Mishell Lilly as Pop and Fedna Jacquet as Birdy in The Etymology of Bird at Providence Black Rep.

John Deputy

The Etymology of Bird, the latest offering from Providence Black Repertory Company, is all about explosive situations and hot-button issues. Thankfully, playwright Zakiyyah Alexander has dealt with them in a balanced and thoughtful way, as she tells her sweet coming-of-age story about young love and tragedy during a long hot summer in the rough Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Bird takes its inspiration from the true story of Timothy Stansbury Jr., an unarmed teenager who was shot and killed by a New York housing cop in January of 2004. Stansbury was taking a roof-top short cut when he startled officer Richard Neri, who fired and hit him in the chest.

It would, of course, be tempting to find good guys and bad guys in this heartrending tale, to come up with simple and solutions and easy slogans. Here’s a white cop shooting an unarmed black kid with no apparent provocation.

But Alexander, a prize-winning playwright who teaches at Bard College in upstate New York, has managed to examine all sides of this story, to give us a very human portrait of Jermaine, who in her play is the slain teen, and officer Clemente, the housing cop. The playwright has said she wanted to write about the kind of people she knew growing up in Brooklyn.

These are just average people, in other words. Clemente is not a racist, not a rogue cop, just an officer who loves his job but finds himself in over his head in a neighborhood where he is not wanted, where fear often clouds his judgment. Jermaine, an aspiring rapper, has just graduated from high school and is working at a fast-food joint. He’s not a gang member, not a trouble maker, just a kid trying to help his unemployed mom.

But the Stansbury case is just a jumping off point for Alexander, who wisely steers clear of the official fall-out surrounding the case, information that could have turned this play into just another tedious docudrama. There is no grand jury testimony, there are no politicians weighing in. Instead she came up with her own touching back stories about life in the streets of gritty urban America.

Yes, there is a shooting, but it’s how the lives of people we come to know deal with it.

I suppose the play’s long first act could have been trimmed. Alexander spends a lot of time setting up the plot. But then we would miss out on a lot of what makes this play so engaging. For these are well-drawn characters with stories to tell, sometimes in the driving rhyme of rap.

Chief among them are Jermaine and his girlfriend Birdy, the precocious high school student with a passion for words.

The other nice thing about this production, perhaps the best thing Black Rep has done this season, is Megan Sandberg-Zakian’s solid direction, which keeps a meandering story taut and manages to find humor amid the sadness.

There is also some fine stage work from the likes of Jonathan Dent, the Brown University junior who gives us such a well-shaded and conflicted Jermaine, the a young man with big dreams but few options.

Jackie Davis, the Boston-area actress who appeared in Black Rep’s recent production of The Bluest Eye, gives yet another fine turn as Rashida, Jermaine’s struggling mom, who is, in some ways, on the same dead-end track as her son.

The Etymology of Bird was written three years ago, not long after Alexander saw an article about Stansbury in the newspaper. It has had some readings around the country, but this is its premiere production.

It’s not only Alexander’s all-embracing view that makes this play ring true, but her eye for funny little quirks that make her characters so human.

There’s Pop, Birdie’s over-protective grandfather, played with an easy mix of tenderness and bluster by Mishell Lilly.

Lilly’s Pop is a bear of a man, who won’t take advice from anyone, and wants only the best for Birdy. He can be sweet, and endearing, but attacks like a tiger when backed into a corner.

And then there’s Dahiana Torres’ Carmen, who is responsible for much of the humor in this otherwise tough play. She’s a sassy Latino with a thing about guys with nice hands.

Rudy Cabrera and Clayton McFarlane are fine as fast friends Doey and Kash, who are there to share their lives with Jermaine and grieve for him when he is gone. The two are a well-matched team, Cabrera being the more explosive, McFarlane, the more introspective.

The central role of Birdy is played by Brown University sophomore Fedna Jacquet, who comes across as one of the greener members of this young cast.

Alexander Platt, artistic director of the Elemental Theatre Collective, gives a riveting performance as Clemente, the cop, in his soul-searching, second-act monologue.

Sokeo Ros, a member of the Everett Dance Theater, adds his own brand of angular choreography to the show as the B-Boy.

All this is played out on Jason Tranchida’s stark and simple set comprised of construction scaffolding.

The Etymology of Bird runs through May 18 at Providence Black Rep, 276 Westminster St. Tickets are $20, $10 for students and seniors. Call (401) 621-6123 or log on to www.arttixri. com.

cgray@projo.com