When the curtain fell on the opening performance of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre‘s “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” and the audience made its way out into the night, it was different.
It was different from many season openers in years past, wherein spectators sang show tunes all the way home or chattered lightheartedly about their favorite characters and lines.
No, “Lonely Hunter” is pure catharsis.
The Rep’s producing artistic director John Miller-Stephany, who takes the director’s chair for “Lonely Hunter,” was very intentional when selecting the show that would open his first season at the theater.
“I thought it would be really good to start with something that was somewhat unexpected, something that spoke to where we are right now as a culture,” he said. And after observing a very real trend of “marginalizing more and more people, characterizing them as ‘the other’ or demonizing those who are not like us, I thought this was a really interesting story to tell.”
The show is set in a small Georgia town in the 1930s. A true character study, the play’s events unfold as various townspeople meet and then entrust their secrets to John Singer, a kind deaf man who patiently listens to each dream and nightmare, triumph and burden.
The youngest confidant is Mick, played by Madeline Adelle Phillips. Filled with rambunctious wonder and plagued with adulthood, she’s the embodiment of the moment you realized you’d grown up.
Dr. Copeland (James Foster Jr.) is the town’s only African American physician, and whose hard-earned prejudices make him suspicious of Singer at first. Forever consoled and prodded by his daughter Portia (Myxolydia Tyler), Dr. Copeland is every bit as stiff and emotionally atrophied as he rejects his aging body to be.
Biff Brannon (Gregory Myhre) is eager and curious, but scrambling for a new anchor after the loss of his wife. Jake Blount (Lou Sumrall) rages aimlessly against the powers that be, and with a whiskey in each hand.
At the center of it all is John Singer, played by Christopher Tester. With a smile in his eyes, he gives of himself to everyone while silently battling his own flames of sorrow. And yet, each character orbits around him, pulled in by his warmth and light, never imagining that he could depend on them any less than they rely on him.
“The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” is a master class in empathy. In The Rep’s hands, this touching story begs for human connection and scrubs bare the rotten core of assumption.
“Lonely Hunter” runs through Sept. 10 with multiple American Sign Language-interpreted performances. For showtimes and more information, or to purchase tickets online, visit The Rep’s website. You can also call (501) 378-0405 or visit the theater’s box office downtown at 601 Main St., Little Rock.