‘The Light’ Theater Review: A Crackling Play For The #MeToo Moment

Most plays reflect our past. But Loy Webb‘s powerful two-person play The Light is so of-the-moment that the playwright revised it in October to incorporate the sexual harassment claims from Brett Kavanaugh‘s Supreme Court nomination fight. The play opens with firefighter Rashad (McKinley Belcher III) preparing for his girlfriend Genesis (Mandi Masden) to come home from work on the night of their anniversary. The conversation quickly turns to how Genesis, a principal at a charter school, has had to defend a teacher who had posted her support for Kavanaugh. Rashad soon proposes but the mood darkens when he tells Genesis about the tickets he’s secured for the rapper Kashif’s concert that night. Genesis protests that she can’t go since she knew the rapper in college – and he had sexually assaulted a friend. A heated exchange ensues which shows off both actors formidable skills. We won’t spoil the play’s twisty and ambiguous finale, but Webb navigates the fraught moment with pitch-perfect skill – illuminating the murky intersection of love and abuse.

The Light is now playing at the Robert Wilson MCC Theater Space (511 W. 52 Street, New York, N.Y.).