With The Hot Wing King, Olivier Award-winning playwright Katori Hall (The Mountaintop, P-Valley) revels in cooking up comedy and drama that are exuberantly Black and Gay. It’s a deliciously entertaining and intersectional combo that won Hall the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2021.
After the COVID-19 pandemic cut short its 2020 off-Broadway debut, The Hot Wing King is finally here to be enjoyed in an outstanding Chicago-area debut at Writers Theatre in Glencoe.
The Hot Wing King circles around the team of “New Wing Order,” an amateur cooking crew vying for a $5,000 prize at an annual Tennessee hot wing festival and blind tasting competition. Rather than focusing on the event, Hall shows the anticipatory buildup and unexpected aftermath of the competition around a well-appointed Memphis house (a credit to scenic designer Lauren M. Nichols, who makes the audience jealous instantly upon arrival).
That home belongs to hospitality manager Dwayne (Jos N. Banks), who has his hands full as he juggles work, an unemployed lover and the lingering fallout of a family tragedy. Even though Dwayne deliberately takes a leadership backseat when it comes to the competition, he’s the financial and emotional rock for New Wing Order to take creative culinary risks.
Dwayne’s still-married partner, Cordell (Breon Arzell), is the driven mastermind behind a mouth-watering and potentially winning hot wing recipe. But Cordell knows his people skills aren’t the greatest, and his dogmatic instincts/insecurities threaten his relationship with Dwayne and his crew.
Indeed, one of Cordell’s cooking associates is the barber Big Charles (THEE Ricky Harris), who has to be pried away from watching an NBA Grizzlies game on TV. Meanwhile, the flamboyantly hyperactive Isom (Joseph Anthony Byrd) resents Cordell for giving him a monotonous worker-bee role in preparing the secret marinade.
But what severely tests Dwayne’s domestic idyl is the unexpected arrival of his financially troubled brother-in-law, TJ (Kevin Tre’von Patterson), and his nephew, Everett “EJ” (Jabari Khaliq). Whether or not Dwayne and Cordell will be willing to take in Everett during his final years of high school becomes a major point of contention, and their relationship gets tested as they argue over their past mistakes and the current stresses at hand.
From the get-go, Hall’s sparkling and speedy dialogue for The Hot Wing King demands attention. And director Lili-Anne Brown, along with her finely calibrated ensemble, all bring this to the forefront with plenty of honest emotion and distinctive physicality for each of the characters.
Arzell’s Cordell and Banks’ Dwayne both exude surety and confidence in their capabilities and their love for each other. So, it’s upsetting when their explosive argument at the end of Act I suggests that their relationship is in danger of coming apart.
Khaliq as Everett and Patterson as TJ are also great at personalizing the generational differences that Hall shows regarding LGBTQ+ tolerance and acceptance within Black communities. TJ and Everett’s questions and comments show how they’re outsiders to Dwayne and Cordell’s cozily gay home of friendship and love.
Harris is comfortably laid back and a great voice of reason as Big Charles. His fine keyboard skills also enhance the fun moments of song built into The Hot Wing King.
But as Isom, Byrd has to walk a fine line since his character’s honesty could easily veer into effeminate gay caricature (especially wearing such comically tight-fitting and skin-showing outfits by costume designer Yvonne Miranda). But Byrd securely navigates Hall’s “always-on” character with aplomb, winning plenty of laughs in the process.
Brown and lighting designer Jason Lynch do a wonderful job of zeroing in on the important and more intimate moments of dialogue amid Nichols’ very convincing kitchen-focused set. But if there’s one criticism with The Hot Wing King at Writers Theatre, it could be that Willow James’ believable sound design is too spot on as the characters compete with the TV volume and other distractions.
In order to keep up with so much banter and character interplay, audiences need to take notice from the start of Hall’s The Hot Wing King. But that’s largely an easy task with such the amusing cast assembled by Brown; they are given a meaty and involving family drama that finds so much joy amid some past and present shadows.
So, if you want to extend your Pride month celebrations, head to Glencoe for this entrancing Chicago-area premiere. The Hot Wing King is unquestionably a winner, and will leave you hungry for more.
The Hot Wing King runs though July 21 at Writers Theatre, 325 Tudors Ct. in Glencoe. Tickets are $35-$90. For information, see The Hot Wing King runs though July 21 at Writers Theatre, 325 Tudors Ct. in Glencoe. Tickets are $35-$90. For information, see WritersTheatre.org or phone 847-242-6000.