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Interview with Ramin Coles
Executive Chef of Sweet Home Café at
The Natual Museum of African American History and Culture
June 18, 2022
Jordan Wright
Special to The Zebra
 Photos Courtesy of Restaurant Associates New Jersey native and longtime DC Metro area resident, Executive Chef Ramin Coles started out at Academie de Cuisine a mere two weeks out of high school. From there he earned an externship at the Clyde’s Group in Chevy Chase, later cooking at Kincaid’s where the legendary Bob Kincaid taught the teenager both cooking and life lessons. Staying in the area and working under some of DC’s best-known chefs, Coles partnered with Chef Tracy O’Grady to compete in the prestigious international Bocuse d’Or championship. With such diverse and extraordinary experiences under his belt, he went on to work with Jeff Black at Black Salt and then Black Market and credits him as the person who gave him the confidence to develop his own recipe ideas. From that intense growth period Coles went on to Founding Farmers and later to the catering operation with Wolfgang Puck at The Sunset Room. He is now the Executive Chef at Sweet Home Café.
 Photos Courtesy of Restaurant Associates Wright – Did you learn how to cook from your family members? What are some of your memories of growing up around food?
Coles – My grandmother and mom are both great cooks and my mom would make most anything for me. When I was young, I would sometimes stay with my great-grandmother and she taught me how to make pancakes, because my mom wouldn’t let me eat pancakes. As a family we would go fishing a lot. We would go out on a boat in the Chesapeake Bay and and and my mom would catch rockfish. There was a guy on the dock would scale it and clean it and wrap it up for us. One day my grandmother, who was a seamstress, made the fish with Stovetop stuffing – sewed it up with a needle and thread. It was so delicious. I got to see a lot of different things through them.
When I was a kid my stepfather’s family had food trucks parked at the Smithsonian, so I spent a lot of time around here. I think my dad bribed the guards to look after me so I wouldn’t get kidnapped.
In summers they took me to the Italian neighborhoods in New Jersey where my grandmother made certain I tried a lot of different types of food. One day when I was in Middle School, I robbed a beehive. It was like a Disney cartoon. We cracked open the floorboards at this old house and took out five gallons of honey from the hive – wax and all. My grandmother said we had to process it right away otherwise the bees would follow the honey back to our house.
Wright – How did you decide what to prepare for the Museum’s Juneteenth menu?
Coles – I did some research and the museum jumped on it even before it was named a federal holiday. I was inspired by Texas barbecue. I use red in a lot in the dishes. It’s color of the holiday that stands for the blood of the people or the resilience of the people. So, we highlighted recipes to reflect that and incorporated a few of the recipes from the Sweet Home Café cookbook. It’s the first time we’ve done whole hog barbecue. We’ll serve different sauces on the side. One is made with cherry cola, cherries and chiles that we cook down and then add tomatoes. The mustard sauce represents South Carolina and comes from my stepfather Uncle Oliver’s recipe handed down to my mom and then how I figured it out. The vinegar sauce is from North Carolina. Once on a trip we found a lady selling barbecue out of her barn on white bread with mustard sauce. That was years ago but it was the best I’d ever had.
This interview was condensed and edited for content.
Jersey Boys
The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
June 17, 2022
Jordan Wright
 Photo/Joan Marcus In an era when Motown was delivering hit after hit and Black singing groups ruled the charts, a quartet of Italian kids from the blue-collar town of Belleville, NJ began their journey to stardom. Most of them were small-time crooks who knew a hot hustle when they saw it. Tommy, one of the original members, was street smart enough to keep the others out of the worst kind of trouble, though most of them wound up serving time. After their release, they re-formed, playing local dives and bowling alleys – an arduous route followed by many bands back in the day. How Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons achieved the pinnacle of success and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame defines this Tony, Grammy and Olivier-award winning musical.
Valli’s powerhouse falsetto and the group’s sweet harmonies, set them apart from other groups, but success didn’t come easily. After years as unknown studio backup singers for big recording artists, the group finally found their identity when a young Joe Pesci (Yes! that Joe Pesci.) introduced them to a little-known singer/songwriter named Bob Gaudio, who became the newest member of the group. Under Producer/Hitmaker, Bob Crewe they subsequently churned out megahits and apart from their personal troubles he kept them on the road and on the charts.
