The Monsters (Manhattan Theatre Club)

By Harry Forbes

Don’t be put off by the possibly alarming title or the martial-arts milieu. At heart, The Monsters is a tender and highly absorbing story about the reunion of a brother and his much younger half-sister, separated for 16 years, and it serves as a showpiece for two extraordinary performances.

In the Off-Broadway premiere, beautifully written and sensitively directed by Ngozi Anyanwu, Aigner Mizzelle plays Lil and Okieriete “Oak” Onaodowan plays Big. During their long separation, Lil has developed a fascination for fighting and has followed her older brother’s exploits on the local mixed-martial-arts circuit. She has done so from afar—until the moment the play begins, when she unexpectedly appears in Big’s locker room.

Big is wary at first, assuming she must want something from him. But Lil insists she has come only to reconnect. Though the taciturn Big is hardly the most demonstrative of men, he gradually begins to trust her and to reclaim the role of protective older brother. Later, when Lil reveals her own interest in fighting, he offers to train her.

What unfolds is a sibling love story, one which builds to a redemptive and satisfying ending.

Dialogue scenes are interspersed with flashbacks to the pair’s childhood, deftly performed by the actors as they seamlessly shift from adults to ages six and sixteen in an instant. The play also incorporates workout and boxing sequences superbly choreographed by Rickey Tripp and executed with convincing intensity.

Andrew Boyce’s scenic design, effectively lit by Cha See, captures the sweaty ambience of the boxing world, while Mika Eubanks’ costumes are perfectly suited to the characters. Sound designer Mikaal Sulaiman provides atmospheric original music. Equally crucial to the production’s authenticity are the contributions of fight director Gerry Rodriguez and MMA consultant Sijara Eubanks.

The Monsters is a world-premiere co-production with Two River Theater.

(NY City Center Stage II, 131 West 55th Street; www.nycitycenter.org; through March 22)

Photo by T. Charles Erickson:  (l.-r.) Aigner Mizzelle as Lil, with Okieriete Onaodowan as Big