UNLV’s human, hard-hitting ‘Seven Guitars’ sticks with you

Nevada Conservatory Theatre's "Seven Guitars," written by August Wilson in 1996, is the sort of production a conservatory should aspire to.

Guest director Christopher V. Edwards succeeds at showing us, through the story of an aspiring singer, the three major battles his seven characters are fighting: the oppression from 1948 Pittsburgh white society, the dog-eat-dog mentality that results, and the self-hatred that prejudice inflicts.

Edwards captures Wilson's surprising humor, which feels born of the street. When the characters -- most of whom live in apartments in the same tenement -- make idle chitchat in a backyard, you never know when some seemingly harmless remark will result in drawn guns and knives. Though you laugh regularly, Edwards makes it clear minor events are going to lead to calamity. The final, quiet image at the final curtain that sums up the play's themes is a moment I'm not sure I'll ever get out of my head and heart.

The cast comprises union and student actors, but Edwards makes you feel they all belong together. A union thespian who goes by the name "ranney" plays Hedley, a big man with a gentleness matched only by his anger. The closer you are to the proscenium stage, the more you can enjoy the simplicity of his multifaceted work.

Faculty member Rayme Cornell is especially adept as the outspoken Louise when she listens. There's nothing wrong with her talking, either, but it's riveting to read the other characters through her face. She gives you, without flash, her unspoken opinion of everyone around her.

Faculty member Nate Bynum is the charismatic Red Carter, and the way he prances about in his fancy coat and confident style makes you believe he's a man who well knows this psychological territory.

Shannon Moore's beautifully cramped patchwork representation of a yard never allows us to forget the physical environment these people are trying to conquer.

Edwards and his actors bring a musicality to Wilson's prose that still manages to feel like ordinary speech. I felt these actors really grew up together in this tough town. It makes the script all the more hard-hitting and human.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at vegastheaterchat@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.