 Jersey Boys Thanks to Murray the K, a popular New York City radio disc jockey, the group got airplay of their first release “Sherry” which went straight to the top of Billboard’s pop charts selling one million records. Soon after, the hits and the fans kept coming – “Big Girls Don’t Cry”, “Walk Like a Man”, “Dawn” and dozens more.
Based on their fortunes and misfortunes and the vagaries of their love lives, the plot is the glue that supports the musical numbers. Fans will hear over two dozen of their biggest hits plus a few of their earliest song stylings. Sung by a quartet whose voices are a pitch perfect match to the originals, it comes off as a Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons live concert.
 Photo/Joan Marcus Former original Broadway cast member Jon Hacker plays Frankie. On press night his understudy the fabulous Justin Albinder filled in showing an astonishing falsetto range accompanied by slick dance moves. Expect James Brown-style splits and spins executed in retro sharkskin suits. All the band’s songs are choreographed as are those for a sexy mini-skirted girl group that accompanies the boys on tour. As Tommy puts it, “We put Jersey on the map.”
A high energy concert-style musical set in the retro 60’s and 70’s music scene, it features their greatest hits.
Highly recommended.
(Note: This show is appropriate for ages 12+ only due to strong language throughout.)
 Photo/Joan Marcus Directed by Tony Award-winner Des McAnuff; Book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice; Choreographed by Sergio Trujillo; Music by Bob Gaudio; Lyrics by Bob Crewe; Lighting by Howell Binkley; Costume Design by Jess Goldstein; Orchestrations by Steve Oric, Scenic Design by Klara Zieglerova; Sound Design by Steve Canyon Kennedy. The Jersey Boys Orchestra is directed by Noah Turner and Anthony Brindisi.
Starring Sean McGee as Bob Crewe/Donnie/Accountant/Finney/and others; Matt Faucher as Nick Massi; Eric Chambliss as Bob Gaudio; Devon Goffman as Tommy DeVito; Katie Goffman as Mary Delgado/Angel. The rest of the cast play multiple roles.
Through June 26th at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20566. For tickets and information call 202 467-4600 or visit www.Kennedy-Center.org
Nollywood Dreams
Round House Theatre
Jordan Wright
June 15, 2022
Special to The Zebra
 Yao Dogbe (Gbenga Ezie), Ernaisja Curry (Ayamma Okafor), Renea Brown (Dede Okafor), and Joel Ashur (Wale Owusu) (Photo/Margot Schulman) Fact: Fashioned after India’s Bollywood film industry, Nollywood is the second most productive film industry in the world with over 1,000 movies produced a year.
It’s hard to stress the huge influence of movies over daily life in Nigeria. Watched by millions, they feature formulaic melodramas reminiscent of the early days of Hollywood cinema. A fascination with Nigerian movie stars forms the basis of Nollywood Dreams, a romantic comedy about this gargantuan industry and its stars. Award-winning Ghanaian Playwright Jocelyn Bioh is currently writing the live screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Once on This Island for Disney. She is eager to school us in African culture and she does it with a pencil-sharp wit. “I’m a comedic writer and I think comedy’s simply a funny way of being serious, and I’m able to get across messages that do have a lot of universality to them, even if the people are very specific.”
 Yao Dogbe (Gbenga Ezie), Ernaisja Curry (Ayamma Okafor), Renea Brown (Dede Okafor), and Joel Ashur (Wale Owusu) (Photo/Margot-Schulman) Sisters Dede (Renea S. Brown) and Ayamma (Ernaisja Curry) run their family’s Okafor travel agency in the capitol of Lagos. One day Ayamma hears of an open casting call for the female lead in an upcoming movie by famed Director Gbenga Ezie (Yao Dogbe) starring their girl crush, the handsome Nigerian screen star Wale Owusu (Joel Ashur).
