She's Gotta Have It

Even more unstoppable is the remarkable ensemble brought together on Public Theatre's minimalist stage by director Michael Yawney, and it's nearly impossible to single out any one of them as they roll through dozens of unique characters. Should the smarmy Argentine husband be singled out? The Yoruba priest who takes only cash for his prognostications? What about the heroin-shooting grandmother or the security-guard brother obsessed with Brer Rabbit? Or maybe we should note the drug-rehab literature professor who misses smoking crack in the university ladies room and reflects on her downfall: "Those thesis-writing motherfuckers. I wanted to kill them." Now, that's funny.

It doesn't take long to realize that Murphy and her six many-faced collaborators are playing as much for each other as for the audience, and the game just gets better and better as the minutes go by. It would be a crying shame if Nottage's play, with this director and cast, doesn't continue on somewhere past June 4.