Cinnabar presents ‘Driving Miss Daisy’

Many people believe the best way to deliver a lesson is with humor. I’m one of them and, I’m willing to bet, so is playwright Alfred Uhry, author of “Driving Miss Daisy,” which opened at Cinnabar Theater last Friday.

“Daisy,” which won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for drama, is a deceptively simple piece. Nathan Cummings, who directed this production, said he felt the play would be best served if he “just got out of the way” and let the story tell itself. So Cummings’ touch is sure, but delicate and unobtrusive.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking this play is a piece of fluff because of that simplicity, its humor or its brevity (running time is less than 90 minutes). What Uhry’s done is to make a charcoal sketch, rather than a detailed oil painting. He allows the audience to fill in the story, based on their knowledge and experiences.

The result is an evening of understanding that grows out of the laughs.

It’s not giving away anything for those who don’t know the story to say it’s about race, as shown through the relationship between a white woman and her black chauffeur. It’s not, however, just about the growth of racial understanding in the South. It’s about friendship and fear, aging and tolerance, family and kindness, bravery and growth. And for all the humor, it’s thoughtful. You’ll walk out of the theater smiling, but I’ll bet you’ll find yourself thinking afterward about Miss Daisy, Hoke and Boolie, letting your imagination fill in their back stories.

The cast is well-chosen and believable. Laura Jorgensen makes a delightfully tart-tongued Miss Daisy, John Browning is the warm-hearted and loving Boolie and Dorian Lockett is the wise, amusing, dignified and tolerant Hoke.

The enjoyable original score, by Jonathan Beard, works well, and the spare set echoes Uhry’s careful writing, again letting imagination fill in times and places.

Go pick this “Daisy.” You won’t be sorry.

“Driving Miss Daisy” runs Friday, Saturdays and Sundays through Nov. 2 at Cinnabar Theater, 3333 Petaluma Blvd. North. (No show on Oct. 31.)

Tickets are $15-$25. Call 763-8920 or go to cinnabar theater.org.

(Contact Katie Watts at argus@arguscourier.com)