Seeking the Promise of a ‘Lovely Day’

At the beginning of “creation stories and all the important importants,” a new play by Mfoniso Udofia, a woman wakes up from a harrowing dream to the sound of a soulful embrace: the R&B legend Bill Withers singing the fittingly titled “Lovely Day.” Withers recorded the song nearly 50 years ago, and to this day, no single I’ve heard has better captured the warmth of the rising sun.Music plays a substantial role in “creation stories,” now being presented by LCT3 at the Claire Tow Theater, and that’s appropriate. Ms. Udofia, a Nigerian American playwright and screenwriter whose credits include TV series such as “A League of Their Own” and “13 Reasons Why,” and director Tamilla Woodard have brought an intensely lyrical approach to this one-act play, which follows a middle-aged woman as she tries to conceive a child through IVF while juggling other personal and professional demands.This protagonist, radiantly played by Abigail C. Onwunali, is identified simply as “thegrownwoman,” as it’s spelled in the playbill and script, and she refers to herself in the third person, relentlessly. Ms. Udofia has provided both traditional stage directions and instructions thegrownwoman speaks out loud, “to command herself into her best day,” as the playwright explains in her notes.If this sounds a little pretentious, or dopey, the purpose is plainly to underline the pressures and goals that keep thegrownwoman in constant, often frantic motions; the words “move” and “forward” pop up repeatedly. Ms. Onwunali, fresh from a stunning turn in last season’s Broadway revival of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” captures both the brightness of her character’s aspirations and the depth of her exhaustion and despair as she challenges emotional and biological limits.The actress has a fine young partner in another alumna of that revival, Savannah Commodore, cast here as a little girl who follows thegrownwoman around, clearly representing her younger, more carefree self. Mses. Commodore and Onwunali roam across Jason Ardizzone-West’s sleek, expansive set, which positions a sliding structure that initially functions as a bed at an acute angle to a series of video screens, with projection designer Katherine Freer adding playful, sometimes mystical footage and images.The fanciful atmosphere is enhanced later in the play by the appearance of another figure from thegrownwoman’s past, one that the girl has referenced numerous times: mr. cornell, who seems to embody — albeit not quite in human form — the comfort and joy the central character has sacrificed in her incessant striving. Donnetta Lavinia Grays, a sparkling vision as costumed by Sarafina Bush, projects those qualities in full.When thegrownwoman does find relief before that, it’s usually in music. We hear her various playlists, with material ranging from classical to Afrobeat, delivered by Alexa — a fickle servant here, voiced by Ms. Grays. After a particularly trying day at the playwriting class she teaches, thegrownwoman finds glorious refuge in a symphony summoned by the little girl, who has been ignored until this point and watches elatedly, delighted she has finally had a positive impact on her future self.The spell is broken, at least for the characters, by a phone call bringing unwelcome news. But a more powerful one is coming, and “creationstories” sustains an enchantment of its own, managing to uplift us as a folk tale rather than a fairy tale, acknowledging harsh realities but ultimately stressing the possibility of transcendence.

Seeking the Promise of a ‘Lovely Day’

Seeking the Promise of a ‘Lovely Day’

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