Ayamma, with no prior acting experience yet determined to make her mark, reads for the part with Wale as the love interest. Although Wale finds her adorable and Gbenga sees her as his first choice, the glamorous movie star and Gbenga’s favorite leading actress Fayola (Yetunde Felix-Ukwu) intends to wage battle for the part – even if it takes blackmail or magical powers.
 04 – Joel Ashur (Wale Owusu) and Jacqueline Youm (Adenikeh) (Photo/Margot Schulman) Scenic Designer, Jonathan Dahm Robertson treats us to three sets on a cleverly constructed revolving stage. One for the travel agency, another for Gbenga’s Nollywood Dreams Studios and the third, a television interview set for Adenikah (Jacqueline Youm), Nigeria’s version of Oprah Winfrey. Throughout the story, Adenikah is seen hosting the celebs wearing ever higher dhukus (head-wraps) and resplendent asoebis (dresses) to reflect her star status. All costumes by designer Brandee Mathies are reflective of the African fashions of the day.
Director Raymond O. Caldwell heightens the humor and extracts terrific performances from the well-cast characters who speak in the lovely, lilting patois of Nigeria and display a singular talent for the kind of physical comedy we know from Charlie Chaplin and Lucille Ball.
A super fun, audience participation comedy with a happy ending. What’s not to like?
With Sound Design by Nick Hernandez; Projection Design by Kelly Colburn; and Vocal/Dialect Coach Dawn-Elin Fraser.
Through July 3rd at Round House Theatre, 4545 East-West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814. For tickets and information call the box office at 240 644-1100 or visit www.RoundHouseTheatre.org.
Prelude to a Kiss
The Little Theatre of Alexandria
Jordan Wright
Special to the Alexandria Times
June 7, 2022
 Brianna Goode (Rita), Smithchai Chutchainon (Peter) (Photo/Matthew Randall) A nifty little romantic fantasy this way cometh from The Little Theatre of Alexandria. Prelude to a Kiss is the perfect antidote needed to brush away the quarantine blues. For those who remember the film starring Alec Baldwin and Meg Ryan, this will be a fun and lively reprise. The rom-com with a message penned by playwright/actor Craig Lewis tells the story of a young couple who meet and fall in love in a split second. Rita (Brianna Goode) is a bartender at The Tin Market. Her politics drift towards Socialism. Sorta. She’s an incurable insomniac and lifelong cynic. Peter (Smithchai Chutchainon) on the other hand is conservative yet freewheeling. Will it work out? Think James Carville and Mary Matalin.
 Jon Radulovic (Dr Boyle), Liz Leboo (Mrs Boyle), Smithchai Chutchainon (Peter) (Photo/Matthew Randall) Enter Rita’s parents Dr. Boyle (Jon Radulovic) and his wife Marion (Christine Tankersley). Well-off and living in the tony suburbs of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, they welcome Peter into their lives and after a steamy, whirlwind courtship (the production has an Intimacy Choreographer) the young couple wed. At the wedding a stranger appears, an elderly man (Cliff Rieger) who kisses the bride and wishes her well. But the stranger’s kiss takes Rita’s innocent soul and transfers his to her. I flashed back to the Disney film Freaky Friday that employs a similar conceit wherein the mother switches bodies and teenage, angsty experiences with her daughter.
 Smithchai Chutchainon (Peter), Brianna Goode (Rita), Amber Kelly-Hevard (waiter) (Photo/Matthew Randall) On their Jamaican honeymoon, Peter quickly notices that his wife has become both feisty and fearless and resolves to get to the bottom of her peculiar transformation. “It’s as if she had switched channels,” he observes. The “new” Rita tries to convince Peter that she is the same person and when they return from Jamaica, she reads the real Rita’s old journals to mimic her behavior and attempt to regain Peter’s love. How Peter bravely tries to restore Rita to her true self demonstrates the power of love.
There are some excellent performances most especially by Radulovic who has a history of performing in some of DC’s leading theaters and shows his pro acting chops here; Rieger who delivers an impassioned soliloquy on Life and Death in Act II; Liz Leboo who came in at the last minute to replace Tankersley and whom I hope we’ll see a lot more of; the shirtlessly sexy and wonderfully intense Chutchainon who shines when he breaks the fourth wall in search of the truth; and Goode who proves to be the perfect sultry and vulnerable complement to Peter.
