By: Darryl Reilly
“I need to recover my honor, that is my need.” So declares a veteran executive under investigation in playwright T.J. Elliott’s one-act contemporary corporate intrigue tale, Honor. Mr. Elliott’s finale eloquently and dramatically skewers the current business culture where an employee twists in the wind under a cloud pending an inquiry into internal charges made against them.
Don is a popular Ted Talk figure and a research and development honcho at an unspecified company with 500 employees he has worked at for 20 years. Previously, he was a vice president. Was he pushed out and demoted by the CEO he repeatedly refers to as “Bozo”? 109 days ago, he was informed that his successor has lodged charges against him. She alleges that he instigated a climate of bullying against her. He enters a conference room to find out the resolution of the inquiry from two inhouse attorneys.. One is a white man and the other is a Black woman. The denouement of this setup is quite satisfying with its neat twists and turns.
However, Honor’s first two thirds is a hyperbolic satire where little rings true or comically lands. “Negative externality,” “Finance has legal by the nose hairs,” and “Self-perpetuation is the object of every company,” are among the many bromides uttered. Don arrives carrying a Japanese ceramic teapot, and so we get tangential reveries.
Elliott also directed and his physical staging is crisp, well-paced and contains momentum. The personable and talented cast of Ed Altman as Don, and Alinca Hamilton and John Blaylock, as the lawyers, all deliver energetic and authentic performances. This trio shines in the concluding sequence when fierceness replaces cartooniness. Technical and artistic director Gifford Elliott contributes smoothness to the production with balanced lighting and sound. The realistic, simple scenic design consists of a long table, wheelie chairs, a white board on an easel, and a large running wall clock which add a cool real-time dimension to the stated 45-minute proceeding.
Honor premiered at the 2024 Chain Theater Winter One-Act Festival and is now playing at the historic The Gene Frankel Theatre. It is ultimately a provocative entertainment.
Honor (through October 6, 2024)
Knowledge Workings Theater
Gene Frankel Theatre, 24 Bond Street, in Manhattan
For tickets, visit www.genefrankeltheatre.com
Running time: 70 minutes with no intermission