Three Bone Theatre comes to a good 'End' in one-act drama
“…What the End Will Be” runs at Three Bone Theatre in the Arts Factory at West End Studios, 1545 W. Trade St., through May 18.
This review by longtime Charlotte arts critic Lawrence Toppman was published by The Charlotte Ledger on May 7, 2025. You can find out more about The Charlotte Ledger’s commitment to smart local news and information and sign up for our newsletter for free here. Ledger subscribers can add the Toppman on the Arts newsletter on their “My Account” page.
Review: Three Bone Theatre’s ‘… What the End Will Be’ powerfully presents a family reckoning with secrets, sorrow and strength
Maxwell (Marvin King) and Tony (Dionte Darko) are a father and son who navigate tender and turbulent moments in Three Bone Theatre’s “… What the End Will Be.” (Photo courtesy of Three Bone Theatre)
by Lawrence Toppman
I’m not sure I’ve ever been less like every character in a play than the six in “… What the End Will Be,” now getting its Southeastern premiere from Three Bone Theatre.
I’m not gay or gender-fluid, not female, not wealthy, not a dad or grandparent, not African-American, not dealing with imminent death in my family, not hiding anything important about myself from the world. All we have in common are emotions felt by any sentient person: love, need, fear, pain, hope. In Mansa Ra’s unsentimental, powerfully moving drama, that’s enough.
I appreciate any playwright who delivers lots of exposition quickly and efficiently, so I’ll try to emulate him. Bart (Tim Bradley), dying of stage 4 cancer, has moved in with affluent, ever-busy son Maxwell (Marvin King) in Atlanta. Maxwell’s anger issues have distanced him from 18-year-old son Tony (Dionte Darko) and calm husband Charles (Victor Kuchmaner), who love him nonetheless.
Around the edges of this caring but often contentious quartet stand free-spirited Antoine (Steven Longayo), a classmate of Tony’s for whom “gender-normative” is a meaningless term, and compassionate Chloe (Mariana Corrales), a health-care worker who knows better than anyone but Bart that death hovers near him.
In 90 minutes that race by under James Webb’s direction, they interact fiercely and tenderly, intelligently and foolishly. The three main characters, all of whom have been closeted sexually or emotionally, eventually come out. (The 14-year-old Ra came out as gay in the mid-‘00s in Memphis, an experience he has described as “not easy.”)
Tony declares his suppressed love for Antoine. Bart admits the depth of his pain, both physically and in his failure to be a good father, although Ra deals with the latter too fleetingly. Maxwell accepts that he’s not showing weakness if he gives up some control over his son’s choices or the pretense of straight masculinity at the office. (The play premiered off-Broadway in 2022, when it was still socially acceptable or even desirable for companies to encourage diversity.)
Ra is careful not to suggest that Charles and Maxwell will sail smoothly through marriage from now on, that Maxwell will completely understand the mercurial Antoine, or that Maxwell and Tony have had their last argument or misunderstanding. But they’re all closer to that goal.
Three Bone has a happy history of finding new talent. Kuchmaner, Longayo and Bradley have never performed for the company and are all winning additions. Bradley delivers the longest and heaviest monologue in the script, letting us see inside Bart’s carefully constructed shell, and he nails it. The familiar Corrales shows that Chloe’s more than just efficient and good-natured; she’s tough in defense of her patients.
King’s and Darko’s characters change the most throughout the play, and the two actors are up to all the confrontations, reverberations and reconciliations. I’m pretty sure they’ll end up reminding you of at least one family member of your own, if you belong to the family of humankind.
If You’re Going: “…What the End Will Be” runs at Three Bone Theatre in the Arts Factory at West End Studios, 1545 W. Trade St., through May 18. Shows are at 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
Lawrence Toppman covered the arts for 40 years at The Charlotte Observer before retiring in 2020. Now, he’s in the critic’s chair for the Charlotte Ledger — look for his reviews several times each month in the Charlotte Ledger.
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