SURVIVAL, STRUGGLE AND SMALL JOYS
Young girls coming of age always makes for a good story usually filled with life-changing moments and lessons to be learned. In Lynn Nottage’s Crumbs from the Table of Joy, now playing at Aurora Theatre in Berkeley, our protagonist and narrator is Ernestine Crump (Anna Marie Sharpe), a 17-year-old senior in high school. She, along with her younger sister Ermina Crump (Jamilla Cross) and their father Godfrey Crump (David Everett Moore), have recently relocated to the Bronx from the Jim Crow South. The time is the 1950s, and changes are happening in the home and the world around them.
Asia Nicole Jackson, Anna Marie Sharpe, Carrie Paff, David Everett Moore, Jamella Cross
The family is reeling over the recent loss of the girls’ mother and beloved wife. In order to provide for his family in their new, mostly white neighborhood, Godfrey has taken a job in a factory. He’s also trying to find meaning in the world and has embraced the teachings of Father Devine, a conservative religious leader. Ernestine is in her last year of high school and has her sights set on graduating and getting her diploma. She’s very shy and introverted, rarely venturing out other than to go to school. Ermina, though, is free-spirited and willing to take on any of the neighborhood bullies who try to tease her and her sister for being poor and Black.
Asia Nicole Jackson
The family is surprised by the arrival of Aunt Lily (Asia Nicole Jackson), their late mother’s sister. Aunt Lily is loud, bold, and a force to be reckoned with. She announces to the family that she’s a Communist — which is diametrically opposed to her conservative brother-in-law. They clash back and forth while the girls are stuck in the middle of their favorite aunt and father’s arguments.
David Everett Moore & Carrie Paff
As the story progresses, Godfrey, on an impulse, goes off on a weekend train trip and brings home a lovely blond German woman, Gerte (Carrie Paff), announcing to the family that she is his newly betrothed wife and the girls’ new stepmother. With yet another person in the house with a seemingly different background, the conflicts intensify. Lily’s rebelliousness and her alcoholism further seem to poison the well. The underlying conflicts reveal that everyone in the household has their own personal prejudices and battles, despite living in a world where they themselves feel judged.
Anna Marie Sharpe, Carrie Paff, & David Everett Moore
Of course, there are no easy solutions, and things come to a head where everything is laid out on the table. The play certainly has moments of humor thrown in with the pathos, but the energy is intense all through the show. In theory, Ernestine is supposed to be the emotional center of the story, but Anna Marie Sharpe’s performance in playing her as quiet and withdrawn leaves her mostly in the background. The arguing adults, particularly permanently pissed-off Aunt Lily, take up most of the oxygen in the room.
Jamella Cross & Anna Marie Sharpe
Elizabeth Carter‘s direction gives all the actors their moments to shine as their defenses are stripped away, exposing their vulnerabilities. In the end, as older Ernestine looks back and reflects, she points out that with all the family’s complexity there were indeed “crumbs” of joy that helped sustain her.
David Everett Moore & Anna Marie Sharpe
Aurora Theatre’s seating, surrounding most of the stage, creates a sense of intimacy for the audience. We are right there in the living room and kitchen, déjà vu of the Bunker living room from All in the Family. It’s hard to look away from the conflicts and tensions that occupy most of the story. There is a lesson in the end of the exhaustingly intense family story, making it time well spent.
Jamella Cross, Asia Nicole Jackson, & Anna Marie Sharpe
photos by Kevin Berne
Crumbs from the Table of Joy
Aurora Theatre
2081 Addison St. in Berkeley
Tues-Fri at 7; Sat at 2 & 8; Sun at 2
streaming performances May 20-25
ends on May 25, 2025
for tickets ($20-$68), call 510.843.4822 or visit Aurora Theatre
