Theatre Exile is concluding its 29th season with a most unusual play. It’s the story of a Black mother and daughter guarding the grave site on the grounds of a Philadelphia/African Church where Moses Freeman has just been buried. He was the husband and father of Missy and Charity Freeman before he died. They are guarding the grave lest a grave robber, not uncommon in 1832 when the scene takes place, digs up the body. But that is only half the story.
Fast forward to scene two, two centuries after the opening. On the same grounds of the church, there is now a day camp, and we meet another mother and daughter, Minnie and once again, Charity. They bicker like any mother and daughter, but the real issue is Minnie’s trying to keep her daughter from being expelled from camp because she destroyed a water fountain.
In six scenes, the play jumps back and forth between these two scenes with Reyne portraying the mother and Samaja Murphy portraying and daughter in both. There is much talk about the racism they face in their daily lives, from education to their upbringing (Missy was sold into slavery when she was nine years old by her own mother because she needed money). The present-day Charity stands up and fights against racism.
It’s a story about the powerful bonds between mother and daughter. But it is also a story about searching- what to do next in their lives.
The concept of creating two roughly parallel stories is a good one. But I was more interested in the older story. I saw the grieving but also learned about how newly buried bodies were often dug up to be sold to medical institutions for dissection to learn about the body, especially during the cholera epidemic. And poorer families, particularly Black families, were targeted, though the benefits were for white people. It was a most heartfelt tale.
Though the dancing and much of the dialogue seemed to resonate well among many in the audience, I didn’t enjoy the modern story as much. Though the two actors played both roles, the only way I saw different women in the two tales was in the spitfire reciting of their lines, which I often couldn’t follow, in the second story. The attempts at a broader comedy just weren’t my style as it resembled some silly television sitcoms, and I tuned out. Yet I noticed the audience laughing often.
As I stated at the start, it’s a most unusual story. Even the subtitle is unique- “How to flip ten cents into a dollar.” See if you can.
“The Great Privation” by Akilah Robinson at Theatre Exile, 1340 S. 13th St., Philadelphia, PA 19147, 215-218-4022, boxoffice@theatreexile.org Thru June 14,, 2026
Philadelphia Theater Reviews by Frank Burd 