'Coffee Will Make You Black'

A coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of the emerging civil rights and black pride movements in the late-1960s, "Coffee Will Make You Black" at the Celebration Theatre is an insightful drama of personal and social upheaval that takes unexpected turns.

In adapting April Sinclair's 1995 novel, director Michael A. Shepperd's serviceable staging is a straightforward transplant of the major plot points that plays to the strengths of his performers. In particular, the well-cast Diona Reasonover brings gangly charm and vulnerability to the protagonist, Jean "Stevie" Stevenson of Chicago's South Side. Stevie grows from a naive 11-year-old to an Afro-sporting high school junior. Her development mirrors the evolving racial consciousness of her community, wittily symbolized -- in its gains and frustrations -- by the astonishment engendered first by the sight of a "colored" person on television and later by the sight of a "black" person on TV.

There's a clear generational progression in shedding internalized stereotypes from Stevie's traditional grandma (Sonia Jackson) to her mom (feisty Cecelia Antoinette) to Stevie herself.

Paralleling the social themes is Stevie's awakening sexual identity, which weathers an early attraction to a vain, sexist jock (Deon Lucas). As a high school junior, she lands a boyfriend (Damani Singleton) who's seemingly perfect but finds herself thinking more about the sympathetic school nurse (Gretchen Koerner), who happens to be white.

Refreshingly, the play leaves Stevie wrestling with sexual confusion and ambiguity rather than clichéd certainty, but we end up rooting for her no matter which way she goes.

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Philip Brandes

"Coffee Will Make You Black," Celebration Theatre, 7051B Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays. Ends May 25. $25. (323) 957-1884 or www.tix.com. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes.

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