Incendiary, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Washington, DC
Breon Arzell as Markus, Nehassaiu deGannes as Tanya, and Brandon J. Pierce as Marcus in Incendiary by Dave Harris at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Photo by Teresa Castracane. Incendiary is the first production I have seen at Washington’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. It is aptly titled, as fire and fire power play major roles in this world premiere by Dave Harris, directed by Monty Cole. When we first meet Tanya, she is firing a revolver for the first time. The program tells us that she “is a Black mother determined to break her son, Eric, out of death row – or die trying.” She has an uncanny aim, especially since she shoots with her eyes averted from the target. She tells her brother (a gun dealer) that she needs lots of guns, rifles, automatic, grenades, and, oh, yeah, a flamethrower, too. When asked why she needs all this hardware, she explains that it will soon be her son’s 33 rd birthday and she is going to free him from jail. We later learn that he is scheduled to be p