By Bread. Ham. Bread.
Some sandwiches are boring. But in “Clyde’s”, California Repertory’s final Fall 2024 production, sandwiches are anything but simple.
Their last show of the fall semester revolves around a group of former felon employees, each working at Clyde’s, a hole-in-the-wall truck stop diner. Between lunch rushes and attempts to relaunch life post-incarceration, the group of cooks participates in an in-house competition/mission—crafting the perfect sandwich.
“It’s about a group of formerly incarcerated people trying to make a way for themselves after being released, that’s the surface,” Director Keiana Richàrd-Bartolomë said. “But even in [playwright Lynn Nottage’s] description, there’s a lot of references to a spiritual journey that these characters, these people, go on. Below the surface, it’s not just about redemption, it’s about allowing ourselves to move into the next chapter.”
Director Keiana Richàrd-Bartolomë speaks with student actor Bobby Brannon who portrays Clyde prior to the Nov. 12 dress rehearsal of the final Fall 2024 Cal Rep production ‘Clyde’s.’ “She’s a director, but she clearly has some acting chops, and she knows what she’s talking about, and I appreciate her transferring that knowledge to us,” Brannon said about the director. Photo credit: Delfino Camacho
Nottage, the only American and woman playwright to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice, premiered the play in 2019 under the name “Floyd’s.” Following George Floyd’s death in 2020, the show reopened as “Clyde’s” in 2021.
Run by unsavory and unsympathetic boss Clyde, the diner serves as a literal and metaphorical pitstop for the employees. All but one of the cooks seem unable to shake off the remnants of their past and re-enter life.
Much of the conflict in this comedy is drawn from debates, both literal and metaphorical, between the unforgiving Clyde and the eldest and wisest employee at Clyde’s, Montrellous.
Student actors Bobby Brannon (left) and Theodore Taylor III (right) have a debate in character as Clyde and Montrellous during the Nov. 12 dress rehearsal of the latest Cal Rep Production Clyde’s. Photo credit: Delfino Camacho
“It’s not binary, I don’t want it to be like good versus bad,” Richàrd-Bartolomë said. “It’s just the two ways of people dealing with the world around them. You know, Clyde’s like, ‘this is a harsh world, I’m going to put on my armor.’ Montrellous says, ‘this is a harsh world, but there is beauty in this world, and I’m going to try to stay open to the possibilities.’”
Fourth-year student Theodore Taylor III, 22, who is majoring in theater arts performance and minoring in journalism, plays Montrellous. The young actor, who hails from Compton, said it’s “fun” portraying someone 25 years his senior.
“You get to source from people you know who are in that age range, they’re demeanor or physicality and whatnot,” Taylor said. “It’s a very comedic play. I think people like stories about redemption and these are five people who are trying to adjust after leaving the system.”
A mentor of sorts to the other three characters in the play, Taylor plays Montrellous quiet and dignified, but alive in a way the other characters aren’t.
The other cooks at Clyde’s eagerly grab a piece of mentor Montrellous’s newest sandwich creation during the Nov. 12 dress rehearsal of the show. Throughout the drama of the show the various characters create their own sandwiches in a quest to create something delicious, new and uniquely them. Photo credit: Delfino Camacho
Third-year theater arts performance major Bobby Brannon, 20, plays Clyde, the diner owner who torments, harasses and even threatens her employees. Clyde serves as a moral opposition to the optimistic and empathetic Montrellous.
“I think she’s a very mean person, but deep down I don’t think she’s a bad person. I don’t think she wants bad things for people,” Brannon said. “She wants good things for people, but she doesn’t think that the world is going to allow them to have that and so she doesn’t treat people like a good person would because she’s like, ‘well, that’s the way the world is.'”
The other three characters in the story; single mom Letitia, love-sick Rafael and newcomer Jason find themselves, appropriately, sandwiched between the two opposing point-of-views, unsure of which path to take.
The character of Rafael (left), played by Gigi Navarro flirts with Letitia (right), played by Nayeli Martinez. Navarro credits director Keiana Richàrd-Bartolomë with helping her get over some initial self consciousness, seeing as Navarro is gender-bending in her portrayal of Rafael. Photo credit: Delfino Camacho
“You know, these are not bad people but I mean, we’re damaged, we haven’t worked past some of our traumas, and we’re making decisions based on the options that we have,” Richàrd-Bartolomë said.
This final Fall 2024 show is the latest in a semester full of plays with a comedy theme.
“[Nottage] typically writes dramas, but Clyde’s was her first production that was really heavily a comedy and so I find that a lot of the comedy is very grounded in reality,” Brannon said.
Student actor Nayeli Martinez, in character as Letitia, enjoys one of Montrellous’s sandwiches during the Nov. 12 ‘Clyde’s’ dress rehearsal. Director Keiana Richàrd-Bartolomë said the sandwich represents nourishment, both literal for the body and that of the mind and soul. Photo credit: Delfino Camacho
Taylor describes the play as a mix between The Bear and Shawshank Redemption.
“I think if you come to the show… you’re gonna get a good laugh, something that really hits home for me is I’m really glad that this is my last play [because] this play has a black playwright, a black director and three black actors in the cast,” Brannon said. “There are some cool black themes in there, but it’s still something that applies to everybody, despite your ethnicity.”
Shows will continue until Saturday, Nov. 23. Tickets are available here.
