Fathers and Sons
by Michael Bradford

Marcus, his father Leon, and grandfather Bernard confront a history of absence, mistakes, mistrust, and broken promises as they strive to redefine themselves as fathers and sons.“FATHERS AND SONS contains many pungent exchanges, and a meaningful subject: the estrangement of fathers and sons through several generations of African-American men and how it might be healed.

The omnipresent phantom Benard Goodwater is the bad daddy incarnate — a trumpet-toting, be-bopping ne’er-do-well, who serves as a jive Greek chorus.

He was clearly a lousy father to his haunted son Leon.

And Leon returned the disfavor to his own offspring Marcus, by becoming a coke-sniffing, child-neglecting womanizer himself.

In FATHERS AND SONS, the two living relations, and the ghostly one, confront one another during a family crisis … Bradford’s dialogue can sizzle and sting, and he exhibits a real flair for sexy romantic banter.

That gift is exploited in the more intimate, sensuous scenes … Clearly, the playwright wants to explore how a man like Marcus can overcome a legacy of parental neglect and misogyny to forge a committed marriage — and maybe even a reconciliation with his father.”

—Misha Berson, Seattle Times