 Smithchai Chutchainon (Peter), Brianna Goode (Rita) (Photo/Matthew Randall) With Casey Knisley as Taylor; Joey Pierce as Tom; Brendan Chaney as Uncle Fred; Deja Elliott as Aunt Dorothy; Amber Kelly-Herard as Waiter; and Kelly Trott as Leah.
Produced by Carol Strachan and Alan Wray; Directed by Maggie Mumford; Set Design by Peter Mumford; Lighting Design by JK Lighting Design; Sound Design by David Correia; Costume Design by Mary Wallace; and Intimacy Choreographer, Ruben Vellekoop.
Through June 25th at The Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. For tickets and information call the box office at 703 683-0496 or visit www.TheLittleTheatre.com. Strict COVID protocols are in place for all performances. Check the website for details.
A Monster Calls
The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Jordan Wright
May 31, 2022
Special to The Zebra
 Photo/Manuel Harlan Don’t be confused by the title of this play and the fact that the author, Patrick Ness, a multi-award-winning writer of children and adult literature whose work went into Spiderman and Star Wars, also created and wrote the 8-part series Doctor Who. A Monster Calls is a superbly crafted, deeply emotional thriller about a British teenager whose nightmares and dreamscapes threaten to overwhelm him. It is a story of love and loss of pain and growth, perfect for teens and adults alike.
While his mother (Bridgette Amofah) endures endless cancer treatments, Conor (Anthony Aje) stumbles through life as if in a daze. It doesn’t help that his remarried father (Tom Lorcan) lives thousands of miles away in America. Wracked with the fear of losing her and the guilt of dwelling on her demise, Conor struggles to both process and express his feelings. He marks his days assuaging his pain by allowing the school bullies to beat him up, turning his back on the only friend who wants to protect him. His nights are filled with dread as the Monster (Keith Gilmore) appears to him in his sleep guiding and filling him with stories of impossible feats and ultimate heroism. “I come to heal you,” the Monster proclaims through stories of dragons, princesses and ancient lore that fill Conor’s fitful dreams.
 Photo/Manuel Harlan Gripping from the get-go, it is at once frightening, powerful and utterly engaging. You do not want to miss a split second. I had to remind myself to breathe. The stirring plot toggles between tender scenes of mother and son and the intensity of wildly colorful video dream projections; explosive sound, smoke and strobe effects; and eerie (at times Gregorian, at others like Sting) electronika music. This is edge-of-your-seat stuff. I absolutely loved it.
Metaphors abound with the use of massive ropes which dangle from the rafters and substitute for objects and emotions. Cast members use them to encircle their bodies, slide down them and raise themselves up to the top through creatively choreographed movements. The rest of the cast sits on either side of the stage handing off a bowl of cereal, a quart of milk, a school uniform and other mundane objects.
 Photo/Manuel Harlan Most impressive are the young actor Anthony Aje whose agility and ability to morph from poignant to terrified is amazingly cool, Greg Bernstein as Conor’s brutal enemy Harry whose anger-fueled rants keep Conor meek, and Keith Gilmore as the Monster whose physical athleticism and ferocity are galvanic.
This all-British production is highly recommended.
 Photo/Manuel Harlan With Greg Bernstein as Harry; Eleanor Kane as Lily; Sarah Quist as Ms. Godfrey; Lauran Rae as Sully; Anita Reynolds as Grandma; Paul Sockett as Mr. Marl; and Nathaniel Christian as Anton. All cast members except Conor double in the ensemble.
Based on the novel by Patrick Ness; Inspired by an idea by Siobhan Dowd; Adapted by Sally Cookson and Adam Peck; Set Design by Michael Vale; Director/Co-Adaptor Sally Cookson; Composer Benji Bowser; Lighting Designer Aideen Malone; Costume Designer Katie Sykes; Video Designer Dick Straker; Aerial Director Matt Costain; Sound Designer Mike Beer; Puppetry Laura Cubitt; Originating Producer Old Vic and British Old Vic.
