Face Off Theatre Company is touring a production for the first time in its 11-year history by bringing back "Bambiland," an original play by company co-founder Kendra Ann Flournoy. After a run at Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, the play comes to Lakeview High School in Battle Creek on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 7:30 pm. The tour ends at the Jolliffe Theatre in Kalamazoo's Epic Center, with shows on Nov. 21 at 7:30 pm and Nov. 22 at 2 pm.
Co-founder Marissa Harrington directed the 2024 world premiere and directs this production too. She calls it "a beautiful story about life and legacy and love and community." The play is set in Detroit in 2019. Nick, a journalist in New York, hasn't been home in ten years. Her editor sends her back to cover a real crisis: homes were overvalued, property taxes soared, and many Black homeowners lost their houses to tax foreclosure. Harrington says the losses came to about $600 million.
Harrington works as a real estate broker, and she says the play brings together her two passions. She also says she is a different director now. Her father died two months after the 2024 run, and this time a theme of grief and loss resonates with her. Alyssa Laney, who understudied the role of Nick's sister in 2024, now plays Nick.
Khaliid Canales-King plays Shawn Garland. He sees the character as "a beacon, like a lighthouse in this storm of chaos that Nick is going through." Vic Ledbetter, who made his acting debut in Face Off's "Harlem Duet," is back. "I'm the Michael B. Jordan of the cast because I'm playing a dual role," he jokes. He plays a “random guy” and a former official in the assessor's office who has key information for Nick.
Harrington says Nick "cannot get to the story, she cannot get to the truth, she cannot get to herself, her true self, without the community around her." A community conversation follows every performance. The lobby display this time focuses on Black urban farming, and Jackie Mitchell will join the talkbacks to discuss urban farming in Kalamazoo.
Next season, Face Off plans to premiere only new plays by local playwrights. The community will help develop them through readings and feedback.
The interview was summarized by Claude AI and edited by the author.
