Black Greek Play 'Crossed' Explores Pledging and Hazing from BGO and Non-Greek Perspective

When I saw the 2007 film "Stomp the Yard," all I kept hearing Greek fraternity and sorority members say was that the Divine 9 was "about more than stepping." Well, "Crossed" crossed into "Stomp the Yard" territory and brought out all the other truths about college life, fraternity and sorority life, strengths and weaknesses in relationships that "Stomp the Yard" didn't. Currently at the DuSable Museum of African-American history, "Crossed" is showing on Friday and Saturday nights at 7 p.m. on Nov. 27 and Nov. 28.

Grandville (played by Charles Gardner) is pledging into a fraternity called A-Alikes even though his friend J.O. (played by Troy Pryor) is disgusted by the frat after a stroll standoff that J.O. interrupted. Sound familiar? Well, that's about the only similarity between "Crossed" and "Stomp the Yard." For those of you old enough to remember "A Different World" when Ron Johnson and Dwayne Wayne pledged into Kappa Lambda Nu but Dwayne dropped from the line because he felt like it wasn't worth the trouble, this isn't that scenario either. J.O. wanted no parts of any fraternity and made that plain so Grandville didn't even bother asking J.O. to join him in this college journey.

But pledging isn't meant to be easy, and Grandville is learning that quickly. He can't even look forward to his younger brother coming to visit him on campus because that was the last week of pledging (i.e. Hell Week). Grandville thinks he's keeping his goal of crossing a secret but the usual hints give him away, especially when he tries to sit down. And although these two high school friends and college roommates appear to be really tight, "Greek Grandville" starts acting really brand new around his freshman college girlfriend Gorgeous (played by Kim Matthews) and J.O. once he finally does cross.

Grandville, J.O., and Gorgeous have to decide whether their bond is worth breaking, especially with instigating from other fraternity members, fraternity groupies and significant college events gone awry.

Screenwriter Calvin Leroy King III wrote an entertaining, enlightening and educational screenplay with "Crossed." I really wasn't expecting this Pyramid Productions play to go the way it did because from the beginning of the play, I'd already summed this one up as another step competition, ode to the Greeks play. But King III brought a raw feel to how the families and friends of Greeks, not just the pledges themselves, feel during the pledging process and the after effects. I'm willing to bet he may have made some folks a little uncomfortable by airing out what they may already know they're doing in their personal lives, but this was a story that needed to be told.

I can admit that at one point I was a little flustered with the play, not because it wasn't an exceptional play but because I actually was the J.O. in this play with a younger cousin of mine and had several of these conversations not even a month back. Much of "Crossed" felt like déjà vu for me, only I'm not nearly as funny or promiscuous as J.O.

Besides being able to connect with the play, other perks of "Crossed" were moments where people were cracking up laughing and smacking their legs. I'm not usually big on over-the-top, goofy funny humor, but high school teacher Mrs. Robinson's (played by Marilee Williams) extra booty, stank dancing and sadly realistic teaching attitude produced nonstop laughs. All I could do was shake my head and look at her upside-down bulletin board with the words, "Shut the hell up" for all the students to see. Frat member Albert Buckley (played by Harold Green) was ridiculously funny too. Both of them were a mess, and I loved every minute of it.

The townies should be funny to anybody who has been on a college campus and knows the folks who act like they go to a college but really don't, or they just like to hang out and harass the college ladies. The college dorm scenes, noodles on the table, socks with flip-flops and rolled-up jogging pants, and college parties made me reminisce. Quite a bit of this play made me miss undergrad at my HBCU alma mater, minus the two instigators and sorority kiss-ups Portia (played by Shonta Connolly) and Talease (played by Brittany Scales). I knew a couple of them and Connolly and Scales did an excellent job of reminding me how much I don't miss those true-to-life characters, and these ladies were very convincing with their roles.

King III provided comedy, drama, music, dancing and action. And Jerome Legler (played by stepmaster Steve Duroseau) gave the "Crossed" audience impressive stepping routines. And even before I realized how similar J.O.'s character was to myself, I still tagged him as my favorite. He has the same comedic timing that cast members of the television show "The Office" have. He could just make a face and rows of people would crack up loudly. But what's great about his acting is he's just as good doing intense scenes as he is doing comedic scenes. I expect to see him in more plays and movies.

But there are some cons. Dean J.B. Jenkins' (played by Calvin Evans) and Uncle Junebug's (played by Duane 'Femi' Connolly) characters could've easily been left out of the play. Neither character lent much to the plot, and the very last scene in the play with the dean was unnecessary. From the crowd reaction, I didn't see too many people amused, even with the Michael Jackson glove jokes. Previous scenes had already showed the audience everything that Grandville said to the dean, and the secretary's behavior was more gross than it was funny. Although the actors were fine, that entire scene was overkill on an already great screenplay.

But all of the cast members did a really good job with their acting roles, although there were a few times where Gorgeous sounded like she was reading from a script instead of being natural. I think with time and more performances, her verbal acting will improve. Ironically though she was my favorite (besides J.O.) to look at because her physical movements showing different emotions was the best out of all the women.

And although cursing was eliminated from some very "juke-able" music selections, some of the actors cursed so that contradicted the PG-13 type feel of the play. However, none of these cons outdid the pros.

Overall, I'd give "Crossed" four and a half out of five stars.

Additional Notes: This entry was originally published by the Chicago News & Events Examiner.