I seldom start a review with praise, but Relentless is one of those plays that should be considered a historical masterpiece that will have you spellbound and wanting more, even after sitting for three hours. Playwright Tyla Abercrumbie blows us away with this brilliant and wonderfully written play that points out one of the main reasons Black Americans feel enslaved by hatred and racism that still plagues us today. Abercrumbie teams up with one of Chicago’s greatest directors Ron OJ Parsons as they bring this world premiere play RELENTLESS to TimeLine Theater at The Wit Theater.
Developed through TimeLine’s Playwrights Collective and set during the Black Victorian era, RELENTLESS brings together two sisters and their late mother’s past that opens up into a complex problem of secrets from the past 100 years that still lives within our society today.
The setting is from the Black Victorian era, where we get to peek back into 1919, where two sisters, who are well educated and affluent, come home to Philadelphia to sell their mother’s house, who has recently died. Annelle and Janet love each other dearly; however, their views about life, love, and liberty contrast.
Annelle is a happy socialite who seeks to dazzle men with her sophistication and charm, but inside her is a frightened child who seeks the comfort of living an illusionary life to protect her from living life at all. Her sister, Janet, is a nurse who has lived as a protective older sister. Still, deep inside, she is frustrated with being seen as young, gifted, but black and determined to bring Black women into their prominence; she fights against a world that doesn’t seem to notice her it all.
As Janet battles with the thought of selling her mother’s house, she discovers diaries written by her mother detailing a secret past that the girls never knew. Janet is Relentless in wanting to know her mother more, but Annelle doesn’t feel the need to learn anything that would damage her fragile existence. During this explosive and chilling play, the audience learns about the hidden and seldom discussed racism from the eyes of one woman by the name of Zhuukee.
RELENTLESS is that once-in-a-lifetime play that anyone should see. This play centers the audience on the hatred and racism blacks experienced over 100 years ago, which correlates to the hate and racism we still experience today. It sent a more profound message as to why that hateful and racist past destroyed the rich culture of Black Americans. How it tarnished the beauty, grace, and honor we once enjoyed in the Black Victorian era, where we owned businesses, land, and property; when the dollar would circulate within communities like the Greenwood District at least 36 times before it left the neighborhood.
Abercrumbie masterfully forces Americans to see the damage caused by letting hatred rule over love for all humanity and the lingering consequences this melting pot philosophy has contributed to the division we currently exhibit.
The cast of RELENTLESS was phenomenal. Ayanna Bria Bakari, Jaye Ladymore, Xavier Edward King, Travis Delgado, Demetra Dee, and Rebecca Hurd provided a stellar performance. Performances so engaging, you will be enthralled as they colorfully converse about their struggles, fears, and relentless determination to overcome the hatred they endure while under covering the secret life of Annabelle Lee and revealing some secrets of their own.
RELENTLESS is well written, well-directed, and well played!
Let’s Play HIGHLY RECOMMENDS RELENTLESS at Timeline Theatre Company at the Wit Theater.
Lastly, violence against the black race in America goes back to slavery, but few know or even discuss the past racial violence. People who caused this violence like to focus on what Black Americans are doing against each other. However, the past scars listed below are like a birth defect that can never be removed.
RELENTLESS
Timeline Theatre Company at The WIT Theater
Written by Tyla Abercrumbie
Directed by Ron OJ. Parson
January 27 – February 26, 2022
San Miguel de Gualdape Slave Rebellion, 1526
Gloucester County Conspiracy, 1663
New York City Slave Uprising, 1712
New York City Slave Conspiracy, 1741
Igbo Landing Mass Suicide, 1803
Denmark Vesey Conspiracy, 1822
Slave Revolt in the Cherokee Nation, 1842
Antebellum Urban Violence
The Pennsylvania Hall Fire, 1838
Christina (Pennsylvania) Riot, 1851
Civil War, Reconstruction, and Post-Reconstruction Era Violence
New York City Draft Riots, 1863
Clinton (Mississippi) Riot, 1875
Carroll County Courthouse Massacre, 1886
New Orleans Dockworkers’ Riot, 1894-1895
Virden, Illinois Race Riot, 1898
Newburg, New York Race Riot, 1899
Race Riots, 1900-1960
Robert Charles Riot (New Orleans), 1900
Springfield, Illinois Race Riot, 1908
East St. Louis Race Riot, 1917
Chester, Pennsylvania Race Riot, 1917
Houston Mutiny and Race Riot, 1917
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Race Riot, 1918
Charleston (South Carolina) Riot, 1919
Urban Uprisings, 1960-2000
Cambridge, Maryland Riot, 1963
Paterson, New Jersey Uprising, 1964
Elizabeth, New Jersey Uprising, 1964
Watts Rebellion (Los Angeles), 1965
Chicago, Illinois Uprising, 1966
The Dayton, Ohio Uprising, 1966
Hunter’s Point, San Francisco Uprising, 1966
Plainfield, New Jersey Riot, 1967
Grand Rapids, Michigan Uprising, 1967
The King Assassination Riots, 1968
Hartford, Connecticut Riot, 1969
Camden, New Jersey Riots, 1969 and 1971
Miami (Liberty City) Riot, 1980
Crown Heights (Brooklyn) New York Riot, 1991
St. Petersburg, Florida Riot, 1996
College Campus Violence
University of Georgia Desegregation Riot, 1961
Houston (Texas Southern University) Riot, 1967
The Southern University Shooting, 1972
21st Century Racial Violence
Oscar Grant Oakland Protests, 2009-2011
Ferguson Riot and Ferguson Unrest, 2014-2015
Baltimore Protests and Riots, 2015
Charleston Church Massacre, 2015
Related Pages
Lynchings in the United States Since 1865
Race, Crime, and Incarceration in the United States
Filed under: ChicagoNow