Is You Is, a new musical directed by Nik Whitcomb, is a wonder. Without scenery, props or elaborate costumes, this concert/staged reading manages to be a genuinely moving show that kept the October 20 matinee audience enthralled.

Onstage at the Broadway Rose New Stage, the performance is a co-production by Bag&Baggage Productions and Broadway Rose Theatre Company, a collaboration that combines B&B’s probing societal questions with the polished musical numbers that Broadway Rose has been producing since 1992.

The play’s premise is an eye-opener for those not familiar with the depths of racism in Depression-era Chicago, which was especially blatant in the all-too-real “Races of Mankind” exhibit that opened at the city’s Field Museum in 1933 and featured 104 statues of “racial types,” portraying people of color as being more “primitive” than people of white European descent.

In the play, Steenie Mayfield (Jessica Peterson) is a certified teacher who’s working as a school bath attendant in hopes of someday having her own classroom. The cards are stacked against her, though: Not only is she not white, but with the Depression going on, Chicago teachers aren’t getting paid for their work. This is just one of the harsh details the play takes from real life. According to the useful “study guide” that comes with the Is You Is program, educators in Chicago received their monthly salaries just three times between January 1931 and May 1933, and the school board rewarded their protests by firing 1,400 teachers.

It’s in this fraught context that Steenie decides to take a group of students to the Field Museum exhibit, and the story of what happened to her there becomes the obsession of two modern-day museum interns, Adji (Whitcomb) and Briahna (Hailee G Foster).

That’s a lot of background to pack into a concert performance, and it’s executed beautifully, with  L.C. Bernadine and Whitcomb’s intricate book gracefully weaving the past and present stories together, so that by the time the performers take their bows, the show has become a splendid tapestry in which each character’s life in some way touches the lives of the other characters.

The artistry of the performers adds to this feeling. All of them create vivid personas, and while the cast sits in chairs or stands in a row across the stage, someone is always in motion, bouncing knees to the beat of the music or miming gestures, such as when Steenie gives her own dinner – a package of graham crackers – to a hungry student.

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As Steenie, Peterson is a vivid presence. Unlike the patronizing principal of the school (Riley Parham) or a smug museum supervisor (Signe Larsen), Steenie has real affection for the students. Warmth beams from Peterson’s facial expressions and her rich voice, even though her caring puts her in the demeaning position of answering to an administrative idiot who repeatedly warns his teachers that they have to project a spotless image, even in their off-hours: “Your name tag never comes off,” he’s fond of saying.

When Steenie faces a crisis that forces her to choose whether she’ll continue on this path or start speaking up for herself, her disillusionment as she sings “City of Lies,” with accompaniment by Mitchell Nelson on a sorrowing trumpet, is heart-wrenching.

Similarly, Whitcomb, who is B&B’s producing artistic director, proves he’s a versatile performer as he brings emotional depth to his portrayal of Adji. Grieving for his late mother, Whitcomb breathes life into L.C. Bernadine’s poignant lyrics, which explain how Adji feels less alone as he digs into Steenie’s story.  At the same time, Whitcomb adds a note of humor, asking if he and Briahna would be considered one of the “principal races,” and quips that deciding who’s in and out or “hot and not” feels like being in middle school again.

Throughout the production, the music heightens emotions and engages the audience with a live onstage band, directed by Reece Sauvé, playing Erik Olsen’s jazz-inspired score that’s by turns soaring, soulful, and suspenseful. With numbers of varying tempo that range from the ironically chipper “Eviction” that’s sung by the impoverished students (Tanya Bihari, Monika Milani, Skylar Bastedo, and Carlos-Zenen Trujillo) to the painful inquiry of “Meditation” performed by Adela (Paulina Jaeger-Rosete), a “janitress” who lets homeless teachers sleep in the school’s basement, the musical explores the varied ways in which humans react to hardships. While Steenie tries to please those in power, Briahna fumes about the harm the exhibit caused long after it was removed in 1969; and Adela, during the Depression, is a passionate union activist.

Weaving together stories about the past and present, children and adults, institutions and individuals, the play makes a powerful statement about interconnectedness, and when the cast all sings together, the effect is stunning. It’s a fitting metaphor for a show that combines the talents of two such fine companies, and it leaves us with a note of hope … and a wish for more collaborative successes, both on and off the stage.

***

Is You IS is onstage for two more performances, at 7 p.m. October 26 and 2 p.m. October 27, at the Broadway Rose New Stage, 12850 SW Grant Avenue, Tigard. Tickets: 503-620-5262 or online at broadwayrose.org.

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Linda Ferguson

A nominee for six Pushcart awards, Linda Ferguson writes poetry, fiction, essays, and reviews. Her latest chapbook, "Not Me: Poems About Other Women," was published by Finishing Line Press. As a creative writing teacher, she has a passion for building community and helping students explore new territory.