Dramatic Potential Lost in ‘Passing’

Sheri Bailey’s drama “Passing” comes with some inherent problems. Bailey tells her story about two childhood friends, Clare (Nancy Cheryll Davis) and Irene (Lisa Ann Collins), with too many short scenes, at times abruptly changing era and locale. This Towne Street Theatre production adds more complications--the stage causes every footfall to resound like stomping elephants, and Davis is miscast as the “exquisite” Clare.

Davis aptly portrays a woman of loose sexuality and questionable morals, but she never seems to outclass Davis’ Irene in elegance. Both Irene and Clare are light-skinned African Americans, but only Clare tries to pass. The brittle and sometimes brutal determination of a woman hiding her true racial identity and “passing” for white while married to a racist white man is never fully mined. The dancing segments, meant to show off Clare’s graceful delicacy, are instead awkward and, at times, comical.

Director Sy Richardson doesn’t make smooth transitions between scenes. Some scene changes are as long as the scenes themselves and just as noisy.

Oddly, in a play about women, it’s the male characters who stand out. Billy Mayo as Irene’s sexually frustrated doctor husband has great stage presence. Peter Savard as a famous writer who also serves as a knowing narrator has an elegant air of assurance.

It’s a shame that Joan Francis’ gorgeous 1920s costume designs are wasted on such a lackluster production.

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* “Passing,” Towne Street Theatre, Bel Ami Studios, 799 S. Towne Ave., Suite 301, downtown Los Angeles. Saturdays-Sundays, 8 p.m. Ends March 29. $15. “Kids’ Week at the Theatre”: two free tickets for ages 12-18 per one full-price adult ticket, March 1 and 8, 8 p.m.; March 7, 8 p.m. only. (213) 624-4796. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes.