‘Sunset Baby’ pits activism against acts of love

While Dominique Morriseau’s “Sunset Baby” script is full of f-bombs and deals with weighty issues, the play is also a love story about a father and daughter trying to reconnect. The Pear Theatre’s production is running through Feb. 20.

At the play’s core are three characters: Kenyatta (Fred Pitts), a legendary Black activist who was imprisoned for several decades and has now been released; his drug-dealing daughter Nina (Damaris Divito); and her hustler boyfriend Damon (Alonzo Cook).

Kenyatta, who left his wife and daughter because he thought they would be killed by his many political enemies, returns for love letters written by his now-dead wife Ashanti that he knows Nina has. These letters are now worth tens of thousands of dollars because of their historical value, but from Nina’s point of view, they’re the only thing she has left of her mother’s. And, because they’re now valuable, she sees them as a way for her to quit dealing drugs and start anew. Kenyatta believes the letters rightfully belong to him, and he’s willing to do just about anything—including manipulating Damon—to get them.

As Pitts portrays him, it’s difficult to envision Kenyatta as a near-messianic figure, someone on the order of a Malcolm X. Here, he’s rather soft-spoken and understated, without the charisma needed to command a movement.

Damon’s character is also somewhat inconsistent. Sometimes he’s a nice guy, giving Nina shoulder and foot rubs and filling her head with dreams of getting out of hustling and traveling somewhere nice.

Other times he’s twitchy, anxious and distrustful. When Nina’s not in the room, he starts searching around to find the money he knows she’s holding out on him.

Obviously, none of these three characters are angels, but they have their moments of vulnerability. Some might even feel they show love, though that’s harder to recognize.

As Nina, Divito is fascinating to watch. She can be, as her father describes her, “the sweetest bitch you ever seen,” but she also has dreams of moving far away. “I don’t want no fast life. I want a home, kids,” she declares.

Divito is also a quick-change artist, switching costumes at least a dozen times in this production. She also wears at least three different wigs before switching to her own hair.

This production as a whole could stand to be a little more speedy. At 110 minutes, “Sunset Baby” seems at least 15 minutes too long.

“Sunset Baby” is playing in repertoire with “The Mountaintop” through Feb. 20. Tickets are $38, or $35 for streaming, at www.thepear.org or 650-254-1148.