Jordan E. Cooper Rewrites Salvation in OH HAPPY DAY! — Review

Washington D.C.

The company of OH HAPPY DAY!

By
Nathan Pugh
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October 20, 2024 10:10 AM
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When I was young, my Catholic church told me salvation wasn’t something I had to earn—if I accepted Jesus, He would forgive me no matter who I was. Looking back, that message feels coded. The people who didn’t accept my queerness were safe from any wrath I willed into existence, and I had to believe in a church that didn’t believe in me. The kingdom of heaven awaited me only under a specific circumstance; unconditional love hinged on one condition. Still, there was a soothing quality to the message. All I had to do was surrender my anger with the world, my anger for myself, and I would be blessed.

I no longer attend the Catholic church, but I do attend the theater, where similar but different rituals are staged. From Tennessee Williams to today, the American theatre has long been a place for queer men like myself to grapple with their repressed pasts. But I’m not sure I’ve seen a play alternate so fluidly between religious fervor and repressed past like in Jordan E. Cooper’s play Oh Happy Day! now making its world premiere at Baltimore Center Stage, presented in association with New York’s Public Theater. Across two acts, Cooper wrestles with Christian faith, critiquing the church while still trying to surrender his anger with the world. It’s an earnest attempt to see how a queer man might achieve salvation within the church’s doctrine.

Oh Happy Day! begins with a chorus of three Black women (Latrice Pace, Tiya Askia, Courtney Monet) introducing themselves as The Divines. In sparkly fabulous outfits, they’re the “doulas of the afterlife,” there to guide the lost soul who’s recently been murdered. The Divines recede and we’re dropped into Laurel, Mississippi, where Niecy (Tamika Lawrence) is outside an aging house and cooking, much to the literal distaste of her son Kevin (Justin Sturgis) and her recently-unemployed father Lewis (James T. Alfred). 

After some playful banter, the family grows silent when Keyshawn (played by Cooper himself) arrives in name brand, expensive clothes. To the family, their prodigal son has returned; for Keyshawn, he’s returning to the people who rejected him and broke his spirit. A confrontation occurs—but the Divines intervene with song, prompting Keyshawn to reconsider his actions and fight for a better relationship with his family. The show then unfolds in a liminal space between life and death, with Keyshawn struggling to make amends.

Cooper’s introduction to many theater audiences was Ain’t No Mo’, which had a short-lived but Tony-nominated run on Broadway in 2022. That show went all-in on a sketch comedy genre, filling it in with strange and specific details. Cooper now turns to the gospel musical genre, collaborating with composer Donald Lawrence to create musical show-stoppers. Director Stevie Walker-Webb embraces a flexible staging that’ll be familiar to Black Circuit audiences. Profane jokes go directly into Christian musings, songs wind their way from background music to belting, and cultural references abound. Even those not used to Black Circuit performances (or who don’t get the references) will feel the enveloping warmth the ensemble creates for itself.

The company of OH HAPPY DAY!

Though Oh Happy Day! embraces some of the best qualities of gospel musicals, it also carries their pitfalls. The show loses track of its supporting cast, not giving sustained dramatic arcs for anyone beyond Keyshawn. Sturgis’ Kevin has hardly anything to do plot-wise, and The Divines’ presence onstage sometimes feels unmotivated, like they’re filling time before the next song. 

This exacerbates a bigger problem with the show. Even though Keyshawn offers a surrogate for Cooper to grapple with faith and the Black community, we rarely feel completely on his side. It’s Keyshawn against the world, and onstage it’s a one vs. six person argument. Keyshawn would  appreciate a character fighting on his side, and the show would be more compelling for it.

In performance, Cooper still commands the stage, and is great at displaying Keyshawn’s masked vulnerability. In key scenes, you can watch shame and pride wrestle across Cooper’s fluttering eyelids. The best section in the show is between Cooper and Lawrence, which shrewdly acknowledges the violent world of its characters without staging violence. Instead, we’re let in on a satisfyingly low-key sibling reunion. The beauty of the show’s naturalistic hangout made me wonder if Oh Happy Day! would benefit from less plot reveals, less supernatural intervention.

Watching Oh Happy Day! I was reminded of the other Black playwrights who’ve turned to somewhat autobiographical theatre when struggling with Black family. Two of them have won the Pulitzer Prize recently. In Michael R. Jackson’s A Strange Loop, a queer Black man Usher weaponizes the gospel musical, staging a humiliating, homophobic choir; in James Ijames’ Fat Ham, a queer Black man Juicy enacts a Shakespearean drama, embodying Hamlet’s tortured soul at a barbecue.

Both A Strange Loop and Fat Ham embed their well-crafted family dramas in a subversive dramaturgy. Something similar occurs with Oh Happy Day!, but Cooper allows the family drama to take center stage. Perhaps what’s most subversive about the play is how closely it unironically mirrors a gospel musical. I bet Usher and Juicy’s families would feel the most at home watching Oh Happy Day! out of these three shows.

Oh Happy Day! might not be a full endorsement of Christian faith or the gospel musical—while the show is certainly religious, it’s too layered and conflicted to simply communicate one message. What I appreciate about Cooper's new play is that the show argues that grappling with your belief system is necessary for some kind of salvation (religious or not). 

It was particularly moving when, like the Bible’s Job, Keyshawn starts ruthlessly criticizing God, asking why he’s caused so much suffering. “HOW MANY OF YOU KNOW THE GOD I’M TALKING ABOUT?” Cooper asked the audience. “CAN I GET AN AMEN?” An audience member behind me did actually say “Amen.” Cooper gave a critique of God that audiences could engage with on gospel musical terms. 

It was affirming to know that even though I might not believe in the church anymore, the people around me in that theater believed in a character who was like me. The affirmation didn’t save me, but I did surrender to it anyway.

Oh Happy Day! is in performance at Baltimore, MD’s Baltimore Center Stage through October 20. For tickets and more information, visit here.

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Nathan Pugh

Nathan Pugh (he/him) is a writer, journalist, and culture critic based in the Washington, D.C. area. He is gay, biracial, and Filipino American. Pugh’s writing explores how identity is performed both on and off the stage (with special attention paid to race, sexuality, and gender). His bylines include 3Views on Theater, DC Theater Arts, Smithsonian Magazine, DCist, and NPR’s Code Switch and It’s Been a Minute. He currently works as a copywriter for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. BA English & Theater: Wesleyan University.

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