Confederates interweaves scenes about two black women whose stories are separated by more than 150 years. The connections between the stories grow more obvious as the action proceeds. The intriguing, surprisingly funny play by Dominique Morisseau is receiving its Midwest premiere in an excellent production by the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.

One of the stories is about Sara, an enslaved woman on a plantation during the Civil War. In her first scene, she is tending the wounds of her brother, Abner, who is now fighting for the Union. He resists when Sara wants to fight, too. Later the master’s daughter, Missy Sue, puts Sara to work in the plantation home so she can spy on Missy Sue’s father on behalf of the Union. Missy Sue wants to free Sara but still treats her like a possession.

After Sara starts working in the house, she encounters Luanne, another slave. She greets Sara with suspicion because Sara has taken Luanne’s place. Even though they are both slaves, Sara cannot count on Luanne as an ally.

The other story is about Sandra, a tenured professor at a predominantly white university. In the opening scene, Sandra delivers a fiery speech after someone has posted a racist image on her door. She demands consequences for whoever is responsible.

Like Sara, Sandra interacts with three other characters. Malik is a black student who argues with Sandra about a grade, accusing her of treating him differently from other students. Candace is Sandra’s assistant through a work-study program. Candace’s future at the university depends on Sandra, but their interactions are awkward at best. Jade, the only other Black faculty member at the university, is at odds with Sandra over her lack of support for Jade’s receiving tenure.

Under Elizabeth Carter’s fluent, insightful direction, the two stories play out with compelling drama and plenty of humor. The stirring conclusion is an explicit realization of the play’s title.

Tiffany Oglesby as Sara and Tatiana Williams as Sandra are superb as women of different eras coping with oppressive institutions. To emphasize the similarities in what the protagonists must face, the characters with whom Sara and Sandra interact are played by same actors: Celeste M. Cooper is Luanne and Jade, Xavier Scott Evans is Abner and Malik, and Tracey Greenwood is Missy Sue and Candice. The splendid performers are adept at switching in a flash between two fully developed characters. Costume designer Ricky German facilitates the transformation by giving the three actors clothes that work in both periods with little modification.

The professor’s office and the slave’s cabin are side by side in Nina Ball’s scenic design. The extensive use of wood in both settings underscores the parallels between the stories. The production features fine work by lighting designer Xavier Pierce, composer/sound designer T. Carlis Roberts, projection designer Micah Stieglitz, fight choreographer U. Jonathan Toppo, intimacy director Kaja Amado Dunn, and dialect coach Rachel Finley.

Confederates continues through March 5 in the Browning Theatre of the Loretto-Hilton Center, 130 Edgar Road, on the campus of Webster University.

—Gerry Kowarsky

Photo by Liz Lauren
From the left, Tatiana Williams as Sandra and Tiffany Oglesby as Sara in Confederates.