nted the grocer's fence, but was paid a chicken when he felt he had earned a ham. Every day for ten years he has confronted the grocer, requesting and demanding his ham, until by now the only phrases he utters are "I want my ham." and "He gonna give me my ham." August Wilson's 1992 play Two Trains Running is, in effect, a kinder, gentler version of Spike Lee's film Do the Right Thing. Both address racial tension between blacks and whites in the inner city and the violence that can accompany it, but in the play, these social ills are heard and not seen. The cast of TheatreWorks' current production creates a well-realized, if insular, environment that allows the audience to connect the characters. Wilson has created a compelling story line for each individual, and the fact that most of the stories have happy endings doesn't seem contrived. On the contrary, their successes are representative of African Americans who broke through the color line during the civil rights movement. Even a character like , the diner owner who treats his lone waitress, Risa , as a personal servant, redeems himself through his fight to get the city to pay him what he wants for his building, which is due to be demolished. Memphis plans to use the money to return to Mississippi and confront the white man who ran him off his land decades ago. Memphis' story is at once heartrending and uplifting, as is Abdul-Rashid's reading of it. Michael McFall plays the key role of Sterling, an ex-con whose anger at not being able to get a leg up in the world is tempered by a youthful exuberance. It's the latter quality that allows Sterling to woo Risa, a beautiful young woman who has scarred her legs to keep away men who want her for her body alone. Brembry's Risa is world-weary in the extreme; she communicates mostly through sighs and piercing glances at whoever is yanking her chain at the moment. Sterling and Risa's love story is tender, but McFall is even better when his chara...
