Pittsburgh City Paper – A breathless three-story climb up the winding stairs of the Braddock Library transports audiences to The Return of Benjamin Lay, Quantum Theater’s exploration of an 18th-century anti-slavery activist. The 80-minute show rolls the stone away and resurrects the legacy of a forgotten abolitionist under the shadow of a deserted basketball hoop.
Anchored by actor Mark Pavinelli’s compelling portrayal of Lay, the one-man show dances through the radical Pennsylvania Quaker’s wide and fascinating life as a sailor, merchant, husband, and abolitionist as he appeals his recent expulsion from his Quaker congregation due to his anti-slavery views. The production has made its way to the subject’s home state after a 2023 world premiere in London’s Finborough Theatre.
Povinelli noted in the program that he heavily relates with Lay, particularly because both he and Lay live(d) with forms of dwarfism. Povinelli appears to innately understand many of Lay’s struggles and experiences, and his sincerity as a performer comes through most visibly at the end of the play. As Lay’s character contemplates his role in ending slavery, he humbly utters, “I am a weak vessel.” Only then does the audience see Povinelli’s genuine reverence for Lay. His performance radiates a stunning duality where both Lay and Povinelli, united as one, are seen clearly by the audience.
Many of Lay’s words could be spoken before a modern congregation. Throughout the show, he frequently calls slaveholders apostates, and rightfully so. It’s hard to watch the piece without imagining Lay’s condemnation of those upholding the oppressors of today. In discussing the horrors of the colonialistic sugar trade, he breaks down the human cost of daily luxuries.
“Why do we call them goods when they conceal the blood of those who labored in their creation?” Lay asks the audience, a stark reminder of the true cost of Western living.
Mark Pavinelli in Quantum Theater’s The Return of Benjamin Lay
The script by Naomi Wallace and Marcus Rediker, the University of Pittsburgh history professor whose book The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf Who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist laid the groundwork for Quantum’s production, resurrects Lay’s impressive legacy of anti-oppression, but slowly deviates from triumphant anti-establishment speeches to didactic addresses to the audience.
“Are you willing to go to jail for conscience?” Lay asks the audience near the show’s conclusion. The question hangs in the air for half a breath as audience members contemplate the current political climate and what laws they might have to break in the name of ethics and morality. This poignant question is cheapened when, immediately after, Lay directly asks the audience for a show of hands who would be willing to be jailed for their beliefs.
While the play’s finale is overly prescriptive, The Return of Benjamin Lay is a necessary retelling of an ordinary person who dared to do good.
Quantum, a company that has staged its productions at non-theater spaces across the city, possesses unique creative control over its environment. Each performance location is a creative gamble with the possibility to elevate the production to new, immersive heights.
The choice to convert Braddock Library’s basketball court into a proscenium stage creates a noticeable distance between Povinelli and the audience. Even though he shines as a performer when interacting with the audience, the design of the performance space and seating bank perpetually keep Povinelli at arm’s length from the crowd. This creates an emotional distance from the play, ensuring that Povinelli must work significantly harder to gain the audience’s trust and engender their participation.
However, the choice of venue allows lighting designers C. Todd Brown and Anthony Doran to show off their impeccable flair for the craft. The Braddock Library space presents two lighting designer nightmares: white walls and floor-to-ceiling windows. As if by magic, Brown and Doran manage to navigate these challenges with ease. The lighting design refuses to shy away from the challenges and instead embraces them as a key storytelling device. The designers strung a strip of LED lights around the perimeter of the theater in an off-kilter parallelogram shape. This choice could easily make the stage resemble a college dorm room but instead acts as a powerful ambiance tool that further demonstrates Lay’s inability to fit into the world around him.
Quantum Theatre presents The Return of Benjamin Lay. Continues through Sun., Feb. 23. Braddock Carnegie Library. 419 Library St., Braddock. $20-73. quantumtheatre.com/lay