Through June 12th at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20566. For tickets and information call 202 467-4600 or visit www.Kennedy-Center.org.
Our Town
Shakespeare Theatre Company
Jordan Wright
May 28, 2022
Special to The Zebra
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a production of Thornton Wilder’s American classic, Our Town. Chances are it was a high school production. Maybe you could say the same. I’ll even venture to guess either you’ve been in this play or seen someone you know perform it. Written in 1938 and set at the turn of the 20th C in a small town in New Hampshire, Wilder draws on his New England roots to embrace the ordinariness of diurnal family life in Grover’s Corners. The zeitgeist captures the essence of the American family unit reminiscent of the homogenized 1950’s – think Norman Rockwell. Kids go to school, the milkman delivers, newspapers arrive by a boy on his bike and the whole family eats dinner together every night. To present this drama, Director Alan Paul employs a local and very diverse cast, a departure from casting big name, out-of-town actors. Lately, there’s been a demand for theaters to use locals in the cast and crew, and some directors have risen to the challenge. As Paul said on opening night, “Making theater now is kind of like a radical act.” And, I’d suggest, a gamble.
Local actors Holly Twyford, Natascia Diaz, Felicia Curry, Jake Loewenthal, Lawrence Redmund, Craig Wallace, Sarah C. Marshall and Erin Posner are a known commodity to those of us who have seen them in a variety of roles at many local theaters. Collectively, they can boast numerous Helen Hayes Awards and their performances and characters are as finely tuned here as in any of their previous work. That said, I’m not at all sure audiences are ready to embrace an old chestnut like Our Town which leans heavily toward White nostalgia for suburban life in the early Edwardian era. Is this what post-COVID audiences are looking for from dramatic productions? It seems to me audiences are looking to explore more complex themes, chuckle over satire and/or tap into the struggles of different cultures with eyes wide open. We expect to be immersed in something deeper in a play. What is universal in Our Town is the message of hopes denied and dreams deferred, but it’s quite a stretch to take it from small-town, White America and expect it to apply to all other cultures.
Scenic Designer Wilson Chin presents us with a Quaker-simple, pared down set in the round and dots it with wooden chairs and tables to laser-focus on the text and the families and townsfolk interactions. As stripped down as it is, I still yearned to see the moon to drop down from the rafters during Emily and George’s teen love scene. It’s appeared in every production I’ve ever seen, and I missed its dramatic metaphor for the wider world we live in and the tender emotions of young love in bloom.
Only in the third act of this lengthy drama, when ghosts of her past haunt Emily during her voyage between death and the afterlife, do we glimpse the crux of the play. They advise her not to review her life nor attempt to make contact with any of the others – living or dead. They advise Emily to just give up – to cede to the inevitable. It is at this point that Paul dispenses with the miming of props and surprises us with a rising glass box featuring Mrs. Webb preparing pancakes and surrounded by props to wow us.
If you love these actors, as I do, you will want to see this production. But, then again, you’ve probably seen it a hundred times.
With Holly Twyford as Stage Manager; Eric Hissom as Dr. Gibbs; Hudson Koonce as Joe Crowell/Si Crowell; Christopher Michael Richardson as Howie Newsome; Chinna Palmer as Emily Webb; Natascia Diaz as Mrs. Gibbs; Felicia Curry as Mrs. Webb; Jake Loewenthal as George Gibbs; Maisie Ann Posner as Rebecca Gibbs; Josh Decker as Sam Craig; Tommy Nelson as Wally Webb; Kimberly Schraf as Professor Willard; Craig Wallace as Mr. Webb; Lawrence Redmond as Simon Stimson; Sarah C. Marshall as Mrs. Soames; Elliot Dash as Constable Warren; Suzanne Richard as Joe Stoddard; Quinn M. Johnson, Ensemble; Summer Wei, Ensemble.
Costume Designer, Sarafina Bush; Sound Designer, Lighting Designer, Phillip Rosenberg; John Gromada; Composer, Michael John LaChiusa; Music Director, Jay Crowder.
Through June 11th at Shakespeare Theatre Company at Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 547-1122 or visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org.
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