crushing it in _How I Learned What I
Learned_. Lennix channels Wilson's words with passion and ease. He
enters wearing a t-shirt that says "I am actually white" on the front,
and on the back "I was an accident that didn't turn out well." He
casually lets it slip that he got it from Clarence Thomas, setting the
stage for truth-telling with an undercurrent of confrontation about
the forced disappearance of Black culture through appropriation and
poverty. Lennix's performance is imbued with the gravitas of August
Wilson's unique truth-telling. It is poetically blunt and possibly
unsettling to those who think they have the "race thing" all figured
out.

Harry Lennix. Photo courtesy Congo Square Theatre.

He reads a description of Black people from an old _Webster's
Dictionary_ and it is odious. They are subhuman, lazy, sex-obsessed,
stupid, and a laundry list of other demeaning characteristics
according to white people. Of course, white people are described as
hard-working, God-fearing, salt of the earth, honest, etc. A murmur of
recognition ran through the mostly Black audience.

Wilson's wisdom and gift of words spin a tale of his youth and young
adulthood. Lennix excels at the '60s-'70s swagger with an innate cool
factor familiar to most who lived through that time. His performance
is even-keeled and exudes memories of the Black Power movement's
influence. Lennix looks at the audience as if speaking to each person
and looking them in the eye. His posture and movement evoke visions of
Wilson in his cap or his slightly crumpled trench jacket. It is a
superb performance.

His series of jobs mostly ended with him quitting because of
disrespect. One manager told him he would shoot him if he caught him
stealing. He quit a dishwashing job, a toy store job for a bankrupt
owner, and other menial labor available for Black people. Of course,
he does get jailed for cutting the lock on his apartment after falling
a month behind on the rent. It is recounted that a mentor told Wilson
who to call _when _he got put in jail, not _if._

The stories are a universal truth of what it means to be Black in this
country and to demand respect in all things even at the prospect of
bodily harm or as we all have witnessed—death. Wilson spoke truths
that reveal what is now called microaggression instead of racism. The
one that needs to be on repeat is when someone says, "I don't see
color." That is bullshit because the words being spoken negate a
person's Blackness and create a status more comfortable in a society
built on white supremacy. Lennix speaks these words confidently and
forcefully as Wilson would have.

One of the more egregious incidents of racism was against his mother,
Daisy. His mother won a call-in radio contest with the prize being a
brand new Speed Queen washer. When she went to claim her prize and the
station owners saw that she was Black, they gave her a certificate for
a used washer from the Salvation Army. She told them where to put it
despite her friend telling her that it was _something _better than
not having it. She got a dime from her purse and dropped it in a saved
mayonnaise jar. Daisy told her son, "Something is _not _better than
nothing." They had saved enough in one year to buy that brand-new
Speed Queen washer.

Lennix's expressive face projects deep grief as he says when you lose
your mother you realize you have been living on her love. It is what
kept him going. Daisy was his refuge when his back was against the
wall. It was a revealing look into what made August Wilson the writer
who best told the stories of the African American experience on the
stage.

Harry Lennix. Photo courtesy Congo Square Theatre.

_How I Learned What I Learned_ is directed by Ken-Matt Martin
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Victory Gardens Theater.. His direction is well-paced and Lennix's
movement and stance are reminiscent of Wilson in photos. The set by
Sydney Lynne Thomas is filled with props designed by Lonnae Hickman.
It is filled with books, comfortable chairs, and a roll-top desk. A
qwerty keyboard above the stage shows projections designed by Rasean
Davonté Johnson listing the characters recalled in the play. The
lighting design by Jason Lynch was evocative of the '60s and '70s in
my mind. The blue lights called to mind the black lights and I could
almost smell the "Blue Sonata" incense. Some of the lighting gave a
sepia-tone vibe.

At the end of the play, a projected list of Wilson's plays was
projected and I found that to be a poignant moment. The Pittsburgh
Cycle and his other works were projected on both sides of the stage.
All of that brilliance from the mind of a man who did not compromise
and believed that respect is a presumed reaction when you meet another
person, and sometimes you demand it.

I highly recommend you see _How I Learned What I Learned, _now
playing at the Broadway Playhouse, 175 E. Chestnut St.. The play runs
90 minutes with no intermission and plays through May 5. For tickets
and more information, please visit Congo Square Theatre
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* Theater Review
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* August Wilson
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* African American culture
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* Pittsburgh
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