DON Reed’s autobiographical monologue is subtitled “True Tales of a Reluctant Player,” but his performance is anything but.
Relating a childhood with a Jehovah’s Witness stepfather and a hard-living pimp father, Reed imbues the characters of “East 14th” with a comic ferocity that’s more exhausting than enlightening.
The 46-year-old, best known for his role as Chip St. Charles on TV’s “A Different World,” grew up in Oakland, Calif., a place that makes the doings of “A Bronx Tale” seem wholesome.
Forced to preach the gospel in door-to-door calls, he rebelled and moved in with his dad, who introduced him into a life filled with hustlers and hookers with names like “Steakface” and “Troutmouth.”
Initially embracing this hedonistic new life with gusto, Reed eventually straightened out. Even so, he appreciates the lessons he learned from living with his father.
“They say it takes a village to raise a child, but sometimes it takes a ghetto to raise a man,” he says.
As exotic as his story is – his colorful characters include two half-brothers, one a womanizer, the other flamboyantly gay – Reed works so hard in its telling that the effect is counterproductive.
That he sometimes delivers his caricatures with elaborate dance moves – to “The Hustle” and other period songs – doesn’t help, and his attempt at a climactic emotional catharsis feels too pat.
“East 14th was more than a street, it was a path, a journey towards my own self-discovery,” he informs us at evening’s end. But the message, worthy as it is, has been lost in the telling.
EAST 14th