In 'Antonio's Song' at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, a man shaped by violence finds a way to move forward
Early in "Antonio's Song / I Was Dreaming of a Son," Antonio Edwards Suarez recounts the stress-filled moment when he slapped his 5-year-old son. Poised to hit the boy even harder, Suarez breaks down and begins to excavate the personal history that brought him to this crisis.
Milwaukee Repertory Theater's production, which opened Friday, is a deep and personal dive into the formation of a man, and the relationship between masculinity and violence. Suarez wrote this seemingly autobiographical one-man play with Dael Orlandersmith. Mark Clements directed, with movement direction by Alexandra Beller. Suarez is a dancer as well as an actor and writer; his supple movements are a critical part of the show.
Few people looking at his boyhood years would have imagined his future life as a self-aware performer. Growing up in Brooklyn to a Black father and a Puerto Rican mother, he doesn't feel completely at home with either identity. One parent has sickle cell disease, the other post-polio syndrome.
There is violence at home, too (and I was surprised at the source of it), clearly rising out of deep depression. Post-show responder De'Shawn Ewing aptly described "Antonio's Song" as a story about hurt people hurting people.
Self-conscious about being small and having a high-pitched voice, Suarez does things against his better nature to fit in with other males on the street, "trying to be a big boy with my ditty bop/swagger," he puts it.
But he only starts to become a real, individuated man when he walks his own walk, instead of copying other dudes' bop. His nascent artistry is fanned by good friend Curtis, a fellow actor. He discovers the great dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, an inspiration that will lead him from far from Bushwick's mean streets. And in a moment when he might have thrown it all away, a key intervention from family saves him.
Always moving, Suarez works alone onstage against a backdrop of evocative projections designed by Jared Mezzocchi, deftly slipping in and out of the voices and postures of characters in his stories.
The conclusion of "Antonio's Song" does not neatly resolve the incident portrayed at the beginning. But it gives me hope that this man has found a graceful way to move forward.
As part of the Rep's Act II program, Wednesday and Thursday performances will be followed by 5-minute responses from an invited speaker. Audience members will also be invited on those days to stay after the show for 30-minute dialogue circles facilitated by the Zeidler Group. Learn more about Act II programing on the Rep website.
Contact Jim Higgins at jim.higgins@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @jhiggy.
If you go
Milwaukee Repertory Theater performs "Antonio's Song / I Was Dreaming of a Son" through March 6 at the Stiemke Studio, 108 E. Wells St. For tickets, visit milwaukeerep.com or call (414) 224-9490. Proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test required. Masks required.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: In 'Antonio's Song,' man shaped by violence finds way to move forward
