Review: Bobby Lee Blood (All-White Cast) – Orlando Fringe Festival

It was Saturday night, and I found myself back at the Scarlet Venue at the 2024 Orlando Fringe Festival to see a second showing of Bobby Lee Blood, written and directed by Kyona Levine Farmer.

I had already seen a staging of it on Tuesday night with an all-Black cast. This time, I was there to watch the all-White cast to see the differences and similarities. But, I had to make sure I didn’t compare this production to the previous one. I committed to not writing about “this cast did X, but the other cast did Y.” (I may do that in another article because I loved both versions for different reasons.)

My friend, Franny Titus was in the role of Emma Jean, Soph Siegel played Naomi Morris (in her first ever Fringe), and Chuck Roberson played Bobby Lee Morris and Reverend McGriff. Also starring Sierra Vennes (DeeDeeMorris, Alexis Morris, Hotel Attendant, Nurse, and Bad Ass Little Boy’s mother), Olivia Kennedy (Tabetha, Henrietta, and Josephine), and Andres Procel (Bad Ass Little Boy, Jonathan, and Wade Nolan).

Playwright Kyona Farmer is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with an MFA in Dramatic Writing. She said she wrote this show because Naomi was a character in another show she had written. She started writing Naomi’s backstory, and Bobby Lee Blood appeared, although it started out as a one-woman show before going through several iterations with multiple characters and actors.

According to the show description:

As a child, Naomi Morris did not understand why the people in her small town hated her dad, especially since she loved him so much. When she got older, she found out that her dad was actually a monster mean criminal who murdered someone. Now, she is tormented by thoughts that she may end up just like him… She is his blood. She decides to go back to her small hometown in Chattahoochee, Florida to talk to the people who actually knew her dad. What she is about to discover is going to blow her mind.

Bobby Lee Blood is set in a small Southern Florida during the 1980s and deals with several issues, including identity and mental illness. The gritty, funny, suspenseful show features six actors who will play multiple characters.

One of the benefits of watching a TV show, movie, or play more than once is you get to pick up on the things you missed the first time. But with a pared-down, minimalist stage — just a few folding chairs, a desk, and a rolling wardrobe with just a few items on it — I got to pay more attention to how the characters left a scene, taking a piece of wardrobe or chair with them.

At one point, Naomi “transformed” from a 27-year-old woman to a little girl by walking over to the wardrobe and slipping on a pink tutu, all while talking to us. As the audience, we were just expected to go along with it.

No off-stage wardrobe change, no lights-down set changes, just watch a grown woman de-age in front of our eyes.

The one thing I got from Naomi was that she was a nerd. (And I say that with all love from a fellow nerd.) Naomi struck me as someone who grew up reading and immersing herself in books because she was an outcast and social pariah. She was very serious and quiet and did everything she could to protect herself and her deep secret.

When Emma Jean met Naomi at the opening, there was heightened paranoia and fear in Emma Jean’s eyes — something deeper than just being afraid of a stranger. It was what the stranger represented that scared Emma Jean “Are you with the police?! Are you with the hospital?!” — and if it hadn’t been for Naomi mentioning Bobby Lee, she might never have talked to her at all.

But Emma Jean settled right down when Naomi said she was Bobby Lee’s daughter, almost like a drug addict getting their fix after too many hours without it. She smiled at the hit of long-dead memories from 20 years ago.

The Great Stone Dragon

As Naomi continued to flashback, we got to meet her dad, Bobby Lee, who was a hulk of a man. I met Chuck before and after the show, and he is a large stone-faced man. There was no smile when Naomi got excited at seeing him, even though you knew he loved his little girl.

It was only when the Bad-Ass Little Boy teased Naomi and called her a monster that we saw a flare of emotion. That’s when he told Boy’s mother that he would kill that kid and you knew he meant it. He didn’t roar and yell, but he raised his voice just a little, but it was enough. A definite case of “Speak softly and be a big stick.”

Flash forward to the modern-day, and Naomi and Wade Nolan have been dating for around eight months. After spending the preceding eight months doing all the talking, Wade decided it was time to start listening, so he asked Naomi to talk about herself.

As Wade talked, Naomi kept waiting for him to say “but. . .” as if he was going to break up with her. She even tried to make it easy for him and wanted to push him away, but he dug in his heels. He didn’t care about her past.

I could tell in this scene that Naomi had some deep secrets she wanted to keep buried. Her life was not your business. She played her life close to the vest and wouldn’t let people in. She did what she needed to to keep people out, even if it meant love.

The Big Chill

But once again, it was Emma Jean who hooked me. Franny Titus’ portrayal of Emma Jean chilling. She was was broken, delusional, and dealing with her own mental health issues, and we saw exactly where it happened.

The first time we saw Emma Jean meet Bobby Lee, she responded to him the same way a cat arches its back when you pet it. All it took was Bobby Lee calling her pretty twice and she was hooked on the most hated man in Chattahoochee.

Later, she talked about how Bobby Lee had beaten her, accusing her of messing around with Henry. The way she played off his beating her was chilling: “He didn’t mean it. You don’t understand.” You could see her delusion, and this was the moment where she was broken.

Her cries of “He didn’t mean it. You don’t understand.” were echoed later when she was trying to protect her daughter, Alexis. She made excuses for Bobby Lee doing terrible things to her and made excuses for Alexis doing something even worse.

When she said the words, “She didn’t mean it! You don’t understand!” I flashed back to this moment, and I understood Emma Jean.

Franny also helped the portrayal of Emma Jean’s descent by putting her hair up into a crazy lady ponytail, and that tiny touch really showed how her bipolar disorder and paranoia began to take hold of her.

A quick side note because I can’t fit it in anywhere else: DeeDee Morris was a hoot! She cracked me up and added some nice comic relief to the play. Well done, Sierra Vennes!

There’s one more showing of Bobby Lee Blood tonight at the Scarlet Venue, so if you get a chance, get there by 9:15 PM and see Kyona Farmer’s Bobby Lee Blood.

Photo credit: Special thanks to Johnny Titus, Franny’s husband, for providing me with some great photos of Sunday night’s performance because I forgot to take any!