Lenora B. Fulani Makes Her Acting Debut At The Castillo Theatre

By Deardra Shuler
Photo by Ronald L. Glassman

“Mr. Hirsch Died Yesterday” at the Castillo Theatre, located at 543 West 42nd Street in Manhattan, but lives on spectacularly through the lively cast consisting of Lindsay Arber, Dana Berger, Zoe Geltman, Ben Prayz, Debbie Buchsbaum, Joseph Mallon, Katya Pucci, Moshe Yassur, Reynaldo Piniella and community activist Lenora Fulani, in her debut role. Renowned producer Woodie King, Jr., also makes his debut as director in this production. King skillfully etches a course through history and the nature of human kind which makes the show a thought provoking piece of theatre.

The audience is not told Mr. Hirsch’s history or what he suffered in life to make him become a disheveled, unshaven, unpleasant and angry old man. We assume he came out of the era of Nazi Germany. We know he is a contradiction because despite his bitterness, he co-owns a sweet shop. His partner is his brother-in-law and complete opposite. Mr. Hoffman (Joseph Mallon) is well liked, while Mr. Hirsch (Moshe Yassur) is not.

Widowed, Hirsch claims he dislikes the children who come to his sweet shop, yet he makes certain that he orders the cherry marshmallow candy he knows they like. Although he might grumble when asked, he lends money to the children and donates money to charity. Yet he is slandered as a phony by the ruthless Sadie Greenberg (Freda Greenberg’s mother) whose own behavior is unsavory. One is made aware of the duality of personality and circumstance as the “nice” and “not so nice” co-mingle throughout the performance.

Those around Hirsch rarely look beneath the surface, content to keep judgmental and critical banter ongoing. This overall dislike toward Hirsch by the kids and parents who frequent the malt shop does not serve to dissuade his sense of hopelessness, or uplift or change the negative climate around Hirsch who eventually orchestrates his own demise.

One might note that the negativity and demonstrated violence that existed in Hirsch’s time continues to exist in this time. There is a tendency to blame the victim and seek to divide rather than work together for a common goal and/or positive outcome benefiting the whole rather than the few. This attitude of laissez-faire within the population to accept rather than challenge, demonstrates a general refusal to admit that lack of action only results in the continued status quo.

Playwright Fred Newman suggests via his play, that as much as events and technology have changed, people have relatively remained the same. Hirsch does nothing to improve his circumstances making the choice to lie dormant rather than take responsibility for his morose state. Those around him comment on Hirsch’s lack of niceness while demonstrating their own mean-spirited behavior; something we see all too often in recent time.

“Mr. Hirsch Died Yesterday” is a period piece that takes us through several wars, human rights, counterculture and the social revolution of the 1960s. The 1970s saw an outcry to end the Vietnam War. It heralded in the “Me decade” which saw Americans leaning toward atomized individualism and away from communitarianism in direct contrast to the 1960s. The 1980s, gave us Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher and a move away from morals. The idea that “greed” was a good thing became popular. The 1990s brought in the Post Modern Age, ushering in a proliferation of new media and the Internet. The 2000 decade found globalism, terrorism, unemployment, war, and the Bush Administration’s dismantling of America; a taint upon the prior generation’s efforts to win equal rights and freedom clandestinely overturned by the Patriotic Act while a sleeping and gullible America irresponsibly let fear mongering deny them of their inalienable rights.

Psychologist, psychotherapist, political activist, and All Stars Project founder, Lenora Fulani, does a believable job in the role of the older black Freda as does the younger Jewish Freda played by Lindsay Arber. One cannot take this play literally or at face value since there are varied shades to this play. There are many allegories and metaphors threaded throughout the show that state whatever our challenges and differences may be, ultimately we are the same and share the same history. History is not experienced by an individual alone but by all of us. It is society as a whole that decides their future and whether we make choices to put our governance in another’s hands or become accountable ourselves. In the long run, we are ultimately responsible for what we allow the outcome to be.

I surmise that Mr. Newman via his play attempts to inform us that change is the only constant in life. Thus, there is a need to let the harmful attitudes of the past die so that the future can be reborn in newer and more beneficial ways.

“Mr. Hirsch Died Yesterday,” runs until February 20th. Be sure to catch it.