Displaying items by tag: Ashli Rene Funches

The Goodman Theatre’s Covenant announces York Walker as a playwright ascending rapidly into the highest tier of American theater. This is not simply an impressive new work; it is the kind of play that reminds audiences why live theater remains uniquely capable of unsettling the spirit. Walker has written something rare: a Southern Gothic thriller steeped equally in folklore, faith, desire, and dread. Under the extraordinary direction of Malkia Stampley - arguably some of the finest work of her already remarkable career - the production unfolds with hypnotic control and devastating emotional precision.

Set in 1936 Georgia, Covenant begins with Ruthie’s haunting declaration: “Everybody got a secret.” That line becomes the pulse beneath the entire production. Secrets saturate every corner of Walker’s world. Desire hides beneath scripture. Fear hides beneath righteousness. Love hides beneath suspicion. And every revelation threatens to crack the play wide open.

Walker’s writing is lyrical without becoming self-conscious, poetic without sacrificing danger. His dialogue moves like music - earthy, funny, intimate, and increasingly ominous. The play’s supernatural undertones never overpower its humanity. Instead, Walker roots every eerie moment in emotional truth. The result is a suspenseful theatrical experience that genuinely keeps the audience on edge. Spooky, suspenseful plays this good are rare. Even rarer are ones disciplined enough not to betray themselves too early. The less one knows going in, the better. This production rewards surrender.

Stampley directs with astonishing confidence. She understands that terror often lives in silence, stillness, and suggestion. The production breathes with tension. Every pause feels loaded. Every gesture seems to carry spiritual consequence. The prayer sequences become almost ritualistic choreography, while scenes of intimacy hum with equal parts longing and danger. Stampley masterfully balances the play’s realism and its creeping nightmare logic without allowing either to overpower the other.

The production’s technical elements are equally exceptional. Set designer Ryan Emens creates a sparse wooden structure dominated by a cross front and center, a deceptively simple design that transforms effortlessly, with the addition of a few pieces of furniture, into both a humble church and a family home. Costume designer Evelyn M. Danner has clearly done her homework; the costumes feel authentically rooted in the period without ever appearing overly theatrical. The lighting design by Gina Patterson becomes an entirely new character in the production. Patterson’s work shapes mood and terror with remarkable precision, particularly during a stunning sequence involving thunder, lightning, and pouring rain that sends a chill through the audience. Complementing it beautifully is Dee Etti-Williams’ sound design, which works in haunting tandem with the lighting to create an atmosphere of gathering doom.

Ashli René Funches in Covenant at Goodman Theatre. Photo by Hugo Hentoff.

The all-Chicago cast is exceptional from top to bottom.

Debo Balogun delivers magnetic work as Johnny “Honeycomb” James, a wandering blues musician whose charm conceals depths the audience is never fully certain it understands. Balogun’s performance is seductive, wounded, and quietly terrifying all at once. He understands the danger of charisma.

As Ruthie, Ashli Renè Funches gives the production its emotional anchor. Her narration draws us into the story with heartbreaking vulnerability, and her slow awakening to the darkness surrounding her becomes deeply affecting.

Jaeda Lavonne is luminous as Avery, a young woman desperate to escape the suffocating boundaries of her world. Lavonne beautifully captures Avery’s hunger for freedom while allowing fear and spiritual confusion to shadow every choice she makes.

As Violet, Felicia Oduh brings sharp intelligence, humor, and emotional volatility to the stage. Violet often functions as the play’s skeptic and truth-teller, and Oduh gives her a raw immediacy that keeps the character from becoming merely symbolic.

Then there is Anji White as Mama. White disappears entirely into the role. Her performance is extraordinary in its complexity - unyielding, terrifying, wounded, and deeply tragic. Mama could easily become a caricature of religious severity, but White reveals the grief and horror buried underneath her righteousness. Her monologues land like thunderclaps.

What makes Covenant especially impressive is how fully it trusts the audience. Walker refuses easy answers. The play constantly asks whether evil is supernatural, inherited, psychological, or self-created. Is the devil real in this world? Or do people simply need something external to blame for the violence they carry inside themselves? The play never simplifies those questions.

And then comes the ending.

Do not spoil it for yourself. Do not let anyone spoil it for you. The audience will not see it coming.

Covenant is beautifully written, beautifully acted, and beautifully told. It lingers long after the lights go down, like a whispered warning you cannot quite forget.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

When: Through May 31 *Now extended though June 7th

Where: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St.

Runtime: 140 minutes (no intermission)

Tickets: $24-$44

Info: www.goodmantheatre.org

Box Office: 312-443-3800

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