‘Kill Move Paradise’ is the 2017 play written by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright James Ijames and enjoying its SoCal debut at the Odyssey Theater in West Los Angeles.
We are introduced to the young men as each one drops onto the set, a cosmic waiting room, as if they were an envelope being dropped into the neighborhood mailbox headed to its final destination.
The waiting room is the conduit to their final destination – the after life – which Ijames describes as being “reminiscent of Elysium” – the Greek paradise inhabited by only the most heroic or virtuous souls.
They find themselves going back in time wondering how they wound up in this “room” with no way out. The audience are “the watchers”. Voyeurs’ who they believe are rejoicing in their pain as they wait for the unexpected.
Over 80 minutes Ijames does an excellent job of explaining the plight of Black men who at times are taken away from their life before they have been able to achieve all that lies ahead of them. Far too many are losing their lives at the hands of a violent encounter with a police officer many through no fault of their own.
Ijames take the time to uplift the memories of the many Black men and women whose lives were taken at the hands of police by reciting all of their names which has been updated to include the many names who came after the creation of Kill Move Paradise.
Kill Move Paradise is a thought provoking masterpiece that will keep audiences engaged and critically thinking about the phrase “Black Lives Matter” and its deeper meaning portrayed through the lens of Isa (Ulato Sam), Daz (Ahkei Togun), Grif (Jonathan P. Sims) and Tiny (Cedric Joe) who play, sing, tease and uplift one another, even as they’re forced to confront how they arrived in this unearthly place.
“I wanted to create a space in which the humanity of the people on stage is undeniable,” Ijames said in an interview. “These characters embody all the ways in which we try to be human. They are jealous, they are kind, they are maternal and paternal, they are pushed physically to the edge of something and then fall. I always say that I hope this play becomes obsolete one day. That’s like a crazy thing for a playwright to say. But I hope one day that people will say we don’t need to do this play anymore because we are different. We are better.”
Director Greg T. Daniel, known for roles on True Blood and Insecure, did an outstanding job of bringing the actors into character for their roles to deliver powerful dialogue on such a mentally exhausting topic.
“Kill Move Paradise deals with ongoing violence against Black and Brown people in a highly original and unique way,” says Daniel. “The audience will laugh… while also feeling invested in the pain our heroes are feeling. We relate to these four young men as they find the humor in their situation, celebrate their culture, and revel in one another. It’s hard to hate someone when you get to know them. This is a kind of politically motivated theater I haven’t seen in some time.”
Performances of Kill Move Paradise take place on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. through November 3. There will be two additional weeknight performances, on Wednesday, Sept. 25 and Wednesday, Oct. 16, each at 8 p.m. and each of which will be followed by a post-show discussion.
The Odyssey Theatre is located at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles, 90025. Tickets range from $20 to $40, with an additional $3 per ticket fee if using a credit card.
For more information and to purchase tickets, call (310) 477-2055 or go to OdysseyTheatre.com.
