Oil and Water

Artistic Fraud’s telling of the true story of Lanier Phillips, the only African-American to survive the sinking of the USS Truxton off the coast of Newfoundland in 1942, is an uplifting, heart-touching, soul-filling experience. It’s gorgeous to behold, with fine acting, a stunningly simple impressionistic set and a powerful a cappella mix of African spirituals and Newfoundland folk tunes. The play opens with Phillips as the father of a teen daughter dealing with violence as the Boston school system becomes desegregated. We flash back to Philips as an angry young man, the victim of terrible bigotry in the US Navy. We’re introduced the hardscrabble life of the folks of St. Lawrence, Newfoundland. The intersection of these storylines is a stunning act of kindness and acceptance that forever changes the Philips’ future. Can kindness truly change the world? This play says resoundingly “yes"! —Kate